Here’s a story from a friend in #India.
This friend had a really annoying cook at his home. The defects of her personality led to frequent quarrels between her and my friend.
And it wasn’t him alone - each time he had the misfortune of having a guest around this cook, every guest would later remark that this cook was a really rude, tactless, and nosy person.
Still, this man kept her in his hire, because, for all her flaws, she was not dishonest or unscrupulous - and his family valued that greatly.
One day there was another quarrel, and in a heated moment he asked her to leave the house immediately. But though he asked many times, she didn’t budge, and continued verbally raging at him.
My friend then attempted to guide her out of the house physically - with no intention of causing pain or harm, he emphasizes - but found his family shouting at him to stop…for fear of the police. Because she was a woman.
Discussing this matter with his relations later, he wondered, “Does being a woman give her a license to say and do anything in my own house? Am I not even allowed to fire someone I’ve hired because she is a woman? At best I can say that perhaps I should have called the apartment security to do it…”
He was then informed, “Even male police constables are not allowed to arrest women. They have to wait for the female constables to do it. A woman can accuse you of touching her inappropriately, and - whether or not it is true - you’ll be arrested without question. Even if you’re cleared and released, it will be weeks or months after the fact.”
“So you mean to say they are invulnerable? Are they gods now, and can do whatever they wish?”
The other day, I was reading a post about Indian MRAs by @rohini . I acknowledge that a lot of it is disinformation and exploitation of the gullible, in the service of plain old misogyny.
I’ve heard a number of people talk about laws for protection of women being abused by unscrupulous women. If these are accurate, us feminists must recognize that they are not only a social injustice, but also ammunition for the MRA which can be used to set back women’s rights again.
Somebody has to fight this injustice lest it breed misguided resentment (there’s already plenty of it). If we don’t, someone with a harmful agenda might take it up instead.
Maybe I went a little bit haywire with them - but I love sewing these Kanzashi flowers and really like the effect of the strings of glass beads. (Washed the fabric, before that I replaced the pencil drawing with a basted seam that will go later too.)
) 