Sunday, April 5, 2009

What would Taliban say to Juno?

Note: The same post also available at http://indianhomemaker.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/what-would-taliban-say-to-juno/

This video can be very disturbing.





"Please stop it," she begs, alternately whimpering or screaming in pain with each blow to the backside. "Either kill me or stop it now."

A video showing a teenage girl being flogged by Taliban fighters has emerged from the Swat Valley in Pakistan... The two-minute video, shot using a mobile phone, shows a burka-clad woman face down on the ground. Two men hold her arms and feet while a third, a black-turbaned fighter with a flowing beard, whips her repeatedly.
For being sen with a man.

The girl in the video is 17, same age as a girl studying in class XII. How old is that? Girls at 17 are giggling and gossiping about which boys they think are cute, and if the giggling is reciprocated maybe they go out. Sometimes without the parents’ knowledge. They might bunk school or college, maybe deceive the 'authorities' and ruin their future either by neglecting school work, or by getting into ‘serious trouble’, and since we do not live 'abroad' they cannot hope to have the baby and find her loving adoptive parents like Juno could.

(If you have not seen the movie yet, please do.)




There are chances of their being put in a situation where they take their own lives, because we believe that for girls there is no life after dishonour. Nothing happens to the boy.

Without getting into how wrong or how unacceptable it is for a girl to behave so immorally or irresponsibly, I wonder if WE have the moral right to have such control over another human life and body, for any reason, even for ‘ her own good’?

And then how is it good for her that she can be beaten in pubs, flogged in public, or offered the option of marrying her rapist.

How is it good for her that we have created a society where another rapist declared the victim ‘too used’ to marry his son.


We have made so much of a girl’s virginity and her reputation, that she will not be able to tell if the rapist is not a stranger, but her own father? Malayalidoc, a doctor in Kerala, wrote a post about incest leading to AIDS here. And we see how we have enough control over her life to decide if she is better dead.

22 comments:

Sahaja said...

OMG!!!!!!!! thats def no where near GOD....cant even say its men behavign as animals,arghhhhhhhhhhh

Indian Home Maker said...

And Sahaja compare this to Juno, and her life and the choices she had.

hitch writer said...

Why is every one showing this video all the time...

arghhh...

These talibani's are perverts and nothing more...

what is amazing is no one in Pakistan wants to stop them...

I havent seen that movei Juno... may be i ll see it...

These days it seems the number of perverts are growing like nething... its scary really... !

Indian Home Maker said...

I just wanted to show the contrast - compare this with Juno, do take a look at the video, you will see the difference. It conveys what the movie wants to convey.

hitch writer said...

i get it IHM, just sick of these perverts.... they seem to haunt me...

and they are everywhere !

rm said...

what shall i write?? where does a women right begin? where does it end? from laws made to protect her..which are now used to oppress her

bind by notions..virginity, respect, obeideance..

Anonymous said...

Am not surprised. I mean, what's different between what the Ram Sene did to the girls in Mangalore and this video? Not much. Or for that matter what Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sean and the rest of the chaddi gang does during Valentine's day? Not much different.

Both are different versions of taliban. We have a copy of them here in our country too. Sad. And we boast that we have a free judiciary and free press.

Sahaja said...

and U know what IHM?? Juno is more about how best to bring out the Baby since she felt being a teenage mom, she might not be able to take care of kid soo early!!
Its entirely a diff perspective....the way her parents react and all...its just soo different!!

Its a different problem here IHM believe me!! Nothing is soo good......All teenage moms are not as sensible as Juno! Support ya, she got a lot from parents positively....Not all get that...but ya atleast they are not cursed like this! This is deff worse and inhuman !!

Excess of anything is bad IHM haina??Thats what I believe in....

hum apni marzi ki maalik tab honge jab humko apna marzi patha hai...

patha hai IHM, last month i was searching for a new flat to move in na, then i saw a flat which i liked the most...but when i enquired abt area and all...i was told, the flat row next to mine are of council's n they gave it to rehabiliating teenage moms....and my collegues said you better dont take! these collegues were english too IHM....and these girls are may 16-19 , drugs and all coz of bad company and dont have enuf strength to come out of it, neither are aware of what they are losing....but they keep babies with them amongst all this not out of love but for the allowances and money they get from government....and so govt had to change it from money allowance to services allowances like baby food, goods, clothers etc!

Uh - oh !! I did generalise a bit but my point is not all girls are as sensible as Juno !and none of us have the right to spoil a baby's life !!

Anonymous said...

Arrrgh! This is frustrating. When I see things happening here in India, I cringe. Then I see such things and wonder if we are really better off. What is the cause of this disparity?

I saw Juno and my first reaction was : Would this really happen in India? And now you echo my thoughts..What is happening here? and there? What is the future I wonder!

Sunita Mohan said...

That was the most disturbing thing that I have ever seen.
In every whimper and scream I hear my daughter.
I fear this world that she is growing up in, increasingly intolerant and self-righteous. Increasingly sadistic and feeling it has every right to be so.

Anonymous said...

Thats the worst inhuman thing happening in the name of talibanism IHM... i dont know why the people were not protesting against them. they have done enough damage to human race... its time for them to get lost.. no pakistan or UN or US will help these poor people... they must act... and I didnt watched the film juno yet.. heard its a nice one

sm said...

Taliban is a big demon .
Every demon has to die one day, as death of taliban is near they are struggling and trying to show there powers by beating female.

Winnie the poohi said...

:( :(

I feel so profoundly sad.. I dunno what to say really .. the outrage i generally feel seem to be deadening.. its like I want to believe that nothing would change and umm move on

And yet the other part of me wants to may be start some secret society to combat this shitasses and kill them as brutally as they do :(

how can anyone be soo soo cruel ? so so evil ?

RGB said...

"I wonder if WE have the moral right to have such control over another human life and body,"

No government or any other organization should have any right over personal life of a citizen. Family of the person can exert it to a certain extent.

Pixie said...

The Video has been heart wrenching... and it's being shown way too many times...
Juno is an awesome movie - I loved it! :)

Happy Kitten said...

The Pakistan incident is totally inhumane; but if one remembers, after the immense uproar created by media and Human rights activists a Pakistani lady finally managed to have the courage to fight back. She even started a school. The last we hear about her is that she finally consented to marry the policeman who was asked to protect her. Seems he was smitten by the courage shown by this lady. But then this was before the current “Talibinisation”. I do hope the sane ones left in Pakistan will do something…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/18/mukhtar-mai-famed-pakista_n_176264.html

but then there was even a worse video and I could only blog helplessly
http://under-the-tree-of-tranquility.blogspot.com/2009/02/daughters.html

This gender equality will continue in the name of religion or culture and we can only pray that it does not spill over to India. The B'lor incident was an eye opener to many.

As for Juno. I think the below review sums it up
----------------------
“This is the course followed by most coming-of-age stories, though not many are so daring in their treatment of teenage pregnancy, which this film flirts with presenting not just as bearable but attractive.

Kids, please! Heed the cautionary whale. But in the meantime, have a good time at “Juno.” Bring your parents, too.”
http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/movies/05juno.html
---------------------------
The cautionary word for the kids is to be noted. As much as we agree with the film, I would like to join Sahaja in saying that there ought to be a balance in everything. America and other countries are now grappling with the “fruits” of the freedom that was liberally given to it’s citizens. Freedom is great but an unborn child also has the right to live in a good environment. Most of us were lucky to have parents who were there for us.. to shield us from tough choices or to give us a word of caution. Hope I am not being judgmental in saying that every “Juno” mother would have been happier if they never had to face such tough choices.
Guess in the end how much we cry over the unfairness the following saying holds true… “if a thorn falls on the leaf or if the leaf falls on the thorn; it is the leaf that suffers” (it is a mallu saying to keep the girls in their place :) and I still resent it for it’s unfairness)It is not just virginity but it is the precious time in their lives that the girls lose. (9 months can be tougher if accompanied with pregnancy related ailments) And even in case of “Juno” mother the final loss is only for the girl…. I am sure she would love to keep the child if she could…. gender inequality at its worst, we could say..

So as parents (not any Sena’s) let us also remember the “not so smart girls” who needs words of caution. In fact “Juno” can be an educational movie.

Indian in NZ said...

I couldn't even watch the whole video and that poor girl was going through it :-(

Haven't seen Juno, will watch it if I find the DVD here.

Pinku said...

lets all collectively commit suicide...let the men live alone and lets see from the heaven's how they cope...

feddabonn said...

@pinku: can some of us join you?

Dr. Ally Critter said...

Lets say we live in different worlds. And I guess we will continue to live in them as long people are quick to start condemning "the problems of permissive societies". I do not think IHM was talking about promiscuity here,rather about understanding humane societies that are not quick to condemn. I do not know about other people, but for myself, the Westerners I see are as against teenage pregnancies, premarital sex and the rest of the baggage promiscuity(!!!) brings as any one else. Even as much as the very value oriented societies that are very brutal to their women are. The difference is , people and society are more realistic. They do not sweep it under the carpet as a problem to be dealt with brutally. Rather treat it as something that should be addressed. And even here he very values oriented groups foist the same kind of "abstinence only" or "true love waits" coupled with no comprehensive sex education on youngsters- don't see that working. What works is a realistic treatment of sex and all the taboos associated with it- a grown up way of dealing with mistakes young people can make and a support system in society to deal with- a support system that comes not of categorizing women either into the goddess or whore category, but into treating people as people- capable of making mistakes.

Happy Kitten said...

Did understand what IHM was trying to say and I am sure the free societies are trying to “deal” with their problems in a realistic way, but let us accept the truth that it is not working as it should.

What I tried to convey is that when we can make case studies of such free societies who have tried and tested their freedom, it is only prudent for us to have a cautionary approach. India has her own culture which in earlier times did not take a restrictive approach to women. If that was the case, we would not have a women Prime Minister (second only to Sri Lanka) even before any other Western country would we?

List of Women Presidents, Prime Ministers and Heads of State
In order of the year they took office.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike, prime minister of Sri Lanka - 1960, 1970, 1994

Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India - 1966, 1980

Golda Meir, prime minister of Israel – 1969
http://www.squidoo.com/women-presidents-women-prime-ministers

Guess I was only being realistic, since prevention is always better than cure.

Mistakes can happen and they definitely require a humane approach, but within the framework of our own rich heritage, let us find a way out.

Gauri Gharpure said...

and now she has refused to come up in court.. such is fear.. I hate to think of 'the pact' to ward of terror and problems in the region. the pak govt. has literally put a stamp of approval on Taliban thus.. And they insist they are the 'good taliban' they have trusted.. makes your head go dizzy