Our souls are shattered and hearts are broken each day, when we hear about the rape of a child, or a woman at the hands of some monster. We feel baffled when a ‘not’ man is humiliated or mutilated, at the hands of some shameless ‘honour’, and pained of uncountable tragedies inflicted by the murderous patriarchal madness that prevails in our society.
The violence that a woman or any sexual minority has to live through their whole life is unimaginable. Keeping all those heart wrenching incidents aside, the mere extent of the objectification of women is the worst thing that can befall a society. From being told how to sit in her home to being stared at like an alien outside, it plays out in each and every aspect of a their lives. People with differing sexual orientations are considered abnormal and deserving of being ‘stoned’. While the trans people are not even considered complete ‘human beings’ in this deeply inhumane society, which is apparent in the eyes and tongues of people whenever they come across a transgender, anywhere.
The apologetic views of self proclaimed ‘reserved’ men who blame the victims for the crimes of patriarchy aggravates the pain of centuries old oppression. Phrases like ‘had they worn better clothes’ or ‘had they not come out at this hour’ tells that it is about power and not lust. The violence against women is about controlling the way women dress, the time they must not come out and most importantly to do the unpaid labour at homes. After all, how else could capitalism work, if not for the unpaid labour of women at homes that keeps the workers strengthened for work. The remarks of CCPO Lahore about the rape victim are the symptoms of the alliance of patriarchy and capitalism. Not to say, that people like him are not equal culprits in this oppression, for they present a justification to it and reap the left overs of this patriarchy capital alliance. They are the ones responsible for normalising and internalising this social madness.
It is not so about some rogue characters that commit such heinous acts, but the socio-economic and politico-religious paradigms from whom such mindsets and social norms erupt which eventually leads to the range of violence that is committed against women, trans people, and other sexual minorities. Patriarchy, coupled with feudal and capitalist social relations, provides tools and power with impunity to these men to exploit, mutilate and violently rule over the bodies, lives and ways of women in this society.
The only alternative past to this horrible reality is destroying the root causes that continue to propagate this sick mindset. We completely reject and condemn the ways in which gender relations work in our society, and will continue to fight in its every essence.
