Voices: What We Read This Week
(A short and selective list of compelling reading from around the web this week/ 6th January.)
Monsoon Bissell’s powerful piece in The Hindu, To the woman warrior I did not know.
Mitali Saran says we aren’t talking about sex, and explains why we really, really need to; Nirupama Sekhri on sex and consent–and the widespread lack of it for women–in Indian arranged marriages.
Amartya Sen on the protests: “But I would have been more delighted if it was recognised that Dalit women have been undergoing violence over a long time, with hardly any protest and any organisation behind them.”
Mihir Sharma on why rape is not a women’s issue and how men need to pick up the burden of change; Tabish Khair’s letter to young men.
Arpita Das on reclaiming her streets; from Blank Noise, a collection of #SafeCity pledges.
In Open magazine, Devika Bakshi offers a manifesto: “This is my city, we are saying, and I am here. I am here to take up space, I am here to reassure the next woman she can be here, I am here to provide with my presence one more defiant answer to the question “What do you think you’re doing here?”
Naila Kabeer on Open Democracy on the eight Millennium Development goals, and whether India can eradicate violence against women.
Mrinal Satish, whose work on rape and the law in India is extraordinary, talking about problems with the process of sentencing.
Jason Burke visits Ravi Das colony, where several of the rapists lived, and finds a place beyond easy stereotypes; and on Mahipalpur, one of the many “grey zones” around India’s urban centres.
What do we say to the kids? Two thoughtful and wrenching pieces from Natasha Badhwar, and from Priya Ramani.
In the WSJ, Rupa Subramanya on the colonial hangover of India’s rape laws.
On rapper Honey Singh and his hate lyrics: three views:
-Why it’s important to speak up against the prevailing culture, but equally important to stay away from bans.
-Neha Kaul Mehra on “silence is violence”, civil acts of protest and why she doesn’t believe in bans, in the Sunday Guardian.
-Annie Zaidi’s open letter to Honey Singh: “You say something now,” in the Sunday Guardian.
-Harini Calamur on why too much media discussion of Honey Singh can divert attention from what we need to talk about.
Samar Halarnkar on the dark silence of the Indian family, where India’s real war against women is fought.
In The Kolkata Telegraph, Ruchir Joshi on ‘Indiagate’–”the failure and refusal to treat half our population as equal, an ongoing, murderous thing”.
In Mint, Salil Tripathi on why the calls for extreme punishment–castration, the death penalty–are just instant gratification, and won’t solve the problem.
When we chant “we want justice”, why it’s necessary to add, “we want it now”. Prem Panicker on the reopening of the Suryanelli rape case, and how it’s taken years for one rape survivor to get a fair trial.
From Kafila, a list of their key posts on the Delhi protests and violence against women. Essential reading.
(*Crowdsourced: links suggested by various members of the Genderlog community. Thanks to all of you who pointed out links I’d missed.)
One Response to “Voices: What We Read This Week”
Reblogged this on JUSTICE FOR WOMEN and commented:
A list of useful reads this week.