The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : One set of rules for men, another set for women

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 29, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

One set of rules for men, another set for women

Sudhish Kamath

Double standards in moral policing exposed Is it fine for filmmakers to fantasise on 35mm and obscene when a woman expresses her concern over a serious issue such as premarital sex?

CHENNAI: Is it fine for a man to drink and indecent when a woman has a drink? Is it fine when a director-actor puts his hands around women on film and exhibits it to public with a U/A certificate from the Censors and obscene when a woman does that to her husband inside the dark environs of a private party?

Is it fine for a police officer's son to go to a nightclub and a cognisable offence when someone else's daughter above the age of 21 does? Though a lot of educated women activists are raising such questions, the mass-based ones are conspicuously silent on the sexist moral policing, which saw the arrest of two young hotel managers from The Park hotel on Tuesday. The two were arrested under Section 294 of the Indian Penal Code (obscene acts and songs to the annoyance of others in any public place) apart from other charges that are yet to be proved.

A police officer went on record on Tuesday evening saying that discos should be shut down and that every woman in the photographs published by Tamil dailies would be identified and traced. For drinking beer, obscenity and indecent dancing. However, the police department on Wednesday morning mysteriously went back on that statement and said they would not be that strict this time. "We will ignore them."

No woman's organisation came to the support of Kushboo who was only expressing her views, a right given to her under Article 19 (Freedom of speech and expression). Even the Nadigar Sangam distanced itself from the episode criticising the protesters only for holding the demonstration in front of their premises.

Societal stereotypes

Why such double standards — a different set of rules for men and an entirely another for women?

"The glorification of societal stereotypes is the reason behind it," says Vandana of The Banyan. "There is so much pressure on women to conform to that stereotype and, in the process, they lose their individuality. Women too are equally responsible as men are in glorifying stereotypes such as `women have to be worshipped.' At the end of the day, if you feel comfortable doing what you want to, without your behaviour causing anyone harm, I don't see who I am to comment about what someone else is doing with their life."

Actor-activist Rohini says women smoking, drinking and dancing have been there for a long time now, since the days of Protima Bedi. There have been different sets of rules for men and women from the very beginning. "But you cannot generalise and say what applies to a small group of women in urban cities holds good for the rest of society."

Moral policing

The former Vice-Chancellor and rights activist, V. Vasanthi Devi, says one is always concerned about the influence of unbridled consumerism on a society in a flux, especially its youth.

But that should not in any way lead to moral policing, which is repugnant.

The issue raises several questions, starting with: How did the media gain the right to infringe someone's privacy? Who decides what's right or moral?

All through history, she notes, people in power, whether parents at home or the State in public domain, have arrogated to themselves the authority to decide what is moral for young persons in society.

"The entire issue seems to trivialise the dilemmas that youth face today in a society in flux," she asserts.

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