Truly Strong Men Don't Show Power

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/29/opinion/neogy-rape-india/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

India can learn respect for women

 

Sexual violence is a great problem in India. A gang-rape of a young woman in New Deli shocked a number of people all around the world. Suniti Neogy, a maternal health coordinator in India, is one of them. She laments the fact that girls and women are being imposed the fear of violence in daily lives, but at the same time, she puts emphasis on  the protesting activities from men who, given an opportunity, are willing to solve the gender discrimination issue. She argues that it is necessary to take boys and men into the part of the movements to address the violence.

She says “aggressive behavior toward women isn’t innate. It’s learned and can be unlearned.” I agree with her view that men’s violence toward women is learned in society. However, I think it is doubtful if it is possible to be unlearned. As long as I learned through the class so far, everyone inevitably get involved in the socialization process through which they learn the certain roles of men and women and maintain the system of oppression. So if a man is born in the community of patriarchy, it will be quite difficult not to learn the gender-biased social norm at all.

But it does not mean it is impossible to change the world. We can change our perception and reform the society. In this article, Neogy points out that boys and men use violence as a respond to the pressure to be strong because of their gender. The idea of men as necessarily strong suffers not only women as victims of violence but also men who do not have any other way to express their strength beside violence. At this point, it is significant change the view that men have to be strong and violence is the way of expressing power. In this sense, I thing it is very important to keep in mind the words of Ron who worked with Neogy. “Truly strong men don’t show power, they show care.” A wise man should not resort to violence but respect the women and lead the movement to achieve the gender equity.

In addition, Neogy mentions it is not until we all, men and women, work together that we can end the gender-based violence. In order to protect the women from danger of sexual violence or abuse, proper education to both men and women is necessary to discard the fixed view on gender as well as improving the infrastructure such as security cameras. I found it important to reflect on the internal system of oppression. While it is not easy to change the familiar perspective which is shared in the community and we have learned through our lives, a person’s valiant challenge to the injustice can be piled up to achieve the social change.