We're Humans, not Barbarians

Don't tell me women should dress conservatively, or not go out at night, or not drink, or avoid the company of men ('for their own safety'). As a man, that insults me. It tells me that you regard me as a barbarian; that you think it's my natural tendency to rape a woman at the slightest sense of opportunity. It tells me that you think I'm a wild beast whom women should live in perpetual fear of. So don't give me any of that nonsense. If men misbehave, incriminate them, and incriminate the values and conditioning that society gives them. Don't try to excuse it as natural male behaviour, or to blame women for being too 'outgoing'. That's obviously sexist and demeaning of women; but at the same time, it demeans men too.

A similar argument applies to many other forms of violence that are sought to be explained away as 'natural'. In the aftermath of the horrific 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi infamously said, "when a big tree falls the earth will shake". The post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002 have often been described by L. K. Advani and other BJP leaders as the 'natural reaction' of the Hindu community. Do these people not realise how profoundly demeaning their statements are, not just of the minority communities, but more pertinently, of the majority community? As a Hindu, are you telling me that it is my natural tendency to go out and slaughter thousands of innocent Muslims or Sikhs, in revenge for a crime committed by a few terrorists? Is that what Hinduism is? Is that the 'Hindutva' that the BJP would like us to be proud of? Such mindless, barbaric reactions can only be the result of extreme provocation and fear, which our politicians have always specialised in whipping up and exploiting. To describe them as in any way natural is a great affront to the dignity not only of the particular communities concerned, but of humanity itself.

So when men or mobs become dehumanised monsters, don't tell me that's just how we are. Don't tell me the victims are at fault for having provoked us. Don't tell me we're barbarians; because we're humans.