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SOCIETY
Despite the controversial Slutwalk, the gender scene remained a grey area
Street was the new stage not only for the Anna Hazare team but also for feminists of varying hues, shapes and sizes. So as the off-the-cuff remark of Canadian police officer: "Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised," sparked off a series of protests worldwide in what came to be known as SlutWalks, India, too, picked up a cue. While the first such protest was held in Bhopal, in Delhi close to Jantar Mantar the Besharmi morcha (so rechristened in India) even included a street play to draw attention of the people to sexual violence. But did India care? If it had, two young boys Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandes wouldn’t have lost their lives in an eve-teasing brawl in Mumbai. As the bravehearts, who were trying to take on eve-teasers were stabbed to death, murmurs of protests were heard. A Facebook campaign was also launched. But India, which was adjudged the fourth most dangerous place in the world for women by a poll survey of Reuters Thompson Foundation on ‘the state of affairs of women in the country,’ didn’t become any safer for the fairer sex by the close of the year. A court in Uttar Pradesh may have sentenced eight men in Mathura for "honour killings", but the barbaric practice continued with alarming regularity throughout the year. On gender issues, society retained its classic stance of one step forward and two backwards. So while the overall sex ratio may have picked up, the child sex ratio registered the worst-ever figures since Independence, that of 914 girls to 1000 boys. Blame it on ultrasound machines, unscrupulous doctors or obsessive preference for sons, daughters were nobody’s babies. Yet the same India from where millions of girls have simply vanished before they could see the light of the day, rejoiced at the birth of Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan’s baby girl. Yet another girl who brought cheer was Shonan Kothari, who made Mumbaikars, nay Indians, dance to her tunes. The 23-year-old was behind Mumbai’s flash mob, a phenomenon in which a group of people assembles suddenly at a public place, perform an unusual act for a brief time, often for the purpose of entertainment. That her impromptu dance performance came a day after the anniversary of 26/11, perhaps, wasn’t lost on many. Among others, she won the admiration of Abhishek Bachchan, who tweeted —"I wish I could shake a leg too". While other Bollywood celebrities like Vidya Balan were busy shaking off the dust raised by controversies, once again, Aamir Khan emerged as the real icon. This time not of filmdom but of surrogacy. As he and his wife Kiran openly and candidly admitted to have parented a baby boy through a surrogate, the world gaped in awe. Experts believe that he could give big push to surrogacy laws in India which, though intensely debated in Parliament, continue to be in the grey area. A draft Bill on fixing 16 years as the age of consent for sex was prepared. Yet when an Indo- Canadian porn star Sunny Leone made her entry on Bigg Boss Season 5, moralists were outraged and accused her and the channel of pushing youth on to pornographic sites. ‘No sex please, we are Indians’ remained the public face of the country, which otherwise celebrated the birth of world’s seven billionth baby and where 42,000 babies are born every day. Nevertheless, India, the land of contradictions, remained the toast of international celebrities as Lady Gaga and Tom Cruise came calling and cruised through the parties of the rich and the famous.
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