Commodification of Women
Posted by gargi on 18 Apr 2006 | Tagged as: India
Two very different stories in the papers.
This from the DNA talks about how the price for restoring the hymen - Hymenoplasty - is Rs.20,000/- and quotes a doctor saying:
“Young Gujarati girls turn up with the sole intention of keeping their future in-laws under the illusion that they are virgins,’’….. “I get queries from Indians in the US and Britain. If the practice becomes a trend, we will strike gold,”
And this one from the ToI talks about how men from Punjab, purchase brides from the North East - they have to look for brides from afar, coz they have systematically murdered the women in their own communities - for Rs.25,000!
For, now in its swirling fields play ‘chinky’ children, born of an urgent union between Sikh fathers and north-eastern mothers. These days, due to the unimaginably skewed sex ratios — in Fatehgarh Sahib, for instance, there are just 754 girls for 1,000 boys — Punjabi and Haryanvi men scout far and wide for brides.
(aside: Ahem, why is there a comma after the for and "urgent unions" - sounds like a bad line from a Gothic Romance. Gosh, who edits this stuff. )
So 20k for fixing a hymen and 25k for fixing a bride.
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5 Comments »
on 18 Apr 2006 at 5:52 pm 1.revi said …
remember that song sung by Lata - aurat ne janam diya mardon ko, mardon ne use baazar diya
the hymen fixing is not new - lots of arab girls used to have this done in england to prove virginity to their husband.!
on 19 Apr 2006 at 4:42 pm 2.charu said …
*starts puking* I read recently that married women were choosing to get their hymen restored as an “anniversary present” for their husbands * keeps puking* “look what i got you, a brand new vagina?”
on 20 Apr 2006 at 10:50 am 3.gargi said …
hmm revi. can you imagine a song like that in today’s context. Amidst all the music video’s and the item numbers:)
on 20 Apr 2006 at 10:52 am 4.gargi said …
well, i suppose everyone has their own sexual kinks
gift of virginity - i guess it won’t be long before it is auctioned on e-bay!
on 08 Jan 2008 at 8:15 am 5.A Time To Reflect » Blog Archive » On the road in India said …