….. was SR’s response to the HT story on women being molested outside JW Marriot on New Year’s eve. Women ought to know that it is unsafe for them…..Any other time of the year is ok for women, but on New Year’s… the men would be drunk and they are going to behave that way (i.e., molesting women)…He wasn’t defending the molesters. On the contrary he was saying that times like this bring out the worst in men….. and women should know better than to be out putting them selves at risk.

picture - courtsey the Hindustan Times… the entire set of images is here.

SR is, mostly, a nice guy. He is also a secure guy who has no hassles with working women or women who earn well or women who are independent. In fact a lot of his friends are independent working women who lead an ‘independent’ life style. He is the kind of guy who will make sure that inebriated females get home safely, and the kind of guy whom parents are secure about dropping their daughters home… For a long time “SR will drop me home” was a catch phrase for going out…..He makes no value judgements on women or their life style choices , and is a supportive friend….He is also the kind of guy who would probably plough into a situation like this trying to keep unknown women safe … And, yet he made a statement like this…..

There was a time when a statement like this would make me mad…. now it merely makes me sad. If men I know and like, and who have similar value systems think like this… then it is hardly surprising that Neanderthals - men who believe that women exist for their pleasure abide….

Tags: Gender Issues, India, Society