Sexual treatment of women blurs the margins of society

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: NITEENRK
Women across the world are subjected to all types of treatment and not all of it is good.

When I first came across the idiosyncrasies of the Third World, the one that bothered me the most was the legitimate sex slavery: forced marriage. Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, parts of Africa and other Middle-Eastern countries often are the silent witnesses of these social glitches. The problems of the First World include obesity and teenage tantrums. The world witnesses the demise of womanhood, which is not accidental anymore. However, it’s not harsh to say it’s sometimes intentional.

I came across these Canadian cases in a recent article published in Macleans’ that laments the plight of many a woman victimized by the church, family and congregations. These cases stare blatantly at the surface of the polished society of the so-called liberated society of the First World.

The plight of the LGBT community isn’t any better. This revealing article mentions the plight of a Mexican transgender who struggled under the pressure of the family who disgraced her actual orientation.

When I first landed in this country — also known as the land of immigrants — I was greeted by the wide smile of liberal diversity. But it deeply disturbs me to find that behind that hides the plight of a conservative society.

Women aren’t sexually harassed; sometimes it becomes a myth when we come across cases like Jian Ghomeshi’s. The ideal workplace dies the early death in the humiliation many women faced or even faces.

It upsurges high emotions in the hearts of modern womanhood, which takes pride in being independent and seeks respect in return. The much-loathed issues, which have been happening lately, disturbs our state of mind and makes us vulnerable to those — even among our family — who push us towards the plight of sex slavery in the name of marriage.

The Canadian Parliament is exploring making forced marriage a criminal offense in Canada, which is already illegal in Norway, Pakistan, Belgium and the United Kingdom. There have been a series of cases of forced marriages in Canada leading to bouts of controversies and authorities feared of putting the tag of liberalism and free society of the country at stake.

Why are these activist groups pouncing to join hands in a better way? I look around the scenario of the First World: Tess Klaver, the 18-year-old sexually harassed and exploited at Queen’s University also increased the need of more alarmed and helpful campus security. The surprise in such a case was the refusal to help readdress the damsel in distress. Young adults are often misjudged and mistreated for seeking help at any distress centre.

What worries me the most in the entire scenario is the intolerance and treatment towards women in the world; the terrains of Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, where women are the toys of pleasure, the sexual elixir of men and the device to roll the figures of the population.

The cases of sexual exploitation, including child sexual abuse, forced marriages, rape and assault cases recorded in Canada is comparable to any of these Third World. SexAssault. ca says that out of 100 rape cases, only six are reported to the police and this maybe due to the stigma of soiling the family’s reputation. The interesting fact in the available statistics states that half of the women undergoing any form of sexual harassment are either married or in long-term relationships. Incest doesn’t fall far behind, and 17 per cent of girls under the age of 16 child sexual abuse.

We might start blaming the congregation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the church – I used to work with the Mother Teresa Foundation for Women and Children in India, where children were taught to differentiate between good and bad touch and along with that reporting the perpetuators – or the fact that women struggle to find existence in a world dominated by alpha males.

Citizens of the world should not only be made aware of these problems but how to address them.

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