A shocking reminder of victimisation of women

CYBER CRIME AGAINST WOMEN BY DEBARATI HALDER

Since long women are used as a ‘cursor’ of chastity. A devoted wife is supposed to be a best woman, a devoted mother may not make a best wife, a devoted professional may not make a good wife, nor a good mother; the list goes on. Depending upon such analytical subjections, a woman can be a ‘good’ woman ( wanted by one and all in marriage markets and can make a good example for other women in the society), a smart woman (may not be wanted by one and all and may not prove to be a good example for other families who would like their daughters to be so called ‘good women’), and a bad woman ( wanted by none as the male dominated society may portray her as a woman who  can satisfy only her own demands, be it physical or emotional). Such ‘bad women’ make good "items" to be displayed. In the pre internet era, the gossip columns of news papers and popular magazines used to display them. In the internet era, it is again the gossip columns but in the web magazines where they are displayed. Who fall in the category of bad women? Any one right from a prostitute, who work to feed herself and her children,  to a stubborn female government official, who may stand for her as well as other women’s rights at any cost,  to a female academician who may fight against gender discrimination, to even an authoritative mother who may lay strict rules at home for welfare of her children irrespective of their sexes  and offcouse a female lover who finds her heart’s happiness going against her social customs and commands which may have been made to regulate women more than men, can fall in the bad woman category depending upon the social value system of her country and region. In the internet era these women, who fight for their own rights and happiness and yet tagged as bad women find unique places through unique mediums. One such example is the recently executed Afghan woman whose public execution pictures  are being circulated in the internet today (seehttp://in.news.yahoo.com/photos/public-execution-of-woman-condemned-in-afghanistan-slideshow/) . A regular reader of  Yahoo news services, at first I was taken aback when I found the news clipping titled “Afghan woman executed in public” in the Yahoo India news link today. Anyone would feel extremely disturbed. I nurse a curious woman in me who loves to see and read about  silver screen celebs, women entrepreneurs and achievers. This particular image of a man targeting his gun towards the head of a woman (she is not facing the camera....fortunately not), all wrapped up in a colour less cloth patiently waiting for her death, made me think that it is a trailer picture of Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit’s  forthcoming film (well the scroll showed a picture of Madhuri with her two sons  and an adoring husband in the backdrop of  TajMahal just before this horrible real life killing picture.) My brain made no mistakes in assuming the next picture in the scroll as a continuation of Madhuri’s story, as in the previous picture Madhuri was captured covering her head and face with a scarf for paparazzi reasons. But my poor brain slowly registered the fact; it was not a cinema clipping, it was real; a real picture of killing a woman in the most inhuman way because she was charged with adultery. The slides opened one by one and I got to see this woman’s execution slowly unfolding in the remaining six slides: many men watching the killing of a woman.
            These pictures could earn best journalistic pictures award in near future, may be this news reporter would earn accolade for reporting this inhuman act of  some fanatic humans. But it is now widely available in the internet. Men, women and especially children (matured as well as younger teens who surf the net for so many purposes) who may come across this clipping anywhere in the internet may lose a peaceful night’s sleep. What disturbs me is, there is no prior warning for ‘viewer’s choice’ before this clipping opens or the link pops up. This opens up wide range of dangers for humane internet savvy humans; imagine the psychological trauma of a matured teenager who may never have heard or seen such nasty executions, older viewers or even pregnant women who may have opened this slide show without properly understanding what it is about. It is indeed true that when a report is read without any images attached with it, the impact may give different results than when still pictures such as these are seen. The Yahoo would play a safe game as they won’t be liable unless someone asks them to remove it from their list; the link may find its place for a long time as this may not fall under ‘illegal speech and expression’ category in the internet if  advocates for free speech establish the fact that it doesn’t cross the red line. But to me it is revisiting victimisation of women in yet another new form. The more this clipping bearing  execution pictures float in the internet, the more some fanatics would get *strength* to terrorise innocent women with dire consequences.People, how long you will enjoy this cruel victimisation of women even in the internet age?

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