So what is 'Second Sex' all about?
''SECOND SEX'' is the first English single to be released by The Anupam Roy Band....
'Society and consequence
Overriding commonsense
The future tense and stories of the wild'
The song ‘Second Sex’ believes and hence I believe that rape is not an individual but a social act. Rape is one of the most powerful expressions of violence against women, probably because of its direct attack on age-old and ridiculously patriarchal social norms about the “chastity” of a woman’s body. The very act of rape of a woman is one that intends to not just violate her physically, but violate her sense of being, her social identity so much so that the victim’s name needs to be withheld from the media and from public knowledge, in order to ‘protect her image’.
Our society or any society for that matter obsesses over the image of the ‘good woman’. She never steps out of her house after 10 pm, never wears ‘revealing clothes’, never smokes a cigarette or drinks alcohol. If she happens to do any one of these things, she is no longer a good woman and hence susceptible to violation. In other words, she cannot act like a man. If she does, there are ‘monsters’ out on prowl waiting to ‘punish’ her.
This is how our society legitimizes the act of rape, by shifting focus from the perpetrator to the victim. ‘Second Sex’ believes that rape has got nothing to do with sexual attraction and everything to do with asserting power over the so-called ‘weak’ or ‘vulnerable’ sex and humiliating the latter.
'Society and consequence
Overriding commonsense
The future tense and stories of the wild'
The song ‘Second Sex’ believes and hence I believe that rape is not an individual but a social act. Rape is one of the most powerful expressions of violence against women, probably because of its direct attack on age-old and ridiculously patriarchal social norms about the “chastity” of a woman’s body. The very act of rape of a woman is one that intends to not just violate her physically, but violate her sense of being, her social identity so much so that the victim’s name needs to be withheld from the media and from public knowledge, in order to ‘protect her image’.
Our society or any society for that matter obsesses over the image of the ‘good woman’. She never steps out of her house after 10 pm, never wears ‘revealing clothes’, never smokes a cigarette or drinks alcohol. If she happens to do any one of these things, she is no longer a good woman and hence susceptible to violation. In other words, she cannot act like a man. If she does, there are ‘monsters’ out on prowl waiting to ‘punish’ her.
This is how our society legitimizes the act of rape, by shifting focus from the perpetrator to the victim. ‘Second Sex’ believes that rape has got nothing to do with sexual attraction and everything to do with asserting power over the so-called ‘weak’ or ‘vulnerable’ sex and humiliating the latter.
Hence,
'No matter how you wear your skirt
You can always get hurt'
Finally, the song rejects the typically ‘masculine’ sentiments of all those men who, after every such incident, make promises of ‘protecting’ women - of fighting for the ‘mothers, sisters and daughters’ of the nation. Do they not realize that this very sense of ‘chivalry’ reinforces the ‘softer’, ‘weaker’, more ‘feminine’ and hence, more violable image of the woman? Why don’t we think of safety in terms of freedom rather than in terms of protection? Because-
'She’s not your mother,
She’s not your sister,
She’s not your daughter,
She needs no protector.'
'No matter how you wear your skirt
You can always get hurt'
Finally, the song rejects the typically ‘masculine’ sentiments of all those men who, after every such incident, make promises of ‘protecting’ women - of fighting for the ‘mothers, sisters and daughters’ of the nation. Do they not realize that this very sense of ‘chivalry’ reinforces the ‘softer’, ‘weaker’, more ‘feminine’ and hence, more violable image of the woman? Why don’t we think of safety in terms of freedom rather than in terms of protection? Because-
'She’s not your mother,
She’s not your sister,
She’s not your daughter,
She needs no protector.'
.....................................................................
Always the thinking woman's man, the singer-songwriter-composer-alloutmusician comes out with words that echo the sentiments of modern young women all over the world today.
As a woman myself, I can't deny the fact that I haven't faced this situation on a personal level - in fact, have faced it countless number of times:
- If you like your drink, you're loose
- If you sport a tattoo, you're definitely loose
- If you wear skirts or shorts, you're asking for guys out there to come and touch you grope you
- If you're on your own at a bar of course you're inviting trouble, in fact, it's no one's fault if a 'man' comes up and says something or tries to get too close, you were there alone exactly for that reason, isn't it? Forget the fact that all you may have wanted was to sit quietly at a bar and sip your own drink with just you - if you were unaccompanied at night, that too in a bar, you were surely trying to 'attract' guys
Absolute kudos to Anupam Roy and the entire gang of The Anupam Roy Band for understanding and giving voice to this important humanitarian issue that breaks norms and talks about non-objectification of women, of actually trying to 'understand' us, letting us live a free and uninhibited life, without being in need of constant 'protection.'
Keep your eyes and ears tuned to ABP Ananda@today, 4th May 2013 6.30pm
If you would like to be a part of the fan page of Second Sex on FB, please click here
- Debolina Raja Gupta
thats really true... whatever u'll do, u'll alwzz get hurt..
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