Revealing the scale of violence against women that goes on behind closed doors even in the most privileged homes, Anoushka Shankar, composer and daughter of the late sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, has said how as a child she suffered “sexual and emotional abuse” in silence for several years at the hands of a man her parents “trusted implicitly.”
Even now, years later, she is often “afraid to walk alone at night, afraid to answer a man who asks for the time,” Ms. Shankar said in a video recorded at her London home in support of the global “One Billion Rising” campaign for an end to violence against women.
“As a woman, I find I am frequently living in fear. Afraid to walk alone at night, afraid to answer a man who asks for the time…’’ she said.
“Growing up, like most women I know, I suffered various forms of groping, touching, verbal abuse and other things I didn’t know how to deal with, I didn’t know I could change,” the 31-year-old sitarist said.
Campaigners said the revelation confirmed how women silently suffered abuse because the perpetrator was a family member or friend.
Ms. Shankar said that in the wake of the brutal gang rape of the 23-year-old Delhi student time had come to declare “enough is enough”.
Urging people to rise up, she said: “I am rising for (the Delhi rape victim) and women like her. I am rising with the amazing women of my country. I am rising for the child in me, who I don’t think will ever forgive and recover from what happened to her. So, join me, let’s rise, let’s dance. Dance has the power to heal, to transform. So let’s transform ourselves and this world. Let’s rise together,” she said.
The One Billion Rising movement was started by the American playwright and feminist Eve Ensler, who described it as the biggest global action in the history of mankind to demand an end to violence against women.
Keywords: One Billion Rising, child sexual abuse, Anoushka Shankar
@ P.G RAVIKUMAR - "Every human being has a darker side and it would be
better not to wash the dirty linen in public"
It is because of this mentality that women do not go public with
injustice done to them. The very reason why women shy away from verbal
disclosure. And the very reason why some men know they are "safe" so
long as the woman does not speak out.
The change has to be from the very roots. Weed out this ancient
attitude that "dirty linen must not be washed in public".
Yes, Anoushka is a great artist, but she is a woman first and is
vulnerable to every issue that affects any other woman.
I am not a feminist, but this is just basic stuff - that ultimately
reflects on a person's upbringing I guess.
A courageous but tragic revelation from an esteemed musician. It may
be germane to point out that the Indian male is a coward at heart -
they prey on the weak and operate in packs on the roads of any our
numerous metros. On being accosted by force they invariably melt away
like the proverbial hyena. This cowardice is exposed for all to see in
our schools our colleges during, 'ragging', our job interviews, our
gutless bosses at work, our politicians, our police and our
bureaucrats.
It takes mental and physical courage to do the right things, to follow
principles of natural justice and to stand up for the rights of the
weak.
In addition to viewing women as equal members of our society, we need
to develop balance in our approach towards the fairer (not weaker)
sex.
For example, "strong men whistling after a pretty girl on the street"
is an age old joke. A lovestruck suitor serenading his love sitting
under her window singing to her all night forms a very romantic
picture. But the same two actions can make the girl feel threatened
and can eventually result in stalking and harassment. What is the
difference? The difference is that in one case the girl engages in the
activity, is content with receiving the attention and in the other she
doesn't want to engage and feels threatened. We need to recognize her
inalienable right to do so.
Mr Ravikumar, you are joking right? It is common knowledge that the
major public opinion in India is still that women should remain
"sacrosanct" for their man, that women should follow the "lakshman
rekha" of home affairs and that forcing women to hide their beauty and
locking them up mentally and physically somehow preserves their
dignity and "purity".
It is in India that a major social leader ignores totally the violence
faced by non-urban women and claims that rapes only occur in India and
not in Bharat.
What we need in India is a major shift in social attitudes towards
women. We need to view women as the same as us men only with one
chromosome replaced by another. Giving up your seat to a lady doesn't
impart her any great comfort and thereby make her the weaker sex. Its
good behavior, nothing more. The girl sitting next to you in class has
the same ambition as you to carve out a career and be a success and
deserves to be treated at par with your own self. And on and on.
A sad story. I find Mr Ravikumar's remarks very insensitive. One must remember that Anoushka is the victim. By the social attitude he recommends, the victim will be silenced. It is precisely this attitude which has resulted in this horrific situation.
Please change Mr Ravikumar. Talking about ones suffering is not washing your dirty linen.
Anoushka deserves sympathy by showing support for the movement she is part of and pressurising the Governments all over the world to do something about it.
It is not good to portrait our country, as an abode of child and women
abusing center especially to foreign media. There are many developed
countries worst than India. We need to look this at the percentage of
our population. Population of all European countries put together is
less than than 1/4th of our population. We have been hearing of child
abuse by Bishops in the west. The amount of child pornography in west
may be hundred times more than India. There are cruel cases of women
and child abuses in India and the government is taking very serious
action on it. Indians should be proud of our country and politicians
both ruling and opposition should instill patriotism and pride of our
country. The politicians should become role models to lead the nation
not only economically strong but also socially and morally strong.
Political parties must have essential ethics and should support the
government in power in a spirit of cooperation and help removing
corruption, nepotism, and crime.
P.G.RAVIKUMAR: A person's "dark side" is what they are capable of.
Anoushka Shankar is speaking of the abuse she suffered to highlight
that no class of society is free from violence against women. I
suppose you would prefer women to keep quiet and suffer in silence, so
as not to "wash [their] dirty linen in public".
It's people like you who don't want to use words like "molested" who
perpetuate this idea prevalent in our society that the victim of abuse
should suffer in silence. Which of course means that the perpetrator
is never brought to justice.
If you're counting yourself as someone who doesn't "consider women as
slaves" maybe you should reevaluate your opinions and give more
considerations to the women who suffer such indignities as
molestation, abuse and rape.
Yes, India has women in positions of power. That doesn't mean,
however, that violence against women isn't rife.
MUNNA: Just how is she creating more confusion? She is talking about
something that has scarred her.
It has become a fashion nowadays to talk about the dark past. We adore anoushka for her muscial talent and not necessarily about her shady past. Every human being has a darker side and it would be better not to wash the dirty linen in public.
As to Mr David's comments lamenting about women in India, may we remind him about the inglorious french gentleman who was reported to have molested(I don't want to use the ugly word)his little child.
At least in India, women continue to occupy high offices and have woken up long back to fight for equal status in power, wealth and education. It is common knowledge that women in many European countries do not even step out of their family circle.
Let us not generalise such aberrations in a billion plus country and categorise the whole nation as treating women as slaves.
The media should show some restraint in covering such cases.Popular TV channels have been dwelling on this one issue, viz. rape for the past two months, day in and day out.
In the book 'Aleph' by Paulo Coelho,the central character in the novel
was subjected to abuse in childhood. When I reviewed this book, I
received hundreds of mails and comments from women across the world
about how they still face the trauma of the abuses on them during
childhood. This shows how serious and widespread this problem. You can
see this, particularly a detailed letter by a girl I have reproduced in
the review itself, in my article in 'Cyber Diary'('Aleph, Paulo Coelho
and my Friend')
I'm french and when I see this kind of problem I'm very sad.
In France the woman, daughter, wife, sister are as repected as the man, boy, brother. I'm really proud of that and I'm went in India twice, I love your people and country, and my son with blu eyes was a interresting person, but never my daughter was appreciate like my son..why the'r children ? the same children, with the 100% same rights, aren't they ?
Though education has the power to enlighten people about the right and
wrong, it is the people who has to accept the education imparted through
schools and colleges and get enlightened. Lets open the gates to
education for all men, women and children irrespective of their caste,
color and creed so that humanity as a whole gets benefited. We will see
less and less of these once the people learn about collective growth.
She will create more confusion to women minds as many organization are
already doing so. Perhaps late sitarist had no time to see his children,
it seems the way the girl has bring out fact about her life. Parents
must be more conscious and attentive to their children and teach them
morality rather than obsessing in their profession only.
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