"Anyone can follow their dreams, us girls included!" Shirine |
At twenty years old I decided I was going to cycle around the world
alone. Having been raised in a hippy Oregonian town in the United
States, I never thought twice about the fact that as a women I was
setting out to do what so many believe is impossible. I have always
loved to travel, and having already spent an amazing year (at eighteen)
backpacking alone through South America, I really didn't consider this
next adventure to be all that crazy. I never thought twice about being
at a disadvantage because of my gender because I was raised in a family
and by a community that valued me just as much as they valued my
brother. Gender had never been an issue for me so I had never given it
much thought, I'm one of the lucky few who grew up reaping the benefits
of the previous feminist movements before me and therefore grew up
knowing without a doubt that I'm equal in every way to my male peers.
But
then I spent six months cycling alone through India and my world was
torn open in a painful yet insightful way. I couldn't stop to eat in
some parts of the country because when I did, I would be surrounded by
every single man in the village starring leeringly at me. I was grabbed
multiple times as I quietly made my way down the road, and more than
once men tried to push me down a ditch while I was cycling because they
wanted to have their way with me. Men handed me porn asking for naked
photos of me (because every white women in their mind is a porn star),
men yelled "I want to fuck you" as I walked by, and worst of all, men
considered me inherently inferior just because I was born with boobs
instead of a penis. Of course, there are wonderful people in India, and
there is a slowly growing movement for women's rights as well, but as a
whole, India is one of the worst countries in the world for women - not
just due to the constant rape and abuse - but because so many men, and
even many women, truly believe they are inferior because they have been
told so from birth.
Most of the women in India
thought I was crazy - not just in the "oh wow that's a great adventure" -
sort of way, but in a "what are you doing, this is not your place as a
women." I was asked by every single women I encountered if I had run
away, because they couldn't imagine a farther or husband allowing me to
walk around alone, and they often couldn't get their mind around the
fact that I didn't have a husband or father "controlling" me at all. I
never felt unequal because I know that I'm not. I never felt that what I
was doing was wrong, because I know it wasn't. But what about all of
the girls who grow up believing they are inferior? What about the
millions of girls who truthfully believe that rape, abuse, or unequal
treatment of any kind is ok, because they have never been taught
otherwise?
I loved the women throughout India and Nepal because they were fun,
lively, and strong willed even though their husbands may not know it. |
Check out more of my adventures:
Blog: awanderingphoto.wordpress.com
Twitter: @awanderingphoto
3 comments:
Hi, Its very nice that you are travelling around the world in your bicycle.. I'm from India and I lived there for more than 30 years of my life.. I have travelled the length and breath of the country, sometimes alone and sometimes with friends! I have never been treated inferior.. Don't ripe apart a county just by staying there for 6 months. I have no clue which part of the country you travelled but by and large white skin people are never treated as porn star in India, they are mostly considered as rich people.
And I have living in the US for 2 years, travelled 23 states there, frankly the amount of fear people have to walk around the streets after 6 pm is way more than what it can be in any part in India!
Anyway all the best for your journey.
Dear Anonymous,
Please take into account that this is one person's very subjective experience with no intentions to make sweeping statements about how people are in India or Nepal. It's about how Shirine felt during her journey. Also, very often we are more perceptive to denounce certain cultural traits exactly because we stumble upon them someplace away from the terrain we have been socialized in and, therefore, perceive as "normal", exactly as in Shirine's post or in your comparison between US and India.
Best, IHBG.
Anonymous,
I'm glad you don't feel like you have been treated as an inferior, but during my stay I constantly was. And yes, in many northern regions women are viewed as porn stars, something countless men showed me from how they acted, but also man well educated men (Indian) who comment and read my blog have told me this as well. Just by looking at stats, rape, harassment, and living standards for women.. India is indeed one of the worst places in the world. I am very glad you don't have to experience this on a daily basis as I did, or as so many of your fellow Indian women do, hopefully someday everyone will feel safe and comfortable with who they are when we reach true equality. I have met many other travelers, as well as locals, with whom I have discussesd this issue with immensely, and though of course everyone has their different opinions, I can definitely tell you I'm not the only one who feels this way there! That being said, of course America doesn't have true equality either, but at least there I feel comfortable being a women and have never been degraded or harassed or asked for porn over and over like in India.
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