A few days ago I was watching news on the television when one story caught my attention. The story said the Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr, who was sentenced to 90 lashes after appearing in an Australian movie, has been released from a prison in her country. Thought the news flash was given only about a minute of footage, those one minute quick news thingies…somehow, I just couldn’t distract myself from the track my thoughts had taken
The reason that the actress was convicted in the first place was that in her latest movie, she was shown without a head-scarf in one scene and then in another one, she was shown consuming alcohol. And for this, she was sentenced to a year in jail and 90 lashes..that is, 90 times to be beaten with a hunter.
For the next few minutes, I just couldn’t stop marveling at the heights of ignorance and hypocritical behavior and male chauvinism possible. In a day and age when even countries regarded as third world, like India, have accepted to an extent that women deserve and are getting the same position and respect, the same everything, in some areas even more than men, is a country where a woman is being lashed with hunters just because her profession demanded her to remove her head-scarf (something every woman born in that country is supposed to wear since someone, a man obviously, in the old times in that country thought that they should, for unfathomable reasons, even if it is without their own will) for a few moments and consume alcohol, which nowadays is shown being freely taken in by girls and boys of all ages on screen and off screen in practically every country where it can be afforded.
Its just pitiable. Even today, such governments exist, which instead of ensuring the well-being of all their citizens, pass the judgement to treat a woman in their country this way. Agreed, their religious “rule book” says that a woman who removes a head-scarf and blah blah should be punished this way, but I ask them, where the hell do those rules go when it comes to men? Are the men in that country subjected to beating if they drink, and not professionally mind you…in their real lives, or if they sleep around with other women, or if they abuse and beat up their wives? Why do all restrictions always apply to women? And who the hell gave all the men in the world the right to make all the major religious decisions?
Some things in our world are just so humanly wrong, and its so sad that educated people who claim to be mature and highly sensitive to world issues go dumb when it comes to a woman’s rights. I’m sure the same country would have fought heaven and earth if a man of their country was subjected to such treatment by some other country or government. But they won’t do so for a woman. Of course, because according to them a woman is merely a second grade human!
I just want to ask them this – “Would you even exist if a woman had not given you birth? Would you have survived if your mother or your sister or your wife had not fed you or taken care of you when you needed it?” Before inflicting such horrendous pain upon another woman, who has rightfully not done anything personal against you, how in the world can you forget that your mother, or your sister (or for those mere quantities of men for whom a wife still matters) too was a woman?
Stop treating women this way, and give them the respect and treatment that they deserve as humans. I truly feel pity for the men whose peanut sized brains cannot understand such a simple thing.