"It includes the inability of men to accept that women have rights, that they are human beings, that they should be left alone, that they have a right to occupy space in the public arena.
Time again, deep-seated patriarchal attitudes are laid bare when an assault on women, particularly in cities, is reported. The time-worn arguments about the way women should dress in public are doled out. Women will be "safe" if they stay away from certain places, we are told. Women must not go out in the middle of crowds of men, so women must be careful, we are warned.
The basic attitude that still prevails, irrespective of caste, class or creed, can be summed up as follows: Men know, women don't; men must teach, women must learn; men can behave as they like, women must conform. Need one say more? The exceptions do not make the rule, as we have seen time and again."
- KALPANA SHARMA
in her article "An Assault on Dignity", The Hindu Magazine, January 13, 2008
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