As women, we are all used to being judged --- sometimes for the choices we make, the decisions we take or the clothes we wear --- not only this, most women are also subject to taunt, jibes and ridicules are even slut shamed by people who in particular have nothing better to do in life. However, can you ever imagine that as a woman, you can ever be slut shamed by children, who are as young as 10 years old? Unbelievable? Well, this is exactly what happened with New Delhi-based journalist Tanya Dubey at the upscale Meherchand Market in South Delhi.
According to Tanya, a few street kids, who were not even 10 years of age, started shaming her for wearing a dress in which her legs were visible. If this isn’t enough, when Tanya paid no heed to their comments, they barged into the café where she was having lunch and started hurling abuses at her, just because she refused to give them food.
In a telling Facebook post, Tanya relives the trauma. Hearing her story, it’s enough to say that children, no matter their background, should be sensitized about where to draw the line…
(Content courtesy: Tanya Dubey’s Facebook post)
“Don’t you love it when you’re blatantly being yourself and wearing what you want and not caring what people in the Rape capital of the country are thinking? Well, I do. It is my own personal brand of revolution- doing whatever I want, wearing anything I want to, and never justifying my choices to anyone.
Well, that worked for me quite well until now if I wore my headphones during a public commute, walked only in crowded places and just stayed careful in general- true to my social conditioning as an Indian woman.
Today, all of that changed when I didn’t just get harassed at a ‘reasonable’ hour of the evening but I got abused by a group of kids. Yes, kids that were surely less than ten years of age.
I was sitting in a lovely cafe with my friend in Meherchand Market when a couple of young kids approached us by knocking on the glass door which we faced. We proceeded to ignore the young beggars as we usually do on the street. Things got worrisome when I found more kids joining them and then proceeding to look at my legs that were visible in a dress. What happened next was unbelievable and they started commenting on my dressing, how they could see ‘everything’ even as I was sitting on a chair with my legs crossed.
They then entered the cafe and started abusing explicitly because we wouldn’t buy them food or give them money. I only proceeded to call the manager to try and keep them away but they relentlessly kept barging in and verbally attacking us. I threatened to call the police but the kids laughed at that suggestion. It’s then that I wondered if police would be able to do anything except maybe beat them which is hardly a solution.
While my female friend and I had decided to walk back to the metro station, we decided against it and booked a cab to get away from this scene. Considering how ‘convenient’ cabs are, the cab didn’t spot us and we had to get out of the cafe and the group of boys followed us for a few yards. When they saw us ignoring them, they threw stones that didn’t hit us. I can’t believe I was scared of kids today.
The cab came just in time for us to finally get rid of them.
All I know is that will never be able to get rid of this scarring incident.
Congrats to us as a society- this is what our children are learning. This is the real India. This is what our ‘privileged’ girl child will deal with.
(My intention behind this status is to know more about your own experience. Is there a way to deal with these children? Can any action be taken? Please guide and help me spread the word, even if it is on social media.)”
She has now posted the latest update...
“Update: We called the child and women’s helpline and this is the lowdown- Women’s helpline told me to register a complaint in the police station closest to the Meherchand market area. They also refused to take any action on their own. The child helpline was more useful- they told us that they have received over 6 similar complaints in the past few months and they have sent a letter to DM to solve the issue. They also said that they’re unable to talk to the children and while police has been involved, they can’t do much as they’re juveniles. They will have to drop off the kids with their parents and as these kids already live there with their migrant parents and beg all day- the only solution is possibly counseling. I have decided to register a complaint in the police station regardless because I hope that will expedite some action. The children have been emboldened and do this to a lot of people so this needs to be done.“
It is really sad to see that the kids whom we often ignore looking at their ages and financial conditions are now going too far and commenting on the dignity of a woman. The Indian Feed strongly condemns this incident and hopes that proper arrangements are made by the govt. to improve the condition of these kids and rehabilate them. Also, we as a society have failed somewhere when kids of the age of 6-10 years slut shame a woman.”
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