Holi Festival.
I occasionally tune in the a blog called “Ultra Violet” which features several feminists from India and what they say about women, gender and sexuality issues in India. Since I’ve visited India twice, and am a feminist, by default I’m rather interested in what they have to say.
Recently, a particular article caught my eye. It was one about Holi Festival, or festival of colors. Around early March, Holi takes place. It is called “playing” Holi, in which people raid the streets and throw colored dye on each other and often water balloons and squirt guns. I was able to participate in Holi during my last trip and it was a BLAST. People you don’t know run to you, and smear colored dye on your face, you find an alley and you dance. For me it was awesome, hilarious and fun. To throw colored dye around and dance to Indian music in an alley in Mumbai.
However, Anjuli Kaul breaks down how playing Holi often occurs to women, when they don’t want it to.
“The girl in the auto rickshaw screams in pain as a water balloon hits her smack on her face as she makes her way to work. And it is the day before Holi! Yet another is blinded as she is hit by one on her eye from a passing train. Women dare not step out into streets in many north Indian cities on the morning of the festival. Otherwise they are “asking for it”. Which means being coloured and having one’s breasts pinched.”
Woah. This hit me hard. What an anaogly for how women are harrassed on a daily basis because society both allows it and since women are on the streets they are “asking for it”
It’s a bit difficult to explain Holi if you had not participated, but asking a person on the street if they actually WANT dye rubbed on their face doesn’t happen- it just happens. I was lucky in that, I WAS participating in Holi and even if no one asked I wasn’t offended. What an interesting view on sexual harassment. While, I did question if it was a stretch- I did remember three men, rubbing dye on my face, hugging me hard and not letting go for longer than what I felt comfortable with. I felt a bit convicted as I read this article.
Sexual harassment/abuse, according to Lindy Bancroft, of “Why Does He Do That” results from a sense of entitlement, which ultimitaly comes from cultural and society norms. It is NORMAL for a man to be on the sexual pursuit because afterall, they need it. And women are what they desire and are allowed to use. As it relates to Holi festival, I can see how this can be a catalyst for cultural norms. During my experinece, sexual harassment happens in India, like it does in the United States. Not in the same ways, but it happens. I think Holi festival can be a catalyst for this type of unwanted touching or behavior.
The Arabic UN describes sexual harassment as such:
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when: · Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, or · Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or · Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. Unwelcome Behavior is the critical word. Unwelcome does not mean "involuntary." A victim may consent or agree to certain conduct and actively participate in it even though it is offensive and objectionable. Therefore, sexual conduct is unwelcome whenever the person subjected to it considers it unwelcome. Whether the person in fact welcomed a request for a date, sex-oriented comment, or joke depends on all the circumstances.
However, I do feel like the writer of the article was a little harsh. Saying that Holi festival is the cause of sexual harassment is like saying Halloween is a cause of sexual harassment. We know: it’s not the cause but it is a catalyst, a door in which sexual harassment becomes more prevalent and easily available.
It certainly made me question though, why three men felt like it was ok to hug me for an extended period of time without asking first? It really does take a whole ‘nother country to put things in perspective.
Works
Holi âkhelnaâ: Playing without Consent | ULTRA VIOLET.” Holi âkhelnaâ: Playing without Consent. Web. 08 May 2012. <http://ultraviolet.in/2012/05/03/holi-khelna-playing-without-consent/>.
Bancroft, Lundy. Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men. New York: Putnam’s Sons, 2002. Print.
“What Is Sexual Harassment?” The UN: United Nations Arabic. Web. <http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/pdf/whatissh.pdf>.
