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Video Information:
Interview Session, 12.01.20, Advait Bodhsthal, Greater Noida, India
Context:
Is wearing short dresses a reason for rape?
Why does our society restrict us from wearing short dresses?
Is wearing bold dress a symbol of freedom?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/enquir...
Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?
Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video Information:
Interview Session, 12.01.20, Advait Bodhsthal, Greater Noida, India
Context:
Is wearing short dresses a reason for rape?
Why does our society restrict us from wearing short dresses?
Is wearing bold dress a symbol of freedom?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Acharya ji, there is a question in my mind that keeps bothering me quite a lot, so this
00:16concept of you know wearing short dresses and not being seen in short dresses in the
00:25public, that you can do it at home, that it's fine if you wear whatever you want but at
00:31home, but don't go outside in those short clothes, in what you are comfortable with.
00:38Some of the world leaders even allege that one of the reasons that a woman would get
00:45raped is because she was wearing revealing clothes, so what is your understanding on
00:51this?
00:52There are two sides involved here, one the woman who is walking about wearing whatever
01:06clothes she is and she has her own story to tell and then there are those who are leering
01:18and jeering and ogling, mocking, sometimes attacking.
01:41I would want to have a sincere discussion with both of them, firstly with the side
01:58that is so articulate in saying that women should mind their clothes, their dressing.
02:14I want to ask them, what kind of person are you, man or a woman?
02:27If anything is able to disturb or provoke you so easily, your allegation is that when
02:43you watch a woman dressed skimpily then that becomes a disturbance, a distraction, even
02:58a provocation, how will you insulate yourself and how much will you insulate yourself from
03:07the world?
03:13And what are the limits to what you want to see and not see?
03:26Today you say that woman's legs or thighs provoke you, what prevents you from saying
03:43tomorrow that her ankles or fingernails provoke you?
03:53Would you then demand that she cover up from head to toe?
04:04I want to question this, I mean, after all body is body, skin is skin, flesh is flesh
04:13and blood and bones are blood and bones.
04:24What prevents somebody from coming up tomorrow and saying that the sight of a naked nose
04:31is a great sexual invitation to me?
04:36You see nose, I find nose quite erotic and was it not so that in Victorian England, even
04:52the legs of tables and chairs were covered because legs are not supposed to be displayed.
05:02I mean, it's a matter of conditioning, you can condition yourself to think that legs
05:09are highly sensual, even erotic, even on tables, even on furniture.
05:22So this whole thing will not rest even if you totally drape the woman in all kinds of
05:34protective clothing.
05:37Then they will say that the very sight of the feminine figure even if totally covered
05:44provokes us.
05:46So women should not be allowed to even walk in public and the matter might not end even
05:54at this point, they might say the very thought of woman provokes us.
06:01So women should not probably be allowed to exist because if they exist and if we know
06:07that they exist, they become a disturbance to us, we are being disturbed, our mental
06:14peace is being lost and women are the culprit, why do they exist at all?
06:19Go ahead and attack them.
06:23So I want to ask this to them, is it really so that you cannot stand the sight of a bare
06:33arm or thigh or back or cleavage?
06:42Is it really so very explosive to you, you can't stand it?
06:47What kind of a person are you?
06:53When the woman is not in front of you, do you keep fantasizing about her all the time?
06:59This is mental illness.
07:03Only if you are indulging in all kinds of sexual fantasies and inner perversion, will
07:12you then jump upon her at the first sight.
07:27Otherwise there is hardly anything so very alluring in the bare body of a human being,
07:42a person, a female.
07:47Had you had any kind of little spiritual education, you would have known the fact of the body.
07:56Had you paid even a few visits to a crematorium, you would have known what bones, skin, blood
08:17and all the visual beauty is really about.
08:25You just need to see the intestines popping out of the stomach of a burning body and you
08:41would lose all fascination for bellies and belly buttons.
08:52So I seriously need to sit with those people who say that women, by dressing in so-called
09:01loose way, make us vulnerable, corruptible.
09:09They are the ones who are responsible because they provoke us.
09:14Sometimes people need some rigorous counselling, they are sick.
09:26Then there are the women who say that it is a mark of our freedom that we wear whatever
09:35we like to wear, I understand.
09:42Freedom must be respected.
09:45Freedom must be respected, but for freedom to be respected, freedom must be freedom,
09:48not conditioning.
09:53Freedom deserves all respect, not conditioning.
09:55When you say that you want to come out in public wearing this and that, would you please
10:01sit down for a moment and ask yourself why exactly do I want to wear what I am wearing?
10:11Obviously, if you are on the shore, if you are at a beach or if you are in a swimming
10:25pool, then you have to wear the swimming costume.
10:32It could be a two-piece bikini.
10:37And it is obvious why you need to wear only that much.
10:44You are not going to swim in a sari.
10:51Similarly there are other obvious, functional, utilitarian reasons why one dresses a particular
11:01way.
11:07And then there could be the ultimate reason of physical comfort, that too is an obviously
11:11valid reason.
11:13One feels physically comfortable wearing something.
11:17And the moment you say that you feel very comfortable, physically comfortable wearing
11:23hot pants or micro-minis or whatever, nobody holds any right to object because it is your
11:32body and if your body feels better wearing a particular kind of stuff, who is anybody
11:38else to object?
11:40But then you sincerely need to ask yourself and only you can ask this to yourself, is
11:47it only for reasons of functional utility or physical comfort that I am wearing what
11:52I am?
11:55If you are wearing what you are wearing because it is functionally needed, let's say you
12:00are an athlete, you will have to dress up in a particular way.
12:12Or if you say that you are very comfortable wearing this or that because it is hot and
12:18you can't stand to wear something that is heavier or more oppressive in that kind of
12:30weather, fine.
12:34But I have seen women in sub-zero temperatures, the temperature is minus 4 and she is wearing
12:56almost nothing.
13:01That does not provoke a reaction from me but basic simple curiosity, are you cold proof?
13:23Are you weather and climate proof?
13:27Do you have some kind of divine heating mechanism inside you that men do not have?
13:37How is it so that you choose to reveal the body even in sub-zero temperatures and all
13:45the men are walking around in heavy woolens?
13:55And you do not need to go abroad to test what I am saying, just go to any discotheque in
14:02Delhi on a Saturday night, rather a Sunday morning at 2 am, that is the time when all
14:09the discotheques shut down and watch the women coming out and notice the difference
14:18between the dressing of the male folk and the women.
14:31If you are using your body to gather attention, if gathering male attention has become very
14:46important to you, then it is not a good psychological state to be in, are you getting it?
14:57And please remember I am not saying this as an advocate of the male population, I
15:06am saying this as a friend of the woman, I am asking her, why is the male sight or the
15:18male gaze so important to you?
15:23If you want attention from people, if you want respect from people, why can't it be
15:30for higher reasons?
15:34Why do you want them to look at you because you have a sexy figure?
15:43Why can't you have them look at you because you have certain qualities or accomplishments?
15:53Remember if you want men to look at just your body, they would actually be always looking
16:02down at you.
16:05But if people, men or women look at you because of your qualities, they would always be looking
16:13up to you.
16:18So to hoots to what all the men say, let them go to hell, but as a woman don't you want
16:27to question yourself, I mean how has testosterone become so important to me, how?
16:39For the sake of his eye, why am I exposing my body?
16:49Is he so very important?
16:54Is he so very central to my existence that I can't live without getting appreciation
17:01and adoration from him?
17:07That's the question the women need to ask themselves, that's also a question those boys
17:15and men need to ask themselves who develop a gym-toned sculpted body and then want to
17:26take off their tees in all kinds of pretexts and that's obviously to get the attention of
17:42the other.
17:44I understand we live in a society, we are related to each other, we will have something
17:50to do with the other, you will always have some relationship with the other, but why
17:57can't that relationship be on healthier grounds?
18:01Why must the two be related because they appreciate each other's body and when I say that I do
18:11not mean that sculpted bodies are not advisable, obviously both men and women should have perfectly
18:20fit bodies, right?
18:25But then relating to the other merely by advertising your body is no good, no good.