Dear Parents Raising Boys,
You can be the change makers. Lightened candles, signed petitions have always had our back but now we need you to be the catalyst. We have come a long way and yet there’s a long path that awaits us.
We must raise our daughters differently. We must also raise our sons differently.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists
We recently saw bois locker room conversations, groups on instagram by teenagers of South Delhi sharing pictures of underage girls and talking about their bodies. At the same time few conversations of girls’ locker room. You can read this article by Prishita Singh for more information-
https://lawcorner.in/bois-locker-room-are-we-all-really-startled
As soon as the conversations leaked, rage and anger grew in people all over social media. It blew up twitter. Hashtags like #girlslockerroom, #boislockerroom and #notallmen were trending for quite a few days.
All of it felt as if a fight between men and women each proving their innocence. People were using one wrong to justify another wrong. All of us failed to understand that it is not a fight of men against women but instead a fight between the ideologies: the ideology of feminism and the ideology of patriarchy.
Patriarchy began ages back. Since then, we have been trying to fight patriarchy. But at the end of the day, women are taught to “be careful”, to “cover themselves”, etc. We can’t blame our parents. They have always meant well for us.
We have often heard,” We trust you, We don’t trust the world.” They can’t end patriarchy or sexual assault while the parents raising boys, you can make this world worth trusting. Teach your son he is not ought to protect us rather he is to ought to respect us. Teach your son about modesty, personal space, feminism and healthy masculinity.
Fathers your son will learn how to treat women from you. Teach him well to make the world worth trusting for daughters.
AVNI JAIN 