Masculinity In India

Masculinity for our Indian society often means a husband dominating his wife or guys teasing girls at any street corner.

Even today men in some areas think of it being a damage to their dominance if they carry their children in public or if their wives walk around parallel to them. For them, marriage only means going to their bedrooms whenever they wish. Rest of the day, they keep on beating or dictating their wives thinking of them to be their slaves. In our very own nation, husband is called ‘patidev' which itself provides the idea of them being owners. They start comparing themselves to God for their wives.

It comes to their pride when they are not accepted by girls. And then they deal with it real maturely. The rising acid attack cases are a result of this maturity only.

We often misunderstand masculinity and disregard men who fail to earn a good living for their family. Here it is considered a thing to be ashamed of if a man chooses to be a home maker or helps his wife in household work. The concept of ‘joru ka gulaam' has its roots here only.

Men are not allowed to cry, be it funeral of their mothers or bidding farewell to their married daughters. A male who shows his emotions publicly is often mocked upon and made fun of. Every sensitive guy out there needs to wear a mask of aggression and power to fit into the standards set by our orthodox society.

But the same so called ‘men' forget their so called ‘masculinity' when they get involved into crimes like female foeticide and stain their hands with blood of someone who was not even born. Manliness never comes into their way when they ask for dowry. And the worst part is when they indulge into raping or sexually abusing a female merely to satisfy their lust and showcase their machismo.

Some or other forms of male chauvinism can be seen easily in our daily lives. Even in this progressive India, females are not allowed to speak in family matters at various places. Handling finance and technical things is still not considered their forte.

According to me, it's high time that we change the present conditions of manliness and come across with new and better terms of masculinity. If this really happens, then most of the crimes faced by women in this country would come to an end.