The Passive Observer - On the other side ...

Fear, an emotion; I have never felt striking me with such a strong force before. Like the air gushing out of my systems without my will...like the sound of the unknown shrieking in my ears...like a consistent itch...Like I want it to stop..NOW...like i want to be absolved of the guilt that has been gnawing at my consciousness...paralysed by the fear of the act...

I speak for equality...I speak against the acts of horror against women...I speak for a community of men who do not speak on the idea of equal human rights...

But I fear...for I am a Man...a Man who fears the ire of the feminist brigade...a Man who fears the rejection from the community of brother hood....a Man who would be questioned on his orientation if he goes too far to support the cause of the "Pink" revolution...someone who would be looked at with queer eyes and questioning intentions...Courage is always the second step to change...the first is the acceptance within oneself, of and from the community of change...

I may even be seen as an opportunist....someone jumping on the bandwagon at the right time...someone who wants to make it big in the social sector..and what better a 'cause' to join than the issue of equal rights to women.

There is a reason I ended that sentence with a full stop before it finished logically. For it is no longer a matter of equality between 'sexes' or 'gender' that we address...It is still a question of a battle of "You vs Me". It is a debate that demands a solution that ends with "We".

But I fear to make that statement, because male chauvinism has a definition with as wide an interpretation as words can take...

We like...We share...We retweet....when a man blogs about a woman's rights...when a woman understands the challenges men face .... we appreciate those women who speak up and stand up against the challenges they face... But I fear to write about the fears of a man to jump into this battle...

And so I stand and watch...waiting to see which side does the weighing scale tilt and which side wins...and then maybe I shall shout out along with those who celebrate...but is it not the start of what we set out to end....exclusion from the mainstream consciousness of the society...What I need is to fight with you...for you...for the solution is not a win...the solution is an acceptance of exclusivity of the three circles in the Venn diagram...

The first circle representing "Gender", the second representing "Sex" and the third representing "Equal Human Rights"..for all of them are a part of the universal set...and each has its own integrity... but they can not cancel out each other...they need to co-exist as independent entities....

 I speak against the acts of horror against women...and men...

- Ashk


P.S. - To be followed by "The Passive Observer - On this side..."