India’s women are angry.

Those are slogans from thousands of women and students who have taken to the streets in Delhi over the past week, demanding something that should really not have to be a demand: the right to study, work, travel, and simply exist in public without being afraid of sexual violence.

The immediate trigger was the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl at Aastha Kunj Park in south Delhi. The response was swift, but not in the way the protesters wanted.

Lady Shri Ram College, a women’s college close to the park, was forced to switch to online classes. 

Delhi authorities wanted to restrict access to public parks after dark, and announced security measures for vulnerable areas- which they should have done much before.

And for many women, that is precisely the problem. Because this isn't really about one case, or even one city. It is about a pattern that has become painfully familiar. 

A woman is assaulted, there is outrage. And sooner or later comes the advice: don’t go there, don’t stay out late, dress differently, carry something for protection, call someone when you reach home.

In other words, the crime happens to a woman, and somehow it’s still the woman who gets saddled with a new set of rules.

And this policing of women very easily escalates to harassment as well

In Jamui of Bihar, two teenagers were physically harassed by a group of men claiming to be enforcing “morality”. A video of the incident also went viral, eventually leading to police action.

So why does every conversation about women’s safety seem to come with another rule for women? 

Why does an unsafe public space become a reason to restrict the women who use it? And why, exactly, are women so angry?

Let me explain.

And before we get into it, a quick word about why we’re able to have conversations like this.

At The News Minute, the topic of gender isn’t something we dust off when there’s a rape case in the headlines. It is a part of our journalism every day. We report on sexual violence, but we also ask what comes before it, what happens after it, and how institutions respond

And we are entirely supported by VIEWERS  like you. So if you want journalism that takes gender seriously, asks inconvenient questions, and occasionally says the thing everyone else is politely avoiding, become a TNM subscriber.

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