Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/author/kavitha-rao/)
Religious epics in India are chock-a-block with patiently self-sacrificing women. In the past year, however, a trend has been accelerating for writers and artists to revise those characters in blockbuster novels, essays, films and theatrical scripts.
The two-finger rape test in India is physically invasive and contradicts legal standards against using a victim’s previous sexual experience against her. A rights group is calling for a ban and a lower court ruled that it should be stopped.
Eve Ensler’s new play, “I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Lives of Girls,” just had its global debut in India. Some audience members found it to be preachy, but others said it fit the times.
Three years ago emergency contraception became available over the counter in India and now doctors there say it’s being misused. The solution, according to a tabloid sex columnist: more sex ed and better product information.
Back in India after 10 years, Kavitha Rao faces the affronts and fears of “eve teasing,” the innocuous-sounding term for street harassment. Those who fight back occasionally suffer violent reprisals, but some activists are braving the risks.
Kavitha Rao is pleased to have a daughter. She just wishes more middle-class educated parents in her native India–where 500,000 girls are aborted each year–felt the same.
Britain may soon begin to prosecute parents who force their children into marriage by making it a specific criminal offense. The practice largely affects South Asian immigrants, where it’s a divisive cultural issue.