Sunday Times 2
Mumbai blames lingerie-clad mannequins for sex crimes
NEW DELHI (Reuters)- You can’t blame it on illiteracy or poor policing. Or patriarchal mindsets in India. It’s the fault of the racy mannequins haunting Mumbai’s lingerie stores, seducing passers-by and turning them into sex offenders. At least that’s what the city’s municipal corporation would have you believe.
Mannequins are on display beside the window at a shopping centre in New Delhi (REUTERS)
In a move ridiculed on Twitter, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has approved a proposal to ban the use of bikini-clad mannequins in lingerie shop displays, in a crackdown aimed at reducing sex crimes. As expected, Indians tore into the move on social media.
“How about banning women to prevent sexual crimes against mannequins. Makes no sense? Okay. But BMC started it,” humorist Ramesh Srivats posted on Twitter. Another user wrote: “BMC didn’t say anything about fully covered mannequins, otherwise, MMS would have been in the firing range,” referring to India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has been under fire for remaining silent on national issues.
The latest measures are being seen as an example of how morally conservative politicians and bureaucrats are trying to solve India’s problems in their own muddled way. People may have reacted differently if the BMC had focused its energies on sanitising Mumbai’s notorious slums or educating people on the dangers of crossing unmanned railway lines. Instead, it’s busy preying on what one Twitter user dubbed “poor people’s porn”.
Not that Indians aren’t used to hearing administrators make ridiculous statements and suggestions. In the days after last year’s Delhi gang rape that triggered nationwide protests, the president’s son said no heed should be paid to anti-rape protests by “dented and painted” women. A khap panchayat – a council of village elders – felt eating chowmein contributes to rape; a lawyer who represented the rape accused said “respected” women do not get raped; and a spiritual guru said begging for mercy and chanting prayers would help women avoid rape.
The irony is a rape-accused politician will represent India at a global forum on women’s issues. “It says a lot about a country when forget its women, even its mannequins cannot wear what they want,” said Twitter user Sapan Verma. What is the next insidious object that someone will demand be banned for the good of the nation? We’re taking your suggestions here.
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