Andrew Czachor

Dr. Richard

ENG-3298-01

2 March 2020

Panelist Discussion

Women are subject to more sexual harassment and assault nowadays than any other time leading women to be victims in society. But are men subject to being victimized more than women? Throughout the first semester, the class read passages and watched videos with a common theme of being targeted as a victim. For example, Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses written by Chandra Mohanty addresses the difference between feminisms around the world. Feminism is a loose term, and understood differently by each culture, demographic, group, etc. Between all feminisms, there is a root linking back to women worldwide being the victims in society. The Treatment of Bibi Haldar written by Jhumpa Lahiri shares the story of a woman named Bibi who suffers from pressures from society for being different. Her differences directly affect Bibi’s credibility in society making her a victim. In the video The World Before Her Materials, the topic of beauty pageants is analyzed in Indian society, male dominated, and some arguments support the claim of women being victims to sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and pressure from others. Even in male dominated societies, men are victimized just as much as females, but women victimization is publicly recognized more than male victimization. 

In the first sentence of The Treatment of Bibi Haldar, the author portrays Bibi as a women who “suffered from an ailment that baffled family, friends, priests, palmits, spinters, gem therapists, prophets, and fools” (Lahiri 159). Society could not diagnose Bibi with anything but yet many different people attempted to cure her by bringing “holy water from seven holy rivers”  (Lahiri 159). Although throughout the entire story, there was no definite diagnosis of a disorder or disease, Bibi was viewed and treated below human standards for being different. In today’s society, women face similar pressure from men especially when they do not fit the stereotypes created by the “western-white-male-dominated-society”. A more common issue experienced by women today is body shaming, also experienced by Bibi. Bibi relates to a lot of women today because Bibi is described by the female author as not attractive, with a thin upper lip, and small teeth (Lahiri 160). Body judgement and shaming is experienced by women in multiple settings such as the public and the workforce. The judgement does not only cover the external body of a woman, but also the type of clothing a woman wears. Women are often 

“slut-shamed” for wearing scandalous clothing by both men and females. The Treatment of Bibi Haldar illustrates the issue of judgement experienced by Bibi in her daily life by friends and family, and relates to current society. Such judgemental comments include friends saying “no man wants a woman who dresses like a dishwasher” (Lahiri 160) as well as requests to gain weight and lose weight (Lahiri 159). Women today experience similar pressures from friends, family, and coworkers to have a stereotypical perfect body, which differs between each individual judging. Society pressures women how to dress, how to act, and how to look. Sadly, it can be considered normal and acceptable. Women as a whole face society’s judgement and expectations which causes women to be a vulnerable subject to sexual harassment and assult. 

Men are often in control of the victimization of women but are not held accountable. However, men are also victimized by society by women based on statements with no evidence needed. For example, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy, was beaten and gruesomely killed for supposedly whistling to a white woman. The white woman accused Emmitt Till of sexual harassment, and all of society joined the woman’s side without sufficient evidence. Evidence later revealed that Emmitt made no sexual remarks or gestures to the woman, but paid the price with his life because a white woman made an accusation. The case of Emmitt Till proved to be monumental for change in American society, and is one example of mens being victims. Also, the amount of falsely accused rape charges landed thousands, if not, millions of men to face legal consequences. When a woman claims a rape, the male is viewed as guilty until proven innocent, however, the legal system in the United States of America promises due process until the subject is proven guilty. The Rosewood Massacre of 1923 started after false accusation of rape against a male which caused unnecesary violence that was responsbile for the death of several men, including the falsely accused. The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 was responsible for the deaths of 36 people because of a false accusation against a man raping a 17-year old elevator operator. More recently, VanDyke Perry served 11 years in prison because of an accusation of rape in 2001. The evidence is oftenly not found until years after the accusation which in turn leads to the incarceration of innocent men. These examples show the broken legal system when a woman makes a claim. Men are victimized by the legal system assuming all men are guilty and must be proven innocent. When a rape accusation comes up against a man, the man’s name is forever scarred. Even if evidence reveals a false accusation, the man’s name is never fully cleared from the stigma of being called a rapist. 

The victimization of men by false rape accusations does not justify all rapists, or all men, but shows that men are victimized by women, as women are victimized by men. Media presents the stories of women victimization more than the stories of male victimization. Male victimization is suppressed by the media for unknown reasons, but it does happen. Are the stories of male victims unaddressed because of the media’s attempt to fix its “western-white-male” stereotype? Should the legal system uphold the Constitution of innocence until proven guilty? Why are men automatically assumed guilty? Is it because of the accrual of legitimate rape cases throughout the years? If so, that still does not give the legal system a right to incarcerate a man just on the basis of an accusation. That is similar to saying all terrorists are Muslim, so therefore, all Muslims are terrorists. Is society trying to make up for the wrongdoings of women in the past by suppressing male victimization?

Work Cited

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies: Stories. Thorndike Press, 2004.

This past week in class we watched a documentary called “The World Before Her”. This documentary showed the increase popularity of beauty pagents in India, but also the increase of protests against these pagents. India is a male-dominated society, so criticism of beauty pagents is expected because women in the Indian society are suppose to be married by 18-years-old, stay in the house to clean and cook, and just please the husband. The uprising of women wanting to participate in beauty pagents is to boost their confidence and let them feel empowering. Many men argue that pagents are only to judge the external beauty of women with excessive skin showing. In the Indian culture, skin is barely shown by women, so the pagents are a scandelous idea for many. An article published at https://nypost.com/2020/02/26/woman-drops-112-pounds-wins-beauty-pageant-after-fiance-dumped-her-for-being-too-fat/ shows that a woman from the UK was bodyshamed and decided to take matters into her own hands and lose an incredible amount of weight and win Miss Great Britain. The pagent for Jen Atkin was an escape and motivation for her to become confident with her body. The women of India should not be oppressed to express themselves in any matter. There should not be an unspoken rule to be married by 18-years-old. Also, a women is a women no matter what. In India, many men think a woman is only a woman once she bears a child. The pagents give a new edge to the women of India striving for society change on the idea of women.

This week in class we read the article written by Jhumpa Lahiri called “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar”. In the story, the reader sees a victim immediately identified named Bibi. Throughout the story, it is evident that family and friends of Bibi consider her disabled/defective as a woman. The ultimate cause is not yet fully understood, but some probable reasons are 1) she is an unattractive woman 2) she has acne 3) she has eczema. However, society abuses her, tries to sell her, and makes strong efforts to put the burden of Bibi on a man. Bibi is described as being an uneducated woman because she does not know the social feminine norms of society. Similar to a story found at https://www.kearneyhub.com/news/local/family-members-accused-of-repeatedly-abusing-mentally-disabled-woman-in/article_e0e5a728-54bf-11ea-9fe4-132159914651.html. The article talks about a woman who was disabled, and is abused by her own family. Similar to Bibi, family members and close friends turned a blind eye on the situation, just like the mentally disabled woman from the article. Both stories are showing close people of the victim becoming manipulative once they believe there is a reason. It is a sad truth in the world, you really can not trust anyone.

After reading Under the Udala Trees, it opened up my eyes about seeing a problem in our country, but through the eyes of someone else who experiences the same issue but different consequences because of their geography. This was the first book I read written by an African American women. Under the Udala Trees expressed a story about a black gay woman in Nigeria, a country who had strict laws against the LGTBQ community. The readings helped enlighten my knowledge about universal concepts and ideas by showing the homosexual portrayal in a different country. The reading helps expand the knowledge of the readers and grow from a single view to a multi-facited viewpoint. Personally, before reading I believed the LGTBQ community suffered from a lot of hate and judgement, but after reading, I learned in other countries it is far worse, and in some instances can be punished by death. Under the Udala Trees exposed the sad realities many pepole had to face with hiding their true identity to avoid criticism and death.

This week, we watched a TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie, a Nigerian female writer. She addressed the issue of understanding “one story”, and using that to form opinions and stereotypes about an entire group of people, idea, or thing. This relates to my college writing class last year because we discussed the problem of letting personal confirmation bias effect our beliefs. Confirmation bias is what Chimamanda Adichie is preaching not to do. Although stereotypes may be true, they are never complete.

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