2200 men arrested blocking women from accessing temple

[gendercritter]

Story here www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-45988693 It's a Hindu temple where women are supposed to now be allowed to enter having never been allowed before. There have been huge, violent protests against that happening.

Perhaps it shouldn't do so, but it always surprises me how very strongly some men feel about not having women in their spaces and how aggressive they get when challenged. And for so long they've got away with it. This story basically it hinges on the idea that menstruating women are dirty but of course it's more than that - the men there just don't want women in the temple full stop. They are territorial about their spaces.

It makes me so angry. We, meanwhile, are supposed to let men in our spaces and not just communal, religious spaces where there is no reason for women to actually be excluded, but our safe, private, intimate spaces which are so necessary to us for so many serious reasons.

India's not a great place for women.

Until this affects men, it’ll continue to happen. Until men are inconvenienced by all this, it’ll be invisible.

I dont think tras are campaigning for men to have access to women’s only spaces in India. You are comparing apples with oranges. India is a very different country.

Women thought of as 'menstruators', not equal human beings. Normal functions of women's bodies being used to discriminate against them. Or, women are barred so that a deity can keep his oath of celibacy. You'd think a deity would be able to take responsibility for his own behaviour, wouldn't you?

That's good, because they wouldn't get far, Racecardriver. There's a lethal shortage of women only spaces in India, and I use the word lethal intentionally.

I dont think tras are campaigning for men to have access to women’s only spaces in India

Happy to use the Hijra to justify invading women's spaces outside of India though - with absolutely no nod to cultural appropriation, or even understanding how Indian culture works.

I dont think tras are campaigning for men to have access to women’s only spaces in India. You are comparing apples with oranges.

I've posted this article because it's about men wanting to keep women out of their spaces, not specifically TRA's. I think transgender ideology is a men's rights movement afterall. It's not that long ago women were barred from many spaces in the UK. Barely the blink of an eye in the history of the world. India is not so very different from here. Not really. It's the same instinct at the heart of the story but then I'm cynical.

I'd be interested to know if the men-only spaces tradition is something else imported by the British, like the laws against homosexuality. It's so sad this is still happening in India given how progressive some of their cities and companies are.

Yes I was wondering about that EatSleep

I'd be interested to know if the men-only spaces tradition is something else imported by the British

I very much doubt it tbh ... for all the faults of Christianity the churches have never excluded women or, afaik, had any specific taboos re menstruation.

for all the faults of Christianity the churches have never excluded women or, afaik, had any specific taboos re menstruation.

Not related to menstruation but...

A while ago, a chum who is a Minister was on a faith visit to various places in the UK. DH and I met him somewhere and, for various reasons, in one place there was a kerfuffle. Chum thought it was because of access issues relating to his wheelchair.

I had to explain to him that this was a closed order monastery. What the brothers were protesting about was that they'd allowed me into the public area where they received visitors as I was pushing chum's wheelchair. But, the only accessible route to the place that he was supposed to go would have meant me pushing the chair through areas where women weren't allowed...

Greek island monastery, of course. Mount Athos in Greece where women aren't allowed with 500m of the shore.

I was going to witter on about the RC 'churching' ceremony of women after giving birth but the justification for that is contested so maybe not.

India's not a great place for women.

The suicide rate is eye-watering.

Nearly two in every five women in the world who kill themselves are Indian, according to a Lancet study published this week that says the country’s suicides rates constitute a public health crisis.
...
specialists blamed the trend on early marriage – one-fifth of Indian women still marry before the age of 15 – along with male violence against women and other symptoms of a deeply entrenched patriarchal culture.

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/13/nearly-two-out-of-five-women-who-commit-suicide-are-indian

closed order monastery

Or the opposite could have happened in a convent. Which was why I specified 'church'... normal xtian worship isn't segregated. Sexism and patriarchal religions are the rule rather than the exception, unfortunately, so unlikely to need a colonial importer.