Ritika Ruminates

Image source- Healthline Period stains are something that are still stigmatized. Girls and women who bleed are excluded already (especially in small towns and rural areas), and when they get a period stain, people look at her and at the stain with disgust or laugh it away. Irony I find is that in a action scene where there would be quite a representation of human blood with all the action, we just watch the scene with interest. But when it comes to menstrual blood stains that a female gets on her clothes (or even blood in sanitary napkins ad), we get disgusted.  Instagram handle named Feminist has uploaded a social experiment reel where a teenager got her pants stained and people just walked away looking at it, not bothering to let her know or give her help until a girl in the ends does it by giving sweatshirt to tie around the waist. Though this was most probably staged, but this is reality of a lot of girls.  There was also this video long time ago where boys ar...

While filling any application forms, be it of some government forms (with some laws across India and some states to include transgender), any educational institution or private institutions- how often do we see more gender options other than male and female? There are a lot of genders that aren't listed on the forms.  To start with, there is actually a difference between sex, gender and gender identity. Sexuality is another different part but not relevant to this blogpost. Sex : It refers to the biological sex that is assigned at birth, usually on the basis of external anatomy. Based on the sole criterion of production of reproductive cells, there are two and only two sexes: male and female. Though there is another sex called intersex, which is an umbrella term used to describe people with differences in reproductive anatomy, chromosomes or hormones that don't fit typical definitions of male and female. Gender : It is often defined as a social construct of norms, behaviors and ...

Image source: New Indian Express Honour killings. One of the worst crimes that have been taking place in our society. Honour killing is killing of a relative, especially a girl or woman, who is perceived to have brought dishonour on the family More often than not, honour killings kill women more than men (men in case one's daughter married a boy from 'lower' caste) and it mostly happens in the cases of inter-caste or inter-religious marriage, or when girls/women do not obey the strictest of rules laid down for them by the patriarchal society. To logically think over it, there is no honour in honour killings. You are murdering someone, over stupidest of things. Caste, religion or patriarchal rules set up (for females) matters more than someone's life🙂. When it comes to inter-caste marriages (or even inter-religious), often the accused is girl's family. Even more so when the boy is from 'lower' castes. But mostly do not have an issue if their girl...

NEET aspirant stabs his sister-in-law to death as niece disturbs his study . Woman shot dead by father-in-law for not serving breakfast . Father, brother, uncle and grandfather rapes a minor girl . Father kills his daughter over phone/remote use. Man stabs waitress to death. This are just few of recent cases from past 1 month. This makes me wonder- in this digital age where they get anything at a few clicks, has people really started to forget their patience? Be it within family or outside, this cases are only getting more and more common in India and abroad. Everyday, I get news of atleast one murder case like this over trivial of issues. One day, some weeks ago, I remember reading cases of 2 murders by family member itself within 1 day. All such murder cases makes me wonder that many people are really  losing out on patience, that one is even ready to kill someone (or already killed). In the above cases I mentioned (you can search those on Google which I saw on Inshorts news app,...

Image source- dreamstime.com I often come across wedding videos, photos and reel where the bride and groom meet before the wedding ceremony, having fun or of posts where they say that the couple has decided to let go of certain rituals, like kanyadaan. Or changing some things like putting vermilion on men. Though the posts and reels are sweet, the comments underneath are often disheartening. Some of the comments are like -   "why don't they just have a court marriage?" "Seems like getting married only for Instagram" "Why can't they follow all the rituals when they plan to have a traditional wedding ceremony?" This cultural shifts aren't just only in traditional weddings of any religion, but even outside the religion and weddings. Like acceptance of LGBTQIA+ community and live-in relationships, even if its slow and in tier-1 cities as of now. The thing is- change is inevitable. And this inevitable changes also affects culture, be it ...

Image source- YouTube I had recently came across a video by bestseller author Ravinder Singh where he spoke about reducing the age to 16 for youth. To watch that video, click  here . Do watch the video before reading the blogpost, as to understand the references. I do agree with what he has said in his video. Though I have some additions of my own too on that perspective. Often, when teenagers (13-19, though gonna focus only on 14-17 here in this blogpost) enter into relationships, which is getting a lot common this days, they do indulge in romance (even if its not anything sexual). But those who do, and it comes in light to any of the families, be it only about relationship or something more, most often, their phones are taken away and they are made to split up without choice of their own. This also causes defamation to girl, either by her family themselves or the society, cause the respect of family lies with her🙂 (boys have no role in upholding family respect, it se...

Image source- Navbharat Times A recent case has came up from DPS Faridabad where a teenager boy has committed suicide because he was sexually assaulted by a gang of his gang from his school, facing homophobia and ableism. His mother, who is teacher in same school (Delhi Public School) as him, have told that she had complained about the assault case to school authorities multiple times but no action was taken. They just said that some of those boys have left the school, and rest do not agree to have assaulted her son (if they actually did it, which molestor would agree to have done it anyways?). A lot of rape cases to males aren't even registered and aren't taken seriously.  Why is rape or any sexual assault on males not taken seriously? The answer lies in patriarchy and toxic masculinity, that men can never get raped. That males aren't so "weak" to have gone through it. This only causes worsening scenario for innocent men who got sexually assaulted and the prepetr...

Image Source- Prega News Recently, there has been an video advertisement of Prega News going around, giving the message that the women can handle both her kid and her career at the same time. To watch that advertisement (in Hindi), click  here . Though it is true for many women out there, it is also somewhere disregarding the choice of those who do not wish to have kids or those who aren't able to manage both her kid and her career. The ad seemed to be gloryfying motherhood and guilt tripping those who don't want to go down that path for whatever reason. Ofcourse motherhood can be great, but only when you want it. If you do not want to become a mother for some time or never ever wanna become one, or if you are not sure if you would be able to manage your child and professional life together, that's just as fine. One need to be very sure if they want to become a parent or not. And especially when it comes to biological child, then there is whole another pregnancy...

Image source- The Wire After what happened in Karnataka, what the question is that, should a cloth seen as a religious sign be allowed in educational institutions? Given below are my opinions about the situation, based on facts and what has been happening in our Indian society. I don't think that anything religious should be allowed in Indian educational institutions.  With the hijab controversy, lets take some things into consideration. 2-3 girls I know, who follows Islam, told me that a hijab/burqa is a personal choice, if a girl believes in it. It is not compulsory. Hijab is compulsory in a subjective way (geographical location, strict/lenient family, personal choice and beliefs). I know many Muslim girls and women, both personally and celebrities, who don't/didn't wear hijab.  Also, when one wears something that is associated with any religion, like a hijab/burqa/skull cap for Islam, turbans in Sikh, saffron cloth in Hindus, crucifix in Christians etc' p...

Image source- Wikipedia Social media was invented for people to connect with people worldwide and stay in touch with known people. Initially, it was a safe space to say, at least from the dark reality of the outside world. But soon, over time, the hatred of the outside world creeped into our phones and screens as well. Go through comments on any post on any of the social media platforms, we would find at least one hateful or mean comment. And this has just only been becoming more common. All those who have an account on social media will at least have come across some online bullying or abuse. Wasn't it expected that with coming years, people would get more open minded and become more accepting? But where are we even heading? Unnecessary cuss words, trolling, threats to life by rape, acid attack or murder. Children, being innocent, often falls prey to most of online abuse. The reason of this hate and abuse is many. To name a few- gender, hierarchy systems, religion, rac...