I have been asked by my editor to write a story about sex given the fact that the topic attracts internet views the way slightly stained toilets attract Harpic and Fahad Mustafa. Like any young journalist trying to make a name (and some $$$), I have no choice but to comply and so I present to you the scandalous truth regarding the matter of how sex/gender is dealt with in Pakistan.
Recently, an interesting debate has been doing the rounds on Pakistani social media and has prompted perhaps the first signs of a men’s rights movement in Pakistan. The focal point of this discourse is the feedback of a prospective Karachi Eat Festival participant (perhaps) disgruntled by his inability to persuade a female to accompany him to the gathering.
While this man does have a point, I assume he has never been excluded from the air-conditioned (family) section of Karachi Broast. Several girls of dhaba variety have opined that this measure is necessary to avoid harassment of their gender as well as the fact that such exclusion should provide men a woman’s perspective of being unable to frequent public spaces.
This idea was reinforced shortly afterwards when Atif Aslam halted his concert to call upon the harassment of females at the event (with the immortal question of ‘Aap ke ghar mein Maa Bhen nai hai?‘) and succeeded in making his teenage fans even crazier for him.
Perhaps Atif Aslam learnt that he cannot stop sexual objectification without being objectified himself (although if he had so much sense, it is unlikely he would have massacred Tajdar-e-Haram the way he did).
The public however, need to understand that sex (like any other phenomenon) is not a watertight phenomenon and these issues do not exist within a vacuum. Therefore, these problems and their repercussions reach much deeper than not being allowed inside Dolmen Mall on a Sunday and perhaps those girls at dhabas had a point. However before we use the F word to describe ourselves, we must stop short of implementing feminine supremacy that is so rampant in our society. There is one way that this can be accomplished and that is applauding every small success of the Pakistan (mens) Cricket team while ignoring that of the women.
Although that might not always turn out the way we want it to.
