From: sgs1679@usl.edu (Sudhindranath Sira G)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: Changing role of women: A woman's perspective
Date: 27 Jul 92 16:45:36 GMT
Organization: University of Southwestern Louisiana

In article <84379@netnews.upenn.edu> sarkar@grip.cis.upenn.edu (Nilanjan Sarkar) writes:
>In article <1992Jul24.161123.14482@usl.edu> sgs@ucs.usl.edu (Sudhindranath SG) writes:
>
>
[deleted]
>
>
>>when you look at the opinions of the many women "libbers" in 
>>India. There are frequent references to what is happening in
>                  -------------------
>
>Frequent refereces does not necessarily indicate one's inclination
>towards mimicry. For example, in case of advanced technology (e.g.
>robotics) people often refer what the Japanese are doing. It is kind
>of getting informed about what is going on in your area of interest
>(which can be women's lib) and then decide your own plan of action
>taking advantage of the wisdom that your predecessor have already
>found out.
>

When I said "frequent references", I meant not just the talk,
but also the deeds. Getting informed about what is happening 
elsewhere is an entirely different thing from emulating it.

>
>>the West. IMO, indulging in pre-marital/extra-marital relationships 
>		             ---------------------------------------
>>is one such influence.  You may or may not agree with this. But no one 
>>can dispute that there is a Western influence. (I for one wouldn't
>                             -----------------
>
>
>Well, I do not find anything wrong with pre-marital relationship,
>but, then that is a matter of personal choice. But, why do you
>say that these are necessarily western influence ? It is always
                                                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^
>there in our society - may be not explicitly. Even you find
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>such stories in Mahabharata,... which shows that these are
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>part of Indian society too. No society (to the best of my knowledge)
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>encourages extra marital relationship but every society has
>its fair share (explicitly or implicitly) and to blame the west 
>for such already existing phenomenon does not make sense to me.

Yes, I know that it is there in our society too. But it is all
done on the sly! While that is certainly an undesirable aspect of our
society, my point here is that in the West, there are attempts at 
_legitimising_ it, as a way of life or as an expression of "freedom". 
There is a clear difference between the two ---- like between India's
casteism and South Africa's apartheid policy. And that is, the
_institutionalisation_ of the practice. It is this kind of
Western influence that I was talking about. If you say that it does
not exist or question why in the world did we _get_ influenced,
there is not much that I can add to whatever I have said here.

>
>>AT ALL be surprised if women "libbers" in India soon pick up the 
>>western woman's pro-abortion refrain of "the right over our bodies".
>>Again IMO, the _body_ becomes all-important when the _soul_ ceases
>>to have any importance, but I think I am digressing).
>
>Whether someone will consider their bodies more important than their
>souls or vice versa is totally personal - there should not be
>any standard encompassing everybody.
>

I was talking of the presence/absence of spirituality in society and
the need for it, but I feel this is not the forum for that ---- probably
soc.religion.eastern would be better...

>>IMO, women's liberation movements, like revolutions or communism 
>>or even democracy, are not exportable/importable commodities.
>   			    ---------------------
>
>Yes, it may not be 'exportable/importable' in its entirety
>but I fail to see the reason why it can not be properly modified
>to suit your condition. What is the point in reinventing the
>wheel from the scratch ? 
>
>

Yes, there's no point in reinventing the wheel from scratch. But it's
naive to think that our problems have ready-made solutions available
off-the-shelf.

>>Regards,
>
>>--Sudhi.
>
>
>-Nilanjan

Regards,

--Sudhi.

--
                       Sira Gopinath Sudhindranath. 
email : sudhi@usl.edu, sgs@ucs.usl.edu    Address : USL PO Box 41688,
Phone : (318)-232-2198 (r)	                    Lafayette, LA 70504-1688.
	(318)-231-6539 (o)                          USA.