Smoking, misogyny and so on…
Shanzida Khanom ।। Two young women were physically assaulted at Lalmatia, Dhaka recently for puffing cigarettes at a tea-stall, raising a debate on their earthly choice. The matter added fuel to the fire after the comments Mr Home Advisor of the present interim government has made. Some people are saying beating up those females was absolutely right, and also supporting Home Advisor’s keep-asiding behaviour indicating the country’s law. Another group stood against it. But in this article I am going to analyse the issue with the lens of misogyny. Because the whole thing again reminds us that we are living in a society where misogyny is deadly practiced at every step, and then what could be its consequences?
Misogyny is a primary product of patriarchy that holds the concept of lowering the women’s social status than the men. This concept is the main key defining some particular roles for men and women. As a result, if anyone wants to break these fine lines to establish equality, then (s)he is being attacked by moral policing, humiliation and facing many other troubles. Misogyny is practiced over thousands of years. Even it has been influencing art, literature and historical events. Basically, patriarchy passes on one generation to another through this misogynistic essence.
Misogyny is so powerful that not only affects men’s brains, but also affects educated women. Till now, we can see a woman working and earning as much money as her husband, still she needs permission from her husband to go outside. Women are still not considered as reliable entities for taking financial decisions. Most of the working women still have to maintain all household chores. They usually accept these roles without even questioning. When these unnatural things started to be considered as natural on that point if a woman or man did something based on the right of freedom of choice, then moral policing begins. That exactly happened with these two young ladies but this time moral policing turned into mob violence.
These two are adults and decided to smoke. They were smoking in the same place where other men used to do the same. On that day, an old man, named Rinku, started moral-policing to them. He was even scolding and calling them whores and blaming them for taking weed (which was a totally false allegation). Eventually, one of the victims throws hot tea as a protest of his verbal assault. As a response to it, he gathered a mob and beat them up to bleed. Moreover, while Rinku was beating them, he was firmly claiming the duo characterless and hitting them as if beating up a prostitute is justified.
Yes, all these happened with those women. Now the question is, if smoking is the actual reason, then what about the male smokers? Why are men never being charged for puffing cigarettes at tea-stalls, bus stoppages or any other public places? Not a single event happened to men for lighting up cigarettes at social gatherings, while several occurrences are happened with girls for doing the same thing. All that indicates this misogynist society is yet to accept a female smoker, just because preferring smoking resembles freedom of choice, and patriarchy strongly forbade her to do so.
The mob including Rinku are ordinary people. Affected by misogyny might be common phenomena for them, but the Home Advisor’s response to the Lalmatia incident raises big concerns.
He said, “As you know, smoking in public is prohibited for both men and women. It’s a crime, and everyone should adhere to it.”
“During Ramadan, everyone needs to practice restraint. Our Religious Advisor has urged all not to eat in public. It’s a matter of showing respect to those who are fasting,” he added.
According to his statement smoking in a public place is prohibited, but according to law there is a definition of public places. Act of 2005 (amended in 2013) mentions buildings (such as government office premises, educational institutions, lifts, etc), transports and streets are considered as “Public Space”. And this definition does not include tea stalls. On the other hand, the law instructed that smoking space should be detached from public gatherings that we usually see our tea stalls established at a corner maintaining some sort of distance from main street. Moreover, if these two girls smoke in a public space then it’s a civil offense but beating them is a criminal offense. Now the question is why is the Home Advisor prioritizing civil offense more than criminal offense? Is it indicating that this society is affected by misogyny from bottom to top?
Misogyny creates borders for men and women and uses human beings as a tool for prosperity of patriarchy. If society is affected by misogyny from bottom to top, then its consequences will be frightening. For example: Today people are judging women as prostitutes based on smoking. Tomorrow they can judge women for wearing traditional saree. Who knows, the day after tomorrow women can be beaten for not wearing hijab or they could be killed for not wearing hijab properly.
To stop these consequences we badly need to raise awareness about misogyny among all. We need leaders who understand the concept of misogyny and work to uproot this from society. It is the time to recognize the core problem rather than avoiding it . Justice for those two women is very important to make an equal society.
(The views and opinions expressed by the writers are those of their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Feminist Factor)
