Tackling Rape Needs Holistic Approach
In India we have entered a frightening age where atrocities against women has reached its peak. What is worse is that this trend is not going to go away despite tough measures being initiated. This does not augur well for the country. Our girls are our assets. It is with superhuman efforts that they have acquired a measure of independence and are today looking forward to a future where they can decide their own fate in their own terms. It is very difficult to sit back and watch them getting brutally mauled.
What can be done? From my understanding of health I offer the following issues that need urgent attention.
- We need to understand the impact of toxins on the human psyche. Heavy metals and neurotoxins corrode the mind. Mercury, aluminium, lead, cadmium are some heavy metals used in medicine and dentistry for various purposes. They are an important part of the dozens of vaccines directed at children who are assaulted from the womb to adolescence. Pesticides and food additives have invaded our food chain. Nitrous oxide (used also in anesthesia) is a gift of industrialization and chemical agriculture that has a profound impact on the brain. This chain of toxins need to be studied both individually and in combination and countered.
- Medicine is today not curative but is about suppressing diseases and destroying symptoms. The holistic healing systems have for more than a century been warning us about the impacts on the human psyche. Their voices need to be heard and not be ignored any longer.
- Health is about physical, mental, emotional and environmental hygiene. Not maintaining hygiene at all levels results in vicious effects whose impacts on society are considerable. It is important to understand the process behind mental urges and blocks. It is also necessary to understand societal actions that aggravate. It cannot be denied that actions begin as mental thoughts.
- A sick mind desires an incessant supply of aiding and abetting commodities in a loop that ultimately leads to vicious action. To restore it to sanity requires actions at many levels ranging from personal effort, right counselling, restrictions and societal actions. The threat of punishment is not a solution. The sick mind if not checked has no control over its actions. This is why it is necessary to study the entire process. Both homeopathy and ayurveda offers profound insights. The modern doctors have a lot to learn.
- Women should be the subject of utmost respect for the many qualities they exclusively possess. Commodification of women and the use of images for entertainment, films and advertisements has not been judicious in our society.
- The consequences of mistreating women in society have been noticed in every civilization. Civilizations have therefore devised many ways to protect its womenfolk from harm. For example, Indian society has traditionally tried to project women as mothers, sisters, advisers, counselors and deified them and their abilities - both constructive when cared for and destructive when abused. These efforts need to be studied and similar mechanisms need to be incorporated.
- People follow societal structures and actions of leaders. Today we see those structures demeaning women and leaders who feel that abusing women in various forms is their birthright. I believe they are not setting good examples. The use of rape both to settle scores and also to gain political brownie points only exacerbates the situation. Blame game never helps. Rapists have only one identity - mental sickness. They can come from all sections of society.
- Children learn a lot at home and from the society as they grow up. They shape themselves from values they are taught, ideals they are shown. We need to learn where we have failed them. Our love of the male child has been at the expense of the female. Respect for the opposite gender comes from judicious education. Today’s education and its proposed solutions to the gender crisis leaves a lot to be desired. The Western society is today utterly shocked by what goes on in the name of sex education.
- Those raped need not be ashamed. It is the perpetrators and the society that needs to bow its head. The abused are opening up. It is imperative to listen and understand their innermost feelings and fears. Solutions may emerge from their harrowing accounts. They need to be handled with utmost love, respect and compassion. It is they who have the ability to become the leaders and change agents.
I am not an expert on the subject. I have shared certain ideas. They can be considered.
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