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| Tuesday, 16 March 2004 |
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Development, dehumanisation and women by Afreeha Jawad "Wearing proper clothes and going to temple is not morality to me. Instead, I believe in not harming others. This then is morality to me," said Dr. Sulangi Herath, Senior Sociologist, Colombo University at an interview with the Daily News on Tuesday.
Viewing the human brain as being something more than impulse only, she said that knowledge and intelligence were two different things. The intelligence is there in all humans which we call IQ. But the socio/economic/cultural factors decide how to use it. The beggar who has a high IQ level may not have learnt to use it because he has been denied the chances of doing so. But, a less intelligent person will use it with the resources at his disposal to channel his impulses the proper way. Sociologists, she said, view this proper way as not causing any harm to others. Asking, one's self 'Who am I?' and 'Why am I here?' is important. This leads us to our duty towards the common good. This then reminded the writer of how the various saints, sages and religious leaders channelled their intelligence into the service of man. So was it in the case of the great artists, musicians and writers who directed their impulses towards culture and civilization. Significantly, in earlier times there was no dominant political economy and the powerful communication tool of media and trash literature to distort and misdirect man's natural intelligence. However with development the tendency is to blame it all on man's biological factors and impulses. "Man's sense of reasoning is there and that's what makes him different from animals", she said. What this writer understood from Dr. Herath's delivery was that this sense of reasoning should be fostered and directed towards sublime and noble tasks instead of making him fall from grace. The current socialization process itself moulds man into a system not of his liking and choice but an imposed one. The gender-based education, the churning of elites, the widening disparities in class, the facade in daily interaction, of diplomacy and discreet operative techniques, are among other things part and parcel of that socialization process. Playing to man's grosser instincts for one's own survival coming in the firm of the world political economy has therefore reduced man to something far worse than animal. Elaborating on this Dr. Herath continued. "A baby must be trained to use his/her fingers which capacity you don't realize until you are taught - not simply to eat food the way you want. Similarly one must be trained to use one's impulses - taught to reason out - how to do something so that the best in us is brought out." Dr. Herath's pronouncement made me reflect on Roussean who spoke of moulding man's impulses so that he could be controlled and made use of which exactly is what is happening here and now. Civilization and culture according to Dr. Herath was a way to control impulses but unfortunately, on the other hand, it gave more opportunity and option to crave resulting in more desires. Marriage, meant to control sexuality resulted in more of individual greed - of property ownership and control of one's partner. Education which was introduced, instead of bringing out the best more often than not brought out the worst in man. A crook became a refined crook. When culture and civilization developed more options came about - from slave to feudal to the present capitalist system the progressive increase in desires was seen. It is in this same system ironically that we expect humans to be cultured and civilized human beings. In fact it reminded this writer of the incompatibilities of accentuated consumerism and sublime thought. What Dr. Herath apparently drove home was while culture and civilization brought out refinement in thought, it also relegated man to derogatory state out of the unending needs that arose making the control of impulses a difficult task. Said Dr. Herath: though desires increase and people's feeling of culture changes continuously, society still expects the individual to be an accepted cultured human being. Prescribed culture insists on sticking to marriage even despite its numerous ordeals. The fulfilment of social roles prescribed by culture, even if it goes against the original expectations of civilization is given priority despite the rigours contained therein. "We at one time boasted over our low divorce rates. We even went abroad and crowed over it to the people there. But the bitter truth was that low divorce rates were the result of more submissive women who sacrificed so much of their freedom for the sake of the family. Also the shame brought on a woman as a result of divorce is common knowledge. So many women went through and still do go through the rigours of marriage not breathing out a word", she said. She also pointed out how the expression of desires varies in class, caste and gender societies. In matriarchal societies she informed that women's desires are controlled while men's aren't. So in civilization we see the control of one's desires to safeguard another's liberty. Such element of control she cited through a recent occurrence. However much a woman desires to wear a skirt and blouse to her child's school at least for convenience sake, she is not allowed to do so. But the father is permitted the Western dress of trouser and shirt. This then is one single element of control. So you see how women are expected to be feminine and play their roles of womanhood and motherhood. She also laughingly cited yet another instance of controlling women. Take for instance the concept of the slim figure. All men embrace this concept and want women to change their figure. So many women go through the strenuous path to get that Barby doll figure, which concept really comes from the West. I don't disagree with the women that control weight for healthy living but simply to please men is ridiculous. At one time a fad in the West was plumpy women - Marilyn Monroe, for example, was cynosure of all eyes and here too being fat was culturally accepted. If a woman was thin she was generally the recipient of "My God, that woman is not sufficiently fed" - "Aney kanda Nathuwa Vagey". Now you no longer hear that kind of thing. So it's the continuously changing cultural problem. "But," Dr. Herath warned, "if women were to create something of their own using their ingenuity - no - certainly these women would not be tolerated. "Cultural contradictions," said Dr. Herath are always seen in the minds of people living in a single family unit and in marriage it becomes difficult to compromise and as a result the contracting partners are pulled in various directions. Even socio/eco/political forces come in and create contradictions. So conflict arises leading to unhappy marriages and divorce. However, one thing must not be forgotten that despite hiccups people stay within marriage due to cultural reasons. But infidelity does continue though people do not want to accept it." She also insisted that you cannot have your own restricted goals and be within the institution of marriage. Marriage changes priorities. Also it's the getting together of two completely different human beings and compatibility is not possible. One must not forget this," she added. Development she said led the world into expanding desires in which men and women certainly do get caught up. But culturally, woman is not expected to change. She bears the burden of restricted cultural limits. Earlier because of extreme sacrifice of woman, her role was limited to house and kin. But the change she is caught up in along with the cultural fact of not being allowed to change but only to sacrifice and safeguard family - this then doesn't go too far. "We have for too long expected too much from women. Overburdened with living upto others' expectations women sacrifice a great deal. Until and unless women are treated as human beings not instruments of rape or objects of harassment and bullying, the institution of marriage is at stake. People are often heard saying 'ours is a happy and united family'. This is a false value. What appears to be such is because women have been subjugated and their freedom foregone which women themselves have passively accepted. A family should be a mutual sharing unit of love and affection", she informed. The same anarchic situation of the political economy is seeping into the family - of hegemonic control power and male domination. Today's woman is more aware of her deprived state and stands up. People's consciousness is ruined. They are misguided and confused. They are overwhelmingly bombarded by the political economy, the media tool and a socialization process that robs them of their true nature. |
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