I AM A PROUD HALF INDIAN, HALF AMERICAN YOUNG WOMAN- AND THIS IS WHY I CHOSE TO RESEARCH INDIA.

          At the moment Mr. Phillips revealed that we would be able to select our own country to research for this project, I knew I would be picking India. My mother was born and raised in South India, so her half of my heritage is chock-full of culture and amazing learning opportunities for me. One of the problems, though, is that there were too many predictable issues to research in this country- oil demand, pollution, healthcare, and poverty are some examples. I wanted to cover a topic that had real mental, emotional, and physical significance to the women of India.  Truthfully, I can't help but imagine myself (as I am a woman) in Indian women's places when I hear news stories of yet another rape, murder, burning, or instance of abuse on women. It has been the cultural norm for far too long for women to be mistreated and dismissed. So, I started talking over topic ideas with my mum. In the car on the way home form school one day, she told me about how women of all ages have come together to form the Gulabi Gang, or the Pink Gang. These vigilante women dress in pink saris, or a traditional cloth draped dress, and physically beat abusive men and police officers who don't report crimes against women to punish them publicly. There were no news stories recent enough on the Gang for me to create a sufficient essay with, but I loved the idea of writing about Indian women protecting each other- that's where feminism came in. I decided I would cover the unfairness of crimes against women and their mental and physical health resulting from those crimes by exploring a big part of why those things still happen. 

​

          I discovered an article called "Why Do Indian Women Not Wish To Identify As Feminists?" from Feminism In India*, an online blog and news source, and that was my spark! I think it is a brilliant angle to address feminism with, because as I found in my research, many women are actually afraid of the word. This is because they either don't understand its meaning or they aren't able to deal with the negative societal- and possibly physical- repercussions. After that article there were very little others that were useful to my admittedly unique topic question- which led to frustration, too little research notecards, and too many quotes in my essay. It was a learning experience for me, thankfully, because I ended up getting creative with my sources and producing a more thorough essay than I had thought possible in the amount of time I had! It was helpful when, during the writing process, a news story broke about a woman who was set on fire and severely burned en route to her trial concerning her alleged rape, by her alleged rapists. My first reaction when hearing of such a tragic event was to be extremely sad and disappointed in the perpetuation of the cruelty in India. However, the more I thought about it, the more angry I became, and this sadness- fueled anger ultimately drove my motivation for writing about such a difficult topic.  

           No new developments to my concept have surfaced after having written my essay, but since more people are educating themselves about feminism and standing up for women's rights, I fully expect someone with a large platform to shed some light on this feminine fear phenomenon soon. 

​