Debate on anti-rape bill sees bizarre arguments

[The Straight Story]

NEW DELHI: Before the discussion on the anti-rape bill began in LokSabha, a wag in Parliament predicted the debate could establish new standards in bizarre debating points.

He wasn't off the mark as although the Criminal Law Amendment Bill found overwhelming support, it was at times hard to distinguish whether MPs were actually backing the legislation or opposing it.

BJP's Bhola Singh set the bar high as the main opposition's first speaker, dwelling on mythological tales that all seemed to emphasize a woman's subservience in her roles as mother and wife.

His blaming western influences for rising crime against women seemed par for the course as he went on to define a woman's primary task as one of ensuring succession or procreation of the human race.

Singh seemed oblivious to protests his remarks evoked and perhaps saw himself as mindful of women's rights when he said the arrival of a daughter was no cause for joy in most households.

From birth till marriage, girls were not celebrated, the BJP MP said even as leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj was seen leaving the House. Singh, who was just warming up, referred to the lives of Buddha and Lord Krishna to advance his arguments.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Debate-on-anti-rape-bill-sees-bizarre-arguments/articleshow/19081776.cms

[Warpy]

1. Ah, yes, very much like the arguments in Congress and in the press

about women's suffrage. we were going to turn into men when our uteruses fell out or something if we ever cast a vote. Men were going to have to do housework, oh, horrors! while their wives took up smoking cigars and reading the newspaper.

Then there were the lengthy religious arguments, heavy on Paul and the old priests of Jerusalem. Then doctors got into it with their silly, unscientific and contrary to anatomy theories of "hysteria" making women unfit to make any decisions, at all.

First they trot out the god stuff, then the apocalypse from the destruction of the family, then the emotional stuff. It happens every single time women object to oppression.