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My hypothesis on why the way it is in India. This should not be viewed critically. This probably applies to less literate part of the population. Before britis

My hypothesis on why the way it is in India. This should not be viewed critically. This probably applies to less literate part of the population. Before british influence, looking at the history, indians seem to have been very open about sex. Historically, the family trees worked in a way, male is dominant and the bread earner. Family ties are very much respected. So, male child is kind of like a retirement plan for parents. During the british influence (probably, due to the christian missions?) a taboo on sex talk was instated. With increasing poverty, poor ones started loading off their "girl child burden" by child marriages. Here's where disrespect for women increase and probably seen as more of a "problem" than a cherished companion. It can be noted that dowry might be interpreted as a payment received to take care of the "problem". There seems to be a few revolts to ban child marriages by social reformers but that didn't completely solve the problem. Fast forward few years, this created a void in companionship from his puberty to mid twenties until his marriageable age. I think the society must evolve to completely solve the problem. I'm afraid that, due to this, youngsters are losing faith in traditional monogamy. At extremes, taking such bad measures due to the sorry state of respect for the opposite sex.

potatolicious 14y ago
I'm generally skeptical of theories such as this - mostly because it attempts to externalize an issue. When the crux of an argument involves pinning the blame on external factors, the onus for substantiation rises. I would be interested in seeing actual gender roles in pre-colonial India vs. today (as opposed to a more idealistic and less accurate view of it we may have today). FWIW, I'm Chinese and these hypotheses aren't new to us either. There are all kinds of theories that attempt to blame social ills on the period of Western dominance in China, but inevitably they are unsubstantiable and more driven by the need to blame someone for something.
- suhastech 14y ago
  This is definitely not a blame game. Do note that I've specified a few contributing factors in pre colonial times major one being the male dominance. The taboo is just stopping us to open up the issue. I believe we can solve problem by finding the cause or in other words going to the first principles. That's how most things work. Discarding a theory just on the basis of trying to list factors is probably not the best way to go about. FWIW, I'm Indian and I'm not even a nationalist TBH.

potatolicious 14y ago

I'm generally skeptical of theories such as this - mostly because it attempts to externalize an issue. When the crux of an argument involves pinning the blame on external factors, the onus for substantiation rises. I would be interested in seeing actual gender roles in pre-colonial India vs. today (as opposed to a more idealistic and less accurate view of it we may have today). FWIW, I'm Chinese and these hypotheses aren't new to us either. There are all kinds of theories that attempt to blame social ills on the period of Western dominance in China, but inevitably they are unsubstantiable and more driven by the need to blame someone for something.

suhastech 14y ago
This is definitely not a blame game. Do note that I've specified a few contributing factors in pre colonial times major one being the male dominance. The taboo is just stopping us to open up the issue. I believe we can solve problem by finding the cause or in other words going to the first principles. That's how most things work. Discarding a theory just on the basis of trying to list factors is probably not the best way to go about. FWIW, I'm Indian and I'm not even a nationalist TBH.