Hypocrisy of 'Indian Culture': Now, Gender discrimination reaches 'Kiss of Love'

There is no denying that Indians have a lot of gender discrimination in the name of "culture" and "tradition".

Women are supposed to dress and behave in a certain way and men are free to act as they wish, with these terms. Not just lay people, but even politicians and celebrities have made controversial remarks with their ideas of women and their boundaries. Women are blamed for everything from provoking men with behaviour and dresses to even getting raped.

This does not end here...

Kiss of Love - a fight against moral policing, that started from Kerala, has been spreading like wild fire across different Indian cities.

[Read: Kiss of Love that created hullabaloos in India: Explained]

Earlier, some of the political groups protested against the events by tearing up posters and giving lectures on how we should be preserving the "Bharatiya Sanskriti" i.e. the Indian culture and not by indulging in public display of affection (PDA). After that trick failed and youngsters came out in numbers to take part in the protests, activists from Hindu Sena openly threatened to "rape" the organisers.

[Read: Free to rape but prohibition on kissing: What "Indian culture" is according to few!]

Soon enough, they realised that even that trick is not going to work and now the so called 'activists'are using the 'traditional' trick of humiliating a woman to stop her from doing something.

Going the 'moral' way!

Drisha (name changed to protect identity), a 21-year-old student, soon 'learnt her lessons' for being a woman and still going against moral policing! She took part in the fight against moral policing and is now paying heavily for her 'immoral act'.

The so called 'moral police' have morphed Drisha's photographs, shown her in the nude and that has been shared on WhatsApp. She has also been facing attacks from such individuals of all castes and religions stationed in several places.

"At first, they used photographs showing me taking part in KoL and attacked me through obscene comments on WhatsApp and Facebook. Then, I myself shared the photos on FB, which shut their mouths. And soon they went to the extent of making over my photos, to morph them as nude and shared them. The comments were so abusive and vulgar. Is this morality?,'' she asks.

"The fundamentalists were targeting me. Strangely, no one ever made any comment against the men who took part in Kiss of Love protests. They targeted only women. They were evidently attempting character assassination of women like me. Gender is evident even in this case," Drisha says.

[Read: Gender Justice? Discrimination against women begins at womb]

Moral policing is prominent across India but the worrying part is that the police, by registering cases, attempt to frighten those who protest.

But how long will women remain a soft target for men and how long will the gender discrimination continue?

It's high time we actually step up and change our mindsets!