Sex and love are forces that, every day, lead to new problems and new
possibilities around the world. In male-dominated societies, like in
Bangladesh, women can often be treated as sexual objects. Women
experience sexual harassment, abduction, rape, and even murder. The
natural desire for sex and love has brought women unknown misery. The
fact is, when a woman gets raped, it is not the woman who has sex, but
the man who was the active person having sex; yet, in Bangladesh, all
the shame goes to the woman. The woman is the one who is suppressed by
sexual violence, and who may experience depression afterward, but the
man is unaffected.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib said, “Sexual desire and anger are diffused
throughout the universe. Coming and going, people suffer in pain.”
Religion strictly limits people’s mentality and behavior, especially
in the Subcontinent.
The major world religions have a strongly conservative stance on sex
and love. The Bible starts with the complex idea of humankind’s
beginning and how the first man, Adam, was satisfied after seeing his
mate, Eve. This is how the religion materialized the woman, the
religion brings Adam as an adult and eve as tolls of an adult and
their main responsibility was to populate the world. This is how the
most of the other religion have their own way to treat woman as a
sexual tool of reproduction and pleasure.
Bangladesh is heading towards an increase of crimes against women and
children that is highly related with sex and sexuality. Crimes are the
direct result of the mentalities of the criminals. While most people
argue that the number of people who commit crimes are smaller than the
number of people who oppose crimes, this remains an open question: why
does this majority, which outnumbers the criminals, fail to bring an
end to crimes against women and children? Why is it that, every day,
the newspaper continues to have headlines like, “A juvenile girl raped
by an imam in rural Bangladesh”? Some people argue that a criminal’s
mentality can be improved through the practice of religion, but,
historically, religions have failed to inspire man enough to keep him
from committing sexual violence.
In Bangladesh, the conservative religion of Islam dominates the lives
of the majority of people and leads the nation into chaos and towards
an increase in sexual crime. Islam’s views on sex and sexuality are
the main tools used to propagate the Islamic demonization that
objectifies women; as the Hadith says, “The right of the husband is
that when he calls his wife to have sex, she should not deny him
herself.” (Tialissi).
The root of the problem is society’s mentality; it’s not only the
mentality of man, but society’s understanding of woman that needs to
become more positive, especially in regard to violence related to sex
and love. Many special laws have been introduced and many criminals
were sentenced to death, but, in the end, there has been a failure in
deterring sexual crimes.
We need to dig out the rotten root of religions that inspire men to be
inhumane towards women. We need a global revival to create a free and
fearless world for women, and then the day will come when we will be
able live in peace together as men and women.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said “Religion is to do right. It is to love, it
is to serve, it is to think, and it is to be humble.” We need to bring
forth the religion that inspires us to think and live as human beings,
rather than simply as men or as women
