Sexism and Racism: An International Tour

[Note: You may need to create accounts for some of the news websites I've linked to on this post. They are all free accounts, as far as I can tell.]

The whole issue of cheerleaders in the Indian Premier League cricket tournament has brought up both the hypocrisy and the racism widespread in Indian society as well as some amazingly breathless reporting - from clueless western observers - about the entry of "American-style freedom". On the one hand, there is the complete objectification of the skimpily-dressed foreign women. This just reinforces the stereotype of the "immoral, easy" western women who will drop any amount of clothing for money. On the other hand, it provides the occasion for the self-righteous culture police to come out in strength, denouncing the corruption of Indian culture.


I say ban cheerleading in cricket not because it is corrupting of Indian culture (Hindi films have that covered) , not just because it is irrelevant to the sport (it is a ghastly sexist sideshow - go join a women's cricket team, ladies, instead of trying to be "me, too" participants on the side). Ban the damn thing because it also spreads an alarmingly distorted image of western women who are subject to extreme sexual harassment, being both visibly different-looking and often - at least in the Indian case - associated with the dubious lifestyles and shoddy parenting skills of those on the hippie trail. Cheerleading only adds to the woes of the vast majority of ordinary western women trying to visit India or live in the country as expats. I realize that by following this line of thinking I am falling into some dubious analytical company here, that anyone will tell you that in India it does not matter what you wear, that you can be covered from head to toe and still get groped and whistled at. But these cheerleaders are overwhelmingly foreign, either American or Eastern European. Hence they will be associated with cheerleading and its degrading objectification of women.

But the other seamy side to Indian national character that this whole cheerleading saga has uncovered is the horrendously racist one - it's not bad enough being sexist, no sir, we are racist too. See, we think western women are sleazy sluts, but if they are going to come here kicking up their legs in their bikini tops and short shorts, then we don't want...er, the dark ones...you know...

So hoping to find some comfort, I turned to closer pastures. But nah, no comfort here, just more misogyny, sexism and racism. As the national election cycle wends it way down to November, the traveling circus of sexism-cum-racism continues to trail its disgusting path across the United States. Hillary Clinton is subjected to the most degrading language I have seen recently in political discourse (one thing to note - that even with India's poor track record against women, no sane Indian man would be caught dead telling any leading woman politician to "stop running for office and go make me a sandwich.").

And when it comes to Obama, some of the most deep-rooted scary racism comes to the surface. You know, the kind of stuff that you thought ended along with public lynchings in the 1950s. But no, the good old days still live on in sunny suburbs and peaceful farming towns. It's scary to think that in little towns across America, there are people who have no problems telling Obama campaigners that their candidate should be strung up from the nearest tree. They are probably pious church-goers too.

There have always been anecdotal evidence of this lurking racism and misogyny. But given the long-drawn nature of the Clinton vs. Obama primary duel, it was inevitable that both would rise to the surface, showing us that the battles that we thought ended with the 1960s are not over, not just yet. Perhaps they will always be around so we will always have to be vigilant.