I DO TAKE OFFENSE!!!

This story from the BBC talks about how a school text book used in the Indian state of Rajasthan compares donkeys to politicians and WIVES!!! The fact that politicians are being portrayed in a ridiculing light is prompting the book to be taken off the curriculum. There is no big "hoopla" about how women are portrayed. And why should it be? If there had been more upheaval over the fact that it demeans women South Asian society would have a little more respect for its women. How are men going to respect women in a society where a book that compares wives to donkeys is being criticized not because it makes this comparison but because it makes an ever more offending comparison--that between donkeys and politicians (that's sarcasm..in case you couldn't detect it).

It is often said that a child learns respect for a woman from what he sees in his own home and that respect for women needs to be ingrained at every step of the child's growth. If this is the kind of "satire" being used in institutions then I would have to conclude that disrespct for women is being consciously institutionalized.

Read the story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4875430.stm