Lakshmi Manchu expresses anguish

In the wake of molestation of Bhavna, the Malayalam actress, many celebs have expressed their anguish.  The Manchu lady, however, has done it in a thought-provoking, hard-hitting manner.  

"Women in our country are either prayed to as goddesses or hidden behind closed doors.  The lucky ones are eventually respected as mothers and wives.  But is that all there is to a woman?  In an era when women are far from safe, is it right to continue praying to Goddess Lakshmi, Parvathi, Durga, Saraswati, and Kali?  Is it okay to pray to them when we continue butchering their daughters in the name of moral policing?" she has said in a message posted on Twitter.  

"This has become a normal part of our lives.  If the abduction and the sexual assaults weren't enough, the media made it worse by 'accidentally' leaking her name," Lakshmi said, slamming the media for flouting the rules and ethics by revealing the victim's name.  

Saying that "everybody owns our bodies but us", Lakshmi has hit out at the sexualization of women in movies.  "I see this every day in the entertainment industry, where women are used as props rather than full-fleshed characters.  Ah, flesh!  That sells, item songs do, too.  What about women with three-dimensional characters?  What about the portrayal of actual women?" she said.  

"We normalize the behavior that scares us.  We are frightened to roam the streets alone.  To go home by public transport.  To walk down a street when a gang of boys appear.  To wear clothes that we like," she said.  

Woman celebs like Taapsee Pannu, Regina Cassandra, Jwala Gutta have praised Lakshmi Manchu for letting her angst know about the plight of women in India.