Anthropocentric feminism

Preface
a) To undo the wrongs of the past most human being resort to another wrong- revenge.
We hear more women clamouring for castration of the rapist, as we believe in revenge, we believe it to be the only justice possible.
My agrument is: Revenge is the worst way forward as it really is not in our hands. Given that we live in a country that is deeply divided (that deep divide is its beauty, mind you), unity of all women -- the possibility of all women standing on a common platform, talking in the same tongue -- is an impossible, if also undesirable, outcome.
It is far easier in our society for persons of different genders but similar social strata to communicate than it is for persons of the same gender but different social strata. You may counter argue that the experience of all women is the same and hence they speak the same language, but you then must concede that the experience of all humans is the same and hence they should be able to speak the same language.
For it to be an advantage, we must leave aside all influences and talk in an Indian context.
Yes we were colonised by English and the process gave our ancestors great triumphs and even greater agonies, it did leave behind the greatest bridge required to the west -- English, the language.
There is no Western thought or concept that is beyond the grasp of an Indian, who can read and understand the language. I mean any Western thought, even if originally conceived in German.
Now this is a privilege, of course, as it like every other resource in the country, is still in the hands of a few.
The past must be paid its due, but we must take responsibility for the present.
So through this study, we must be able to withstand any criticism of the present with the full understanding that the responsibility is ours. We are responsible.

Beginning
I will begin with an illustrative case-study: The dowry system
a) How this still remains a vital consideration for the birth and life of a girl child.
b) What were the hurdles that prevented this system from being pulled out in its roots.
c) How it has transformed into a new form, thereby infecting resources such as education.
d) As the market economy is a fertile ground for dealings of all sorts, dowry too reinforced itself and may soon be unrecognisable.
Random reading on the Internet suggests this is a system we all have become comfortable living with.
While the middle-class continues to live with it because of greed, the lower class is forced to aspire.
If we believe it is a social evil that was born due to the Raj's laws, we can also be able to see it thrived in the hands of the middle-class that is driven by a single force -- that of greed.
Let's say it is in the 80s that the middle class is first born (it keeps being born, while we speak).
While the state is bound by the responsibility of raising the status of its people, it can fail to do so in the case of the middle-class as this is a class of people that is not only hesitant to move, but it may even be bound by it.
Remember that greed is this class's driving factor and hence it follows that the class jealously guards its territory.
It wants to ensure that nobody from the lower class enters. It is also scared of ever showing that in terms of money, it may very well have reached or even beaten the upper classes.
However, as I belong to the middle-class myself, I must insist that this class too has values that are true and noble, but the factors it is exposed to are by the grace of a higher power, altogether too overwhelming.
Dowry was perpetuated as a system by the middle-class. And it ensure that the birth of a girl child can never be viewed as a happy occasion.
This in turn, gave birth to the kind of feminism that is prevalent in India today.
If the entire system saw no wrong in murdering a female infant at some point in time, then for at least a few generations after, it has to put up with extremely disgruntled females, who are in no mood for reconciliation.
But following other modes of feminism, Indian women have got to a point where even the expression of disgruntlement became an act, and after the advent of television and social media, it became an act in real-time.

Concluding chapter
The role of a feminist in Anthropocene*
As a society needs all its beings to be in a condition of harmony with each other and themselves, to function well, we must be able to provide for ways to achieve harmony.
The truth is, however, we are too loud, too vindictive, too sad, too ill, too not-here to be able to contribute towards harmony.
When I say contribute, I am merely giving us agency and not delving into points such as will power or other deeper, darker powers. If we do not be good agents, like a house that is forever getting built, our task too will remain unfinished till we go.
The task began way before us, each generation of women negotiated for its present and future.
If we feel that nothing has changed, we are disrespecting the efforts of those who were here before us.
Those beautiful, lively, industrious, thoughtful women, who are no more with us.
There are many unsung heroes, reach out to them and sing of their glory (resort to religion, in another essay)

*Anthropocene
Is a time that places you in the centre of things. You may not want to be there, but it is a great power and does what it wants.
Even if you are a trained ego-less person, it finds your ego -- chases it down, pulls it out -- and puts it back in the centre, where it belongs.
If you are a consumer of goods, you do not even know that this is happening, for you are busy shopping, and the anthropocene power 'affects' you, only if the AC in the shop/home, switches off for a bit.