Women are told purity lies in Vagina, that needs to be taken away: Parvathy on Sabarimala row

Mangalore Today News Network

Kerala, Nov 05: Malayalam film actor Parvathy Thiruvothu has come out in support of the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all age groups entry into the Sabarimala temple amid protests in Kerala.

Parvathy says that it was ingrained in her since she was born that women are impure when they menstruate, but she has always been against the idea. “If I want to go to a temple, I go,” she says.

There seems to be a distance between what’s on paper, the statistics and the mindset of the people. You are the second gender, the third gender, fourth gender, you’re numbered according to your gender. Women don’t see themselves as people first and that has been ingrained in all of us. We are not individuals, we are our gender first and anything else, comes later. This was there with me as well - what clothes I wear, how I speak to my parents, how I speak to my brother, how I speak to a man.

I understood there was this distance between what’s on paper and action when I was 17 and entered the industry. I could feel the male gaze, when they speak to me, they are speaking to a woman and not a person. I found only one or two men who were speaking to me as individuals and it was not sitting well with me. Even if I see that my mom is really outspoken or my aunts are, I still feel that there is this understanding amongst women to be okay with it as well.

I have not actually commented on the Sabarimala issue since it’s happened, but for me this conversation has been happening all my life - about menstruation and impurity, and I have always been against it. I have always asked this question, I stopped going to temples. I wouldn’t mind going to temples, I didn’t want to tell anybody what my business is, whether I am menstruating at the time. If I want to go, I go.

I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of flak for this, I’m definitely with the verdict. But then when you really strip down the religion and the patriarchy ingrained in religion, you have to peel a lot of layers before you even get to a logical conversation with these women. With regard to the film industry, fighting women is way more difficult than fighting with men. We have senior actresses who have also gone through assault who are like ’why are you creating a ruckus? Can’t we all just get along?’ I could not believe that you are hearing it from actresses whom you look up to, who have been here for years and years, and who have gone through the abuse. One can’t understand why they are alright with the muzzling, keeping quiet. It’s a very grey space to be in.

I think definitely, this is coming from a space of being okay and also not creating issues. Everyone wants to get along, have peace of mind and also believe sometimes that women are impure when they menstruate. It’s been ingrained in me since the time I was born. I can see that in every woman. You are about your body, your purity lies in your vagina or your virginity, for that matter. That needs to be taken away and for that I don’t know how many years or generations it’s going to take, but our voice has to be sustained. I’m scared that it will get muzzled soon if we don’t keep it up.

Courtesy: News18