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Comment by sid6376 | Hacker News Reader

I have seen this culture of misogyny and treating women as sexual objects in almost all places in India I have lived in. Not trying to counter your point, just saying that this observation could have been written by a woman who spent her time in Kolkata/Chennai/Bangalore/Mumbai rather than in Pune. In fact Pune in some respects is much better than some of the cities I mentioned above.

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I agree. But just a word of caution, if we are talking about misogyny and treating women as sexual objects, lets also talk about the porn industry(which today is as responsible for the existence of the internet, as advertising is for Google).

Is there a difference when the developed world spends countless hours objectifying women from the safety of their homes through technology?

Looking at pictures and movies of women voluntarily engaged in sex acts is in no way equivalent to groping them in the street, attempting to rape them or depersonalising them and treating them as objects.

It's just not.

Forgeting about the india comparison for a sec, there are degrees of 'voluntary.' There are no girls out there who think that they want to be in porn when they grow up.

A friend of mine did want to go into porn as a young teen. She decided not to one she was old enough, because it did not pay enough. There are a lot of people out there and most of them don't think like you do.

I suspect that few people grow up wanting to be gas station attendants either. I grew up wanting to be a test pilot, that didn't work out but I am certainly in my current field entirely voluntarily.

As far as I know, there are no documentaries made about how it sucks to be a gas attendant.

Maybe that means it doesn't suck to be a gas attendant, or maybe that means everybody knows it sucks to be a gas attendant, or maybe that just means that nobody gives a shit about gas attendants at all.

One of those degrees is definitely "sure, that sounds like a turnon." There is certainly legitimate exploitation, but it's not like Paris Hilton did it to make rent.

Porn is definitely a sensitive subject around here.

I have been down voted into oblivion before for bringing it up. I guess the accepted opinion around here is as long as women get paid to be objectified its all cool. And ofcourse there are no effects of such objectification on any of the minds that make up this enlightened society.

EDIT: Pretty sure everyone arguing for there being a big difference thinks things like Steubenville are just random events too.

Sorry, widespread assault and the experience described in the article are in no way the same as the everyday experiences of women in the western world. If you think they are you're delusional.

I didn't say it was awesome, I said it wasn't the same as assault and possible rape.

I will bite. Women in Pornography are paid to do that (mostly). Women who get raped on the streets of Delhi aren't paid to do that.

Right. Objectifying women is okay as long as they get paid. And I guess in this fantasyland rape never happens too.

Nice. Way to miss the fucking point. Let me break it down for you. The article was an article on sexual harassment and rape in a specific country. Not this country. A different country. Totally different cultural values, objectives. You rambled on about two completely different issues:

1. The "developed world" and objectification of women here.

2. Pornography and the porn industry.

The developed world, its issues are irrelevant here. Every time, a god damn article comes about something wrong in the third world, it is not necessary to bring up this world. It conflates the issue and introduces moral relativism. Sure there is female infanticide and female genital mutilation but HEY, women in tech in the bay area get shafted too. That in essence is the argument being made.

To address the other issues of your muddled argument. Sure pornography might involve objectifying women. Sure it might be a bad thing. Sure someone must do something about it. Guess what? It is fucking irrelevant here. This is about women who go to a country and expect not to get raped.

I think next time, I should just down vote and move on, instead of spending my time arguing online.

A whole lot of comments take the tone, this kind of stuff only happens "over there". I found it relevant to point out this isn't exactly true. Please go look at the Steubenville case and ask yourself is there really a difference.

Anyway for anyone interested in a much more intelligent discussion than what we will ever have here check out - http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/BeastNe

The problem in practical terms is a semi-slavery view of women in public. Men and women in porn movies are objectified but not coerced into it, whereas assault is coercion.

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