Dr Mohammad Didare Alam Muhsin
The country is in turmoil. There is a ‘gone, gone’ buzz all-round. Mou, Piasa, Porimoni — the law enforcement agencies are raiding the houses of models and heroines, one after another, and arresting them. They are facing trial and remand on various charges of alcohol, drugs, DJ party and cheating. Curious crowds are constantly asking: what’s the matter? What happened to what? Some people’s great comment: ultimately, then, the authorities awakened!
When you sit down to judge a society by the standards of civilization, one of the main parameters that will come to your mind will be the status and position of women in that society. A woman is sometimes a loving mother,sometimes a loving wife, sometimes a loving sister or a cherished daughter. No matter what the role, women are always the source of tenderness, love, and affection. You will hardly find anyone who disagrees with you on this point. But, even then, you will see, generation after generation, century after century, in a large section of human society women had been deprived of the rights, dignity and status that they deserved.
There have been continued debates and disagreements in the human society about the position and dignity of women. When some societies seek good in keeping them confined within the four walls of houses for the protection of their honour and dignity, others are trying to find a solution by opening all the bars and placing them at the same level as men everywhere. When a group thinks that men and women complement each other, the other party is much more interested in seeing them as rivals. Such divisive views have led to the emergence of various marginal thinking on the question of the position and status of women in society from time to time in different sections of human history and civilization, which has upset the overall stability of society.
The issue that has always come up as a sensitive one is how the relationship between men and women will shape up and how freely they will mix with each other. The eternal attraction of men and women is one of the main foundations of human civilization.
As a boy or girl passes through childhood into adolescence and progresses towards full youth, his or her masculine or feminine characteristics continue to develop, and s/he becomes so eager to get the proximity and companionship of the opposite sex.The overall outlook of the society become the ultimate regulator in determining what form this interest would practically assume. Religion as a whole still has a strong influence on conservative Eastern society, which seeks to eventuate this mutual attraction between men and women into marriage and so, naturally, intends to limit their pre-marital interaction to a logical level. On the other hand, in the modern West, unrestricted interaction between men and women of any age is a settled issue and men and women can ascend their relationship by mutual consent to whatever level they want — society or state does not stand in the way here.
Thanks to the advancement of the West in modern science and technology, the influence of the Western views has been felt in the East, especially in the educated society, for quite some time. The main preoccupation of music, stories, novels, dramas, theatres and movies have long been love, which often portray pre- or extramarital affairs. In many cases, you will see that women are being presented in a sexually explicit form, with or without any relevance. At the same time, the easy availability of pornography has given a new dimension to the whole issue. Thanks to the Internet and satellite communication, this influence of Western culture has gained a stronger foothold.
In a nutshell, it has a big impact on school, college and university-going teenage and young boys and girls. In many cases they are intertwined in a way that the larger society is not ready to approve. The easy availability of alcohol, drugs and birth control measures has further complicated the issue.
Added to the overall moral degradation, you will find some young women having strong fascination to gain star fame through acting and modelling. On the other hand, some mischiefs are engaged in full-time business to earn big money by involving beautiful stars and young women interested in gaining stardom into immoral activities. In the lure of money, some misguided young women have themselves turned it into a profession with the help of these scoundrels. The occasional night parties of high-society call-girls, with alcohol and drugs, in the country’s elite neighbourhoods and five-star hotels, is just a part of the overall activities. Not only the youngkies from rich families but also a class of depraved politicians, businessmen and high-ranking bureaucrats gather here. The miscreants take the advantage of the occasion to put up pictures of special moments, which are later used to collect money or to make important business /office deals by black-mailing. It is widely believed that the immoral use of notoriously beautiful young women is one of the tools of intra- and interstate intelligence across the world.
This is how the queens of the night arise or are created. This is a heinous business, where our mother’s race is used as an instrument to fulfil the desires of some miscreants or to achieve their special purpose.
Once a young woman steps into this world, she is trapped in a cycle, from which there is no way out. What do they get in return? Some money and fake fame. Some of them, however, may become mentally so deranged that this money and fame appear to her a huge achievement, and she finds this miserable life enjoyable. Problems start when the gaps are melted, and these stories are spread in the society or they are attacked by law enforcement agencies.
When a society is morally degraded, the tastes of a large part of the society, from top to bottom, get distorted. People enjoy a kind of perverted pleasure by gossiping about the criminal activities of the society, especially women-related scandals. The media focuses on these scandals. When a scandal is leaked, you will see that, after realising the situation, many people are coming forward and kind of competing to file more and more complaints against the person concerned, giving the impression that it is not the only scandal, but that there are many more.
Thus, the whole society remains totally occupied with the person for some time. In the end, the problem is still there — unresolved. We don’t want to think, a bit steadily, why these things are happening. What is the solution? Why are these girls stepping into this dark world? Is it their sole responsibility, or is this corrupt society making these night queens?
The Writer Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmacy, Jahangirnagar University
