Hi! Firstly, I want to thank you for what you are doing. You are bringing up topics that Indians online are often negligent about, and this helps with the elimination of desensitisation to casteism. So, thank you.
I'm 18 years old and a lesbian woman who was brought up in a diaspora Hindu Brahmin household, raised to be "empowered," unless the empowerment would lead to speaking out against the caste system. Within the Brahmin community, the women are nothing more than glorified servants to their husbands and extended families. Every single woman in my family is always and constantly talked down to, made to perform tasks considered to be beneath the men, and they raise their daughters in this way too. The indoctrination begins early. I was maybe 7 when my own mother said to me that one day, the men would laugh at me because I didn't know how to clean the space where they ate correctly. As someone who was a part of this and didn't know any better until I turned 17, it is a cult of arrogant, indefensible men and complicit women who are victims of their husbands and sons and aggressors to their daughters. Outside of the cult, these women, under the pretext of being 'devotees', commit atrocious aggressions anyone not part of their weird little coup. Plenty of examples of this exist.
I have considered myself an atheist since I was 12, because the liberation of women is more important to me than faith and I believe that you cannot fully commit to being a feminist if you still put stock in any religion in the world. I only have experience with Hinduism, so I will speak on Hinduism. Hinduism is often packaged neatly as the religion of peace. It is a perfomative statement to its core, and women and those on the lower end of the caste system pay the price. The package fails to mention that this 'peace' comes at a hefty, hefty price.
Sorry, this is a huge Ask, but I just wanted to speak out on this and your page seems to more or less align with my principles. Thanks!
I'm so tired of people abroad (and in india as well) romanticizing Hinduism as some kind of savior religion and praising its so-called tolerance. That "tolerance" only extends to men - whose atheism, arrogance, and infidelities are either ignored or even encouraged by Hindu patriarchy. But this leniency doesn’t apply to women; even the youngest girls are forced to carry the burden of their religion and their family's honor on their shoulders. It’s disheartening to see so many women not only embrace Hinduism but also actively uphold and promote it, despite its deeply misogynistic and casteist foundations.
By choosing to uphold the religion, Savarna women become oppressors of Dalit and Muslim women.
I'm so sorry your mother said those hurtful things. A man does not determine your worth, and I hope you know that.
No, don’t apologise - I agree with everything that was said in this ask, and it was a great read. I’m so glad you broke free from this religious mindset and decentered men.