Re: Desi larkian need to...
Sarahsplendor, you keep sticking to that one example. Here's an example from my own personal life.
I was walking in Saddar Karachi once, when I was 14. I was with my aunt, and I was with my mother.
My aunt is a masters in political science. My mother is a bachelor in psychology. My mom does not work, but my aunt does - she runs a school for underpriveleged girls in karachi as part of an NGO operation.
I was walking along, and this guy - looked like he was in his 30's or 40's - walked by me - and his arm brushed me. Next thing I knew he had grabbed my crotch. As soon as I sensed it, his hands were gone, and he was walking along as if nothing had happened. I stopped and my mouth was open. My aunt and mom turned around and looked at me. They both knew something happened, and they asked me to speak. I could not.
An old man sitting on the sidewalk nearby had seen it and he told them what had happened. My aunt and mom both went after him and punched the guy's lights out.
After that whenever we walked somewhere, we walked in a line. I was in the middle and my aunt was behind me - my mother in front of me. If my mom saw signs, she'd signal my aunt. My aunt would watch, and if the guy did anything, she'd start hitting him and punching him and making a scene. Pretty much, then other guys would see, and they'd start punching him as well. And then we'd walk away, while he got beat up by the crowd.
Now pray tell, I was the immature uneducated one at the time. And my aunt and mom were educated - not just in their degrees but in their experiences. My aunt was the braver one than my mother since she was the one who used her fists. She's used to it - she runs her school in a very run-down neighborhood and she has to deal with abuse situations like this for herself and for her female students all the time.
The last time I went back to Pakistan, I was in college. I was able to run after the guy who grabbed me during a wedding with a stick.
:)
Education does empower you.