Cold SnapDragon

Reading about marriage and contracts, whether they be marriage as contracts or otherwise, I came across an interesting analysis of the social contract: that it was preceded by rape, and that it finds its genesis in the Sexual Contract which Carole Pateman expounded. The Social Contract, which Locke, Hobbes and Rousseau dealt with, speaks of political obligation, obedience and legitimacy, and is, remarkably, by and large, silent about women. True, Locke talked about the "person" but a close reading of his work reveals that his individual person was in fact, the individual man. He spoke of wives being subject to their husbands although he had nothing but the Bible and contemporary social norms to support his assertion. In marriage, women were assumed to exchange obedience for protection, they therefore could not have truly entered into a contact with free will and autonomy given that they effectively lost that autonomy when they married. His Social Contract also contained a se...

The effects of militancy in Manipur were portrayed in this play which was directed by Toijam Shila Devi. Set in a fictional village in Manipur, it focussed on the effects of the militancy particularly on women and children. There were several moments in the play when I wanted to get up and leave, not because the play wasn't good but because it seemed the pain the actors conveyed seemed extremely raw at times -- there was sometimes no "artistic portrayal", and it felt as though the actors were far too familiar with the effects of militancy to need to "act" at all. Manipur comprises nine districts: four in the Valley and five in hilly areas, and all nine of those districts have been subject to militant activities for years. A separatist insurgency began in Manipur in the 1960s demanding that Manipur secede from India, and that a separate "Kingdom of Manipur" be established -- Manipur was in fact the last kingdom to be annexed by the British and made a pa...