Mizuki Dreams

I saw a video recently that shook me in a way I didn’t expect.
Mexico’s president, a woman who has fought her way through the world’s highest corridors of power, was groped and kissed by a drunk man during a public event. The cameras caught it all. The crowd murmured. And she, startled but composed, tried to maintain her dignity while the world watched her violation unfold in slow motion.

As I watched, something inside me froze. I felt anger, disgust, and a strange, hollow fear. If this can happen to a woman who leads a nation, who commands authority and respect, what does it mean for the rest of us? How safe am I, really? Is any woman safe?

That video wasn’t just about one man’s perversion. It was a reminder that no matter how far women rise, the male gaze still rules the world.

The Illusion of Empowerment

We like to believe we live in an age of empowerment. We celebrate milestones: women leading nations, heading companies, walking in space. Yet moments like this strip that illusion bare.

No amount of success, education, or influence can shield a woman from being reduced to an object. It doesn’t matter what we wear, where we live, or what we’ve achieved. Infants are raped. Women in burqas, sarees, or jeans are molested. Victims come from every class, age, and religion.

How do you feel empowered in a world where even power doesn’t protect you? Where your safety depends on luck, geography, or other people’s sense of control?

That thought sent shivers down my spine. Because as women, we are told to keep achieving, keep climbing, keep proving. But deep down, we know we are still being watched, still being judged, still unsafe.

The Weight of History

As I sat with my thoughts, I kept returning to history and how deeply this gaze is woven into every era.

In ancient times, women were worshipped as goddesses and owned as property in the same breath. Men, and not only kings, could have multiple wives who were expected to cohabitate peacefully and treat each other as sisters. Kings kept harems full of women available for pleasure, their existence justified as a symbol of power and virility. Across civilizations, victory in war meant plundering villages, and the spoils of war often included women and children, raped without mercy and reduced to trophies of conquest.

In the medieval era, independent women were branded as witches or temptresses. Colonial morality taught us to prize purity over personhood.  And today, we still find ourselves explaining consent as if it were negotiable.

The forms of control have changed, from physical restrictions to digital voyeurism, but the message hasn’t. A woman’s body, her choices, and her autonomy have long been treated as public property. Society still feels entitled to comment, correct, and control.

The Cultural Contradictions I Can’t Unsee

Being an Indian woman makes this hypocrisy sting even more.
We worship Durga and Lakshmi but tell our daughters to keep their voices soft and their skirts longer.
We speak of “Stree Shakti” while silencing women who talk about abuse.
We revere motherhood but shame single mothers.
We celebrate love in poetry and kill for it in reality.

Honor killings, domestic violence, and marital rape are not rural myths. They happen in elite homes, behind expensive curtains, in families that look respectable on the outside.

And globally, the story is the same. The so-called liberated woman in the West is sexualized, not respected. The modest woman in the East is controlled, not protected. The packaging changes; the possession remains.

The Psychology of the Gaze

Watching that video made me realize that the male gaze isn’t about desire. It’s about dominance. It’s the need to remind women that no matter how far they rise, they can still be humiliated and reduced.

It’s in the workplace where a man interrupts your ideas but compliments your smile.
It’s in the street where a stare feels like a hand.
It’s in homes where daughters are taught shame before sons are taught respect.

The gaze is not just a look. It’s a system. One that decides who gets to walk freely, who gets to speak, who gets to feel safe.

The New Faces of Old Misogyny

Patriarchy today doesn’t always roar. Sometimes, it jokes.
It hides behind “boys will be boys.”
It tells women to be careful, not men to be accountable.
And when you call it out, you’re told you’re overreacting.

Technology was supposed to free us, but it has become another weapon. Deepfakes, revenge porn, online stalking. We’ve simply digitized the gaze. The perversion has gone viral.

What’s terrifying is not that these acts happen. It’s that they’ve become normal. We scroll past them. We rage briefly, and then we move on. I didn’t want to move on this time. I wanted to sit with the discomfort, to name the fear, because only then can it be dismantled.

The Social Conditioning Through Ages

Through the centuries, women have been asked to epitomize virtue. They are taught to uphold morality, resist temptation, and suppress their own desires to remain “pure” and “untouched.” Across religions and cultures, the idea of virginal purity has been glorified, and always for the same purpose — to shift responsibility.

Society tells women that it is their duty to avoid “unwanted attention,” that modesty will somehow protect them. The burden of preventing assault is placed on their shoulders. If they are violated, the question always begins with what was she wearing? or why was she there?

But how does one explain school-going children being molested? How does one explain babies, just months old, being victims of sexual assault? These horrors reveal the truth: this isn’t about lust or provocation. It’s about power, control, and a deeply ingrained belief that women’s bodies exist for the taking.

The Age of Objectification

Today, the message has simply changed its disguise. Women on screen are told to be bold, free, and expressive. But I often wonder — is there an agenda behind this “freedom”?

The silver screen, advertising, and social media continue to commodify the female body, only this time under the pretext of empowerment. “Own your sensuality,” they say, while reducing women to clickbait. Every image is curated to please the gaze. Every movie, music video, and reel tells women that liberation looks like exposure, while still framing them through the same old lens.

Meanwhile, crimes against women rise relentlessly. The contradiction is cruel: we encourage women to be fearless and visible, yet fail to make the world safe enough for that visibility.

The Unfinished Revolution

We’ve fought for centuries for the right to vote, to study, to work, to lead. But we’re still fighting for the right to exist without being watched.

The revolution remains unfinished because empowerment was never just about equal pay or titles. It’s about reclaiming the gaze. It’s about demanding that women be seen as people, not property.

We can’t keep teaching girls to be strong if we don’t teach boys to be kind. We can’t tell women to be careful without telling men to be responsible. We can’t call ourselves civilized while half the population still walks in fear.

Where do we go from here?

We have come far, and yet, not far enough.
We’ve sent women to the moon, but can she walk home safely at midnight?
We’ve given her the right to vote, but not always the right to say no.
We’ve celebrated her success, but still question her choices.

Empowerment is not the end of the journey — it’s the beginning of a deeper one.
Until the gaze shifts from possession to respect, from control to coexistence, from objectification to equality, civilization will remain half-evolved.

Because civilization’s greatest blind spot is not ignorance.
It’s arrogance: the belief that we’ve already achieved equality while half the world still walks in fear.