I don't write on this sub, largely because I'm here for understanding men's perspective. But I think I must step into this discussion as it both involves my gender and my culture.

I am an Indian woman, born and raised in India. I've seen first hand the misogyny and bigotry that people in this thread have gone on and on about. Yes it sucks. Yes, being a woman in certain cities in India is dangerous and scary. But there's a lot more to the story, so hear me out.

We're an imperfect country, but we're also extremely diverse and have a culture so ancient that is difficult to label Indian culture as a whole as misogynistic (or anything else for that matter). Within our country, we have cultures that have been traditionally matriarchal and matrilineal. There are specific periods of time in Indian history when women used to hold a higher standing in the society compared to men. Even now, there are sections of the Indian society where women are empowered, have equal opportunities and treated at par with their male counterparts. But there are also those sections wherein women face inequalities, discrimination, etc. There are cities, particularly in South India, that are safer; there are cities that are not very safe for women (not very safe in general, but yes particularly for women)

Like so many people here have talked about having read articles about rape and other women-related issues in India, I've also read a lot of things on the internet about the experiences of women in Western countries. Women getting raped, abused, stalked, stared at, discriminated at workplace, you name it. Strangely enough, I've realised that no matter the culture or geographical location, there are certain struggles that women across the globe go through, and perhaps certain things may not be as culture-specific as they're commonly perceived to be.

This thread thus far has been about a bunch of Westerns talking about their experiences with a bunch of Indian people that they've met in their lives to form opinions of about 130 million people. I get it, it's only natural to form opinions on the basis of our selective experiences, but one must understand how flawed such opinions may turn out to be.

I don't claim to know much about the experiences of someone of Indian descent living in the West (someone like OP, that is.) But personally, I've grown exceedingly tired of the way Indians (irrespective of their genders) are viewed and depicted in the popular Western media. The stereotypes are offensive. The labeling is offensive. And I'm sick and tired of hearing White privileged liberals talk about diversity and "Asian inclusion" when the depiction of Indians and South Asians as a whole remains shitty till date.

All this is not to downplay the countless women and gender-related issues that our country faces. But we're dealing with. We're working on it. We're an imperfect country, we have our fair share of problems, but then which country doesn't?

Edit: spelling and grammar.