The U.S. travel advisory warning women not to travel alone in india may sting national pride, but let’s be honest—it did not come out of nowhere. Year after year, india tries to sell itself as a global tourist hub, boasting of culture, yoga, and spirituality, while sweeping under the rug the ugly reality that women here, whether indian or foreign, are constantly under threat of harassment. Instead of indignation at the advisory, the anger should be directed inward, at a society and a governance system that have repeatedly failed to make even the basics of public safety a reality.
What makes this hypocrisy more shameful is the everyday behavior that fuels it. The sight of men grabbing foreign women for selfies, casually resting their hands on their shoulders as if they were their wives, is not “innocent enthusiasm” but a violation. This entitlement—this audacity—lays bare the rot in our collective mindset. We celebrate goddesses in temples and then treat real women as props for our amusement. We demand respect for our culture abroad, yet can’t even offer basic respect to women visiting our own country.
It’s time we stopped pretending that these are isolated incidents or exaggerated narratives by foreign media. The problem is systemic, cultural, and deeply ingrained. Safety is not about patting ourselves on the back when a woman gets home unharmed—it is about ensuring she never has to live in fear in the first place. Until india confronts this hypocrisy head-on and enforces real accountability, advisories like America’s will keep shaming us globally. And truth be told, the shame is deserved.
What makes this hypocrisy more shameful is the everyday behavior that fuels it. The sight of men grabbing foreign women for selfies, casually resting their hands on their shoulders as if they were their wives, is not “innocent enthusiasm” but a violation. This entitlement—this audacity—lays bare the rot in our collective mindset. We celebrate goddesses in temples and then treat real women as props for our amusement. We demand respect for our culture abroad, yet can’t even offer basic respect to women visiting our own country.
It’s time we stopped pretending that these are isolated incidents or exaggerated narratives by foreign media. The problem is systemic, cultural, and deeply ingrained. Safety is not about patting ourselves on the back when a woman gets home unharmed—it is about ensuring she never has to live in fear in the first place. Until india confronts this hypocrisy head-on and enforces real accountability, advisories like America’s will keep shaming us globally. And truth be told, the shame is deserved.
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