Feminist Peace Network

10 year old Sajani Shakya was recently stripped of her title as a Nepalese Goddess because she traveled to the U.S. to promote a film about the living Goddesses in Nepal, a violation of the rules to which, as a “Goddess” she was subjected.  I use those quotations because according to the International Herald Tribune,

“Living goddesses are worshipped by both Hindus and Buddhists. The girls are selected between the ages of 2 and 4 after going through several tests.

They are required to have perfect skin, hair, eyes and teeth, shouldn’t have scars or wounds, and shouldn’t be afraid of the dark.

The main kumari (Goddess) lives a sequestered life in a palatial temple in the capital, Katmandu.

She has a few selected playmates and is allowed outside only a few times a year for festivals.

Living goddesses usually keep their title until their first menstruation.

Nepalese folklore holds that men who marry a former kumari will die young, and so many girls remain unmarried and face a life of hardship.”

I don’t want to criticize cultural practices that I’m not wholly familiar with, but this sounds more like ritualistic, misogynist child abuse than a religious act. While this practice seems a bit extreme, the hotel where I stayed while attending the U.S. Social Forum was also hosting a pre-teen beauty pageant with young girls in ball gowns being objectified willingly by their proud parents. They were meeting just down the hall from a workshop that I attended that talked about prostitution.

It’s all connected…

Filed under: Uncategorized, Atrocities