Since the time I began to think several years ago I have often heard several things in all kinds of fora. “Women are being oppressed”, “women are subjected to domestic violence”, “women are killed for dowry”, “crimes against women are increasing”, “men always try to take advantage of women”... etc... etc... What I saw and experienced was quite the contrary.

While at school if a girl and a boy made the same mistake. The girl would be gently reprimanded while the boy would be beaten up black and blue. Then at work if a female employee made a mistake the punishment/ repercussion was much mellow while compared to a male making the same mistake.

Today when I read these two articles on MSN.com I couldn’t resist the urge to present it to the world. Women are the ones who have been at the receiving end of preferential treatment since the time immemorial. Yes there have been atrocities against women but so have men suffered. Just because crimes against men are not reported it doesn’t mean they don’t take place.

The first article I’d like to cite is titled “Man who killed ex’s fish gets probation“. The article goes on to say how this guy Donald Earl Fite III (27) had broken up with his girlfriend Sarah Harris. He tried to make up with her, but she wasn’t willing. He couldn’t take it and ended up getting angry with it. But we don’t know what she said to provoke him. Finally he ended up killing her pet fish by stabbing it with a knife. The authorities were swift in taking action. The cops arrested him and he was charged with domestic violence and animal abuse. The guy pleaded guilty and got slapped with a two and half year probation sentence.

Now let me tell you about the other story. This happened in Texas. A woman and her common-law husband (live-in partner) had a serious argument and broke up. A few days later the woman got so angry at the ex, she decided to teach him a lesson. What does she do? She goes to his apartment when he is not there, takes his pet gold fish (7 of them) to her apartment and fries them and eats half of them. The man returns home to find his gold fish gone, suspecting foul play he complains to the cops. The cops land up at the woman’s home and find 4 fried gold fish and the woman sitting with a smug smile after eating 3 others. Does the woman get punished? Heck No... She doesn’t even get charged.
The cops say that this is a civil matter and no charges will be filed.

The above two stories are strikingly similar. The only difference is that in the first case it was a MAN who killed one fish and in the second case it is a WOMAN who killed seven fish. Still the woman goes scot free while the man has been sentenced to two and half years of probation, some social service and probably some detention too.

Now isn’t this gross injustice and discrimination based on sex??? Isn’t this male oppression? If this is happening in the US, I dread to think what kinds of oppression will be taking place in other nations where the justice system is not so strict. I’d like to know your opinions and thoughts on this.