Dear Rosy, Is Beauty Only Skin-Deep?
By Visakha Tillekeratne, Janakie Abeywardane and Prema Gamage –June 1, 2015
Open Letter to Rosy Senanayake on your Satana Program Response regarding Vidya
Mrs Rosy Senanayake
State Minister for Child Affairs
Dear Mrs Senanayake,
It was with much interest that we looked forward to your participation in the Satana Program of 28 May 2015 on the burning topic of “Ethics, the law and the death of Vidya”. We did not expect much from Mrs Vijayakala Maheswaran nor Mr Ranjith Soysa. However many of us were disappointed with your response. Of course at the time we had forgotten that even when you were faced with verbal sexual harassment from former Minister Kumara Welgama, you didn’t address it seriously enough. You also did not object to sexually coloured comments directly made to the participants by Mr Mervyn Silva, where you too were in the panel of judges at a reality show. Furthermore, when you were affronted by Mr S. B Dissanayake’s uncouth comments to Ms Chandrika Kumaranatunga, did you raise your objections?
Cultivate real knowledge
Despite the fact that you have been exposed to the discourse on gender based violence over a long time and despite the fact that you were a significant part of the Women’s Commission set up by Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe and even being one of the co-chairs of the Women Parliamentarian’s caucas, you seem not to have grasped the fundamentals behind gender based violence. It will be good for a start for all 13 women parliamentarians to have a close mentoring from Mr Bimal Ratnayake, who seemed to have an in depth knowledge and able to properly analyse the situation and the social landscape. The rest of the Parliamentarians should follow.
