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“I don’t quite get the point of the NYT article – is it to say that not all Indian men are bad but there are some good ones, too? To start with, I don’t think anyone is saying all men are jerks or that all Indian men are jerks. It’d be foolish to make a generalization like that. But it’s important to recognize that even if the men in your life love you and care about you, they can still hold patriarchal beliefs that give the men who want to hurt you the sanction to do so.”
THIS.
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A lot of men on my Facebook timeline have been sharing this link to a New York Times article enthusiastically, happy that at last, someone is speaking up for the ‘decent Indian male’. You know, the one who doesn’t go on a rampage raping everything female in sight but is instead the checked-shirt wearing office-goer who is tirelessly working for his family. Like the guys here:
Kafila has already written a rather caustic critique of the article, but I still want to write my two rupees worth. As has been pointed out in the critique, I think it’s quite a simplistic view to classify men as either the feral types (who are curiously from the lower classes) or the decent husband/father types.
I’m sharing my airplane + baby experiences here as the NYT piece uses it as evidence (?!) to show that decent Indian males exist. ‘Strong familial commitment’…
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Shail's Nest 
For some reason, I was unable to post a comment on the original post. Here’s what I wanted to say though.
Well said. And then we have articles like that rosechasm one which set out to exonerate men by turning a blind eye or rather debasing someone else’s experience. How about coming out and acknowledging that yes, such things do happen and just because 1 in 5 men are good doesn’t mean we can ignore the other 4? Because, you know what, ignoring them takes work too and it’s tiring to go through the ignoring ritual day in and day out!
I think we’ve reached a pretty sad state when just being normal and decent is something to be applauded. I don’t deserve praise for being a law abiding and loving person. I don’t need encouragement or praise. I expect it to be taken for granted. It’s insulting if someone makes a big deal out of what I would call “baseline” behavior.
I agree entirely Bhagwad. Well said.