India's #Metoo Explosion!!
When a long forgotten actress Tanushree Dutta finally came out about her sexual woes at the hands of the veteran Bollywood actor Nana Patekar, a man who has mastered theatre, Marathi as well as Hindi movies and whose acting skills knows no bounds, it created a chain reaction when more and more women came out with there stories alleging over half a dozen celebrities- not just men, but women too, of sexual harrasment at the work place. These are not minor celebrities either- veteran actor Alok Nath, director Vikas Bahl, comedians Tanmay bhatt and Gursimran Khamba, Musician Kailash Kher, Union Minister MJ Akbar, comedian Aditi Mittal etc. It was a shocking revelation and one that has divided the country.
I was talking to a friend last night and he called it a copy-cat movement from the west, but he had no answer to the question why his favourite Bollywood actress, who is one of the top most A-lister of Bollywood currently rests to gain from alleging work place harrasement on a director from long time ago. It also reminded me of another conversation we had regarding rapes where he condemned it while blaming it on men's uncontrollable desires and said it doesn't constitutes to the most heinious crimes a person could possibly commit. But things changed suddenly when I asked him if he would entertain the same point of view if his own sister were to face anything like that in future, and all he did was get mad at me for even thinking about it. I get his love of his sister from that, but I also got the misogynistic hypocrisy that runs rampant in India just like anywhere else. Just on another note, he's a fan of Donald Trump.
I remember when Kiron Kher described women as the biggest minority of human civilization and it stuck with me. Women have been on receiving end of a variety of abuses for far too long. Rapes, Child marriage, discrimination in education and jobs, Dowry and subsequent Murders, Acid attacks, Female Foeticide……. the list goes on and on and that's just India, I wont even touch Middle-east where women are treated like animals (ISIS anyone??). And the saddest part is when they speak out, they are shamed, character assassinated and called Femi-nazis. Often they are rejected as publicity stunts.
That's not to say women cant be the perpetrators of such cases themselves. That's also not to say that some women exploit their #metoo power for personal vendetta which is equally punishable. But its clear male perpetrators are 1000s of times more common than there female counterparts. How many times do you read about a female person raping a man?? Do they not have sexual needs?? Do they not have work place crush?? Do they not have sexual impulses?? But you don't see them lifting up a man at the middle of night into a bus and inserting iron rods into his anus, do you?
Its shameful as a man that such things are happening in 2018 even in the most developed parts of the world and If I could, I would apologise to all women in their behalf. I fully stand behind a women's right to name and shame the perpetrators of such crimes as long as its true, if not by hook we will change the world's mentality by crook. And for all those men who are scared of the word- Feminism, research on it, or come have a conversation and I will personally enlighten you on why women should be given equally opportunities and respect in society and the theory of consent. The human civilization will crumble without women- literally, respect them, love them and leave her alone when she says NO to your coffee request....
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