Me Too and More



A special character, a “#” followed by two innocuous words “me” and “too” has come together and formed a hurricane of epic proportions. After blowing away heavyweight celebrities in Hollywood, it recently made landfall in Bollywood and the onslaught of this “#MeToo” storm rages so ferociously, that even seasoned media-savvy celebrities are finding it difficult to get out of its way. Meanwhile, it has brought down some famed reputations in Indian filmdom and sports area too. More such revelations keep coming in every day.
When I first came across #MeToo, I wondered why at all, a #MeToo movement was necessary? If someone is wronged then to get the justice he or she has to approach the authorities and get justice. Unfortunately, the issue is not as simple when one analyses it against the backdrop of typical patriarchal standards and benchmarks.
When I looked up a dictionary, I found that the word “molest” originated between the years 1325-75. So I guess molestation and sexual molestation, as a form of a misdemeanor, was not recognized before that period. Lord Shri Krishna hiding the clothes of Gopis would definitely go beyond sexual molestation it would be gross sexual misconduct. Such acts, if judged by the court of law today, would definitely invite major punishment (Well if you are wondering about evidence, there are a lot of art galleries’ which have evidence in the form of paintings depicting vastra haran.. ). The narrative of this act perpetrated by Shri Krishna is looked up as a juvenile act of fun with some sexual overtones of course. However, such an act could never invite punishment or even mild reprimand. It was an act accepted as legitimate.

Times have changed but men still find that act of Krishna or similar other acts as fun. Transgressing a woman’s private space and body is supposedly the right of men. If we look around, we will find that in Indian movies the act of winning the heart of a ladylove through acts of molestation and oppression of various degrees is very much an accepted tool for wooing women. It is therefore quite natural for senior male actors to grab newcomer lady actors and teach them dance steps against their will. It is ok for producers to throw a two-piece dress to a lady actor and ask her to strip and try out the dress in front of him so that he can visualize how the actor will look on screen.
I have seen the comments of many educated and matured men raising questions like why did the aggrieved person not speak up then? They should have slapped the guy and ask him to go to hell. Well if things were so easy then there wouldn’t be any vice today. A little girl who gets molested by a close relative, a lady employee who very much needs the job and the money for sustaining her family and therefore does not pick up the courage to protest and slap, the young trainee who is awestruck by the professional work done by her senior or mentor at office, finds to her dismay that the man is a sexual predator and a powerful individual and is scared to protest. It can take a long time to gather that courage and come out against it because more often than not the blame for molestation will again be heaped on these victims.

In this context, it would also be relevant to dwell on religious dictums issued for women. They require being patient; they must bear pain without protesting. They should fully immerse themselves in serving her master and elders in the house. This is the reason that women were scared to open up earlier. Now with an increase in education and with more discussions on gender equality and sexual liberation women have found a voice with which they express their pain. Moreover, a criminal incident if reported even after 20 years does not make it any less criminal. It is not as if the criminality aspect has been diluted by time.  has Just a murder is treated as a murder even if it is investigated and brought to court 30, 40 or 50 years later, the murder of dignity does not lose any of its bite and humiliation for the victim throughout life.      
YES, there are instances of false accusations also. It is a complicated world. People tradeoff and then call names when things go sour. It happens everywhere and in case of sexual molestation and rape too such instances are there. However, if we take an objective unbiased view based on statistics and facts it will be seen that only perhaps 3 to 5 % cases are false but the rest are genuine and the victims could at least get delayed justice which is surely better than justice denied.




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