The journey from #metoo to #believesurvivors
In 1997, a young girl from Alabama named Heaven told Tarana Burke that she was molested by her mother’s boyfriend. Tarana did not know how to respond and was not able to show Heaven that she understood. She never met the girl again. She did however always wish that she had said “me too”. In 2006, she founded Just Be Inc. to promote the wellness of young female minorities. With Just Be she started the movement Me Too, in order to make people aware of the magnitude of the problem that is sexual exploitation and assault of women and give the women a sense of empowerment.
Though the movement has been around for 10 years, it was acknowledged in the mainstream media on the 15th of October 2017 when Alyssa Milano tweeted “If you have been sexually harassed or assaulted write me too as a reply to this tweet.” Within hours it was a top trending topic on twitter where many users including celebrities shared their experiences. The story soon made its way over to facebook where 70000 users had used #metoo within 12 hours. Coverage was done by major media organisations like CNN and soon, the movement that had started in the US 10 years ago, #metoo was all over the world.
#metoo gathered wind in India as well. It had a very powerful precedence. The 16 Dec 2012 gang rape had changed discussions around gender and finally shifted the blame from the victims to the perpetrators. The patriarchal control over women’s lives was always portrayed as their safety till then. With the #metoo campaign, women showed solidarity and support to each other while at the same time stopping the stigmatisation of the victims. As a tool for creating awareness and lifting the taboo over the subject, it is encouraging a change in the thought process. That a women is not responsible for the violent acts committed on her, is something that badly needed to be said out loud. With this movement, we have empowered the women to raise their voice against the harm done to them.
Encouraging women to speak up is necessary so that the perpetrators can be held responsible for their actions as in the case of Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul. There have been some documented wins in the past year like the shutdown of President’s Club when sexual misconduct was witnessed at one of their events to raise money for children. The downfall of Weinstein and Bill Cosby can also be considered a definite win. When the former US Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to a life sentence for sexually assaulting girls under his care who were as young as 6, was a win for sure; but one wonders why wasn’t anything done when the accusations initially surfaced in 2016.
Women are now using Internet as a tool to overturn centuries of silencing. However, this is a cosmetic fix at best. To actually make a difference, we have to go much deeper than that. In the case of Weinstein, the abuse of power went on for so long because people were aware of his transgressions but looked the other way. They were complicit. This is not happening just in Hollywood, but the world over. People who know that there is an abuse of power, whether physical for perceived, and are not saying or doing anything to stop it; are complicit.
When Indian actress Tanushree Dutta tried to tell a harrowing tale of sexual misconduct at the hands of a veteran actor on a film set in the midst of the cast and crew, as long ago as 2008; nothing was done. Inspite of making an official complaint with the police, she suffered harassment and eventually withdrew her complaint, stopped acting and resettled in the US. When she finally got the courage to start the conversation again in 2018, all she received is scepticism and slut shaming. A similar incident can be observed in the US, when multiple women came forward and accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. Judge Kavanaugh is nominated to be an Associate Supreme Court Judge. Post the accusation, a Senate Hearing was organised where one of the accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, was invited to give a testimony. After this, the Republican Party insisted on interviewing her themselves and hired a prosecutor to question her as if she was on trial. The #metoo campaign is here to stay, but we also need to #believesurvivors for it to be truly successful.
According to NCRB, 95% of the rape cases, the aggressors know the victims, 22% happen with a promise of marriage and 9%are committed by immediate family members. In 2015, a total of 34651 cases were reported, and in India 90% cases don’t get reported. 27.5 million women in India are affected by domestic violence. According to a study by National Centre for Biotechnology Information, 7.5% suicide attempts in India are correlated with intimate partner violence. India has registered an 800% rise in the number of killings in the name of “honour” in 2016. There are 250 to 300 acid attacks reported every year, in spite of restrictions on the sale of acids and other dangerous chemicals. The sex ratio of India is 109.9, where as a natural ratio is between 103 to 107 indicating that female foeticide is on the rise. At a global level, 35% women worldwide are subjected to sexual violence according to a report by WHO. 30% of women are assaulted by their intimate partner. Globally 38% of murders of women are committed by their male partners.
Due to gender discrimination, there is no concept of equal pay for men and women in most places of business. According to World Economic Forum, the world has covered only 68% of the gap between total gender inequality and total equality. It will take close to 100 years to cover the same. The gender pay gap has increased by almost 100% in the last 10 years.
These alarming figures all indicate the inherent misogyny and a deep rooted and age old attitude of chauvinism in the milder cases and outright disregard of basic human rights in the extreme cases. In other words, misogyny kills. The only way we can make a difference under these circumstances and play against the odds is by having open dialogue. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change you want to see”, if we want people to take a stand against the injustice, we have to stand against it. We cannot be complicit. We cannot turn a blind eye. We have to ensure that we inculcate the values of compassion and a feeling of equality in the youth of tomorrow. Ensure that they stand up for the rights of those, who cant fight for themselves.
“Be a voice for all those who have prisoner tongues
For the people who had to grow up way too young
There are songs to be sung
Lord knows there's a war to be won“
