Aheli Moitra
On the east coast of the country, you can trace the birth of gigantic waves rising from the distant flat bed of the ocean. Few can predict how high, long or strong a wave may become before dissolving into white froth. These waves define how we experience the ocean—one may sweep us off, another may leave our feet with a taste of the ocean. The last few days have been witness to the formation of a Tsunami in Indian journalism. Women journalists, angered by the impunity of our times, are speaking out - more every day - against sexual predators in the industry. They are using social media to name and shame men who have sexually harassed them in their workplaces. Joining the #MeToo movement to draw from the solidarity of survivors all over the world, the women have detailed the nature of their abuse at workplace that has debilitated them from performing their professional duties apart from leaving them with lifelong psychological trauma. The domain of men has been ruffled. Some newspapers have asked accused editors to step down and instated investigations into the allegations, mandated by the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act of 2013. The Act has made compulsory the setting up of a mechanism to address issues of sexual harassment in every workplace of more than 10 employees. India’s #MeToo originally started in 2017 with the publication of a list of Indian academics accused of sexual misconduct. In 2018, the movement has caught up with several other professions, including comedy and cinema, also dominated by men who face complete impunity or the exemption from punishment for an offence. The movement is not a means to subvert legal procedure but a way for women to find solidarity in each other and speak up so that further action can be taken if so desired; to shake the society off the culture of silence that crops from blaming women for their abuse or even the illusion of one’s own society being perfect. This Tsunami in Indian journalism does well to tear into our skin at the crude display of misogyny but it does more than that. It exposes the power and privilege that men enjoy beyond our homes, in our professional spaces, our political spaces. While women in India are on the path to create a ‘culture of consent’, it is also the responsibility of men to step out of their slumber and speak out against institutionalized sexual violence. The predominant victims of sexualized violence may be people of other genders, but men owe society the duty to question oppressive practices and institutions that, on their shoulders, continue to operate. An unjust society is a thorn in the path of a healthy future for people of all genders—how difficult can it be to understand that all human beings have equal dignity and self-determination? Finally, a Naga reader may be thinking “such things don’t happen in Naga society.” This is not just far from the truth but also the kind of statement that drives survivors of sexual violence underground. While most Naga workspaces are witness to certain levels of decency, it takes little for power holders to cross the line in the absence of any mechanism to hold the guilty responsible. It is, therefore, important that the harbingers of peace and rights in Naga society create safe spaces for survivors of sexual violence to speak up, #MeToo, so that some day they may also find justice. The ark of this wave is long and it is time to ride it together.Comments, questions, stories can be safely shared at moitramail@yahoo.com
