A year since #MeToo movement took India by storm, The Logical Indian brings to you a summary of startling stories from the field of entertainment, politics, media among others, that brought to light the harassment, assault, sexual innuendos that women braved and quietly withstood for years.
While the vagary of the MeToo movement seems to have faded with time, there were few cases where the women fought till the very end, and strapped powerful men like Union Minister MJ Akbar off. The 12 cases filed against MJ Akbar of assault are still pending in court with as many as 100 lawyers advocating for Akbar. But, the women continue to fight against power and patriarchy.
The Logical Indian spoke to journalist Suparna Sharma, who came out with her heart-wrenching testimony last year against the horrors committed by Union Minister MJ Akbar when he worked as the editor at The Asian Age.
If you were to go back in time, would you have come out with the testimony or participated in the movement?
The MeToo movement that swept across the country last year, exposing men in power, was a much-needed movement especially in India where most women are still tight-lipped, afraid to speak about sexual abuse and assault they may have had to endure. Most of us at The Asian Age used to openly talk about M.J. Akbar and his sexually abusive behaviour. So it wasn’t something that we didn’t want to talk about. We just didn’t know how and when to do it. The MeToo movement provided that moment. Priya Ramani tweeted about Akbar and then the floodgates opened. One by one, so many women spoke of how, where, when Akbar had abused and assaulted them.
I hope and pray for many more waves of the MeToo movement so that the message finally sinks in — that it is not okay to abuse women, that it is a crime. And that you will be held accountable. That the power you wield and abuse won’t be able to shield you from women calling you out.
What is your perception of the movement?
The MeToo movement highlighted the insidious but depressingly common culture of powerful men continuously abusing women who work for them. So many horrific cases of women being sexually abused by M.J. Akbar came out — Pallavi Gogoi, Tushita Patel, Ghazala Wahab, Shutapa Paul… These and other cases are as old as 10-20 years, but that doesn’t mean time dilutes their severity or Akbar’s criminality. Hence, the movement was very important to make women realise that they can call out their molesters — it doesn’t matter whether people are not ready to believe them, or if the women get slut-shame, are told that they are doing it for money or publicity. None of that matters. What matters is that women must tell their truth, they must speak up, they must lift the veil of silence.
Do you think it impacted the power equation or the foundation of society which is presumed as patriarchal?
I don’t think so. Look around and you will see that power, whether it is at our homes, in our society, in politics, judiciary, the police, or economic power — all of it rests with men. We live in a deeply patriarchal society and in a patriarchal society, the roots of sexual assaults lie in our homes. Young girls are often abused by men in their families, and in most cases, they are tutored to not speak up. And even when it’s someone powerful outside their homes, they are told they must have been at fault, that they should keep quiet, forget the whole thing. This automatically accrues a notion of invincibility in men and a privilege that sexual abusers feel entitled to. It is because of this feeling of entitlement that they think they can sexually abuse women, and it’s because of this that they commit such acts with no shame, guilt or fear. When a woman challenges this notion that abusers have internalised, and reclaims some power, they defend themselves by slapping defamation cases, mudslinging her, questioning her character.
I mean, look at M.J. Akbar’s sense of entitlement and invincibility — more than 18 women have spoken up about how he abused them, and he has the gumption to sue Priya Ramani for a tweet.
Where did you get your strength from to come out with testimony and call out to such a powerful man in position? All women who have been sexually assaulted or abused follow different coping mechanisms. Some came out with their testimonies, while many others are still dealing with their assault. We cannot question them. I spoke up more in solidarity, in support of Priya Ramani. I think of myself more as a witness to M.J. Akbar’s predatory behaviour. I saw what happened to Pallava Gogoi, I knew what M.J. Akbar had done to Tushita Patel. And yet I was horrified when I read what Ghazala had to go through. It devastated me, but it also gave me power. During the MeToo movement last year, several women spoke with me, wrote to me about how they too had suffered at Akbar’s hands but were not ready to talk about it. So what we have in pubic is just the tip of the iceberg — about M.J. Akbar and ot…
