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The personal is political.

 The MeToo movement in India has exposed enablers that institutionally protect predators and abusers. They play a crucial role in silencing survivors of abuse; selecting and strategically choosing whom they call out. However, the unsaid toxic culture of glossing over the stories of abuse or predatory behaviour in progressive circles is more common than one would have imagined. Thus, the current discourse on gender effectively fails women, men and the non-binary survivors of abuse.

A progressive is arguably someone who politically leans towards centre-left or the left with an aim to bring social reform. It therefore, becomes imperative that we especially hold such spaces to account over their culture of abuse, harassment and discrimination.

Misogyny, sexism and abuse are capably disguised in feminist spaces. As seen in the high-profile case of sexual harassment from 2013, a left leaning Bollywood filmmaker extended his support towards the accused. Whilst the filmmaker is routinely applauded for writing and portraying strong female characters on-screen, he failed to stand up for the rights of women when it mattered the most.

Progressive men are idolized for merely being on the right side of history – a position they exploit to reinforce patriarchy in innovative, invisible and visible ways. According to a 2008 study by Tal Peretz, male feminists in fact receive ‘preferential treatment’ over female comrades, who refers to this phenomenon as the pedestal effect.  Peretz further adds that “the first possibility is that pervasive male-supremacy in the rest of society benefits men to such a significant degree that it carries over into feminist spaces – men don’t leave their “invisible backpack” at the door”.

Even in the ‘so-called’ progressive circles, unabashed support has been rendered to each other where we see quick changes of stance particularly when one of their ‘own’ has been called out. Such cases reverberate in the development and academic spaces as well. Alternatively, self-proclaimed gender experts position themselves as flagbearers of gender equality in public fora but adopt compromising and patronizing measures towards the harassment and discrimination happening around them – by overlooking or justifying or burying the actions of a perpetrator. By casting this shadow of doubt, ‘progressive’ men not only manipulate but delegitimise the due process. This accorded ‘preferential treatment’ often translates into progressive and liberal men taking upon themselves to defining the ambit of women’s rights. Clearly, this prerogative does not lie with them. Guilty of dictating women’s experiences and appropriating marginalised spaces, these hegemonic tendencies are not accidental but are by design. In fact, the Sabarimala issue is another case in point, where this moral argument is normalized by patriarchy and casteism.

Appropriation not only silences but controls the narrative which ends up diminishing the space for justice. This perhaps is the most fundamental betrayal in the fight for true gender equality. Kalapana Kannabiran in The Situated Politics of Belonging discusses how “women, dalit women in particular, constantly negotiat[e] space for insertion of justice into that common ground – marking its separation, difference and distance from the larger public domain in general and public law in particular, not easily conceded by the community of belonging, not standing on its own either, but seeking to govern its similar ways on different terms. […] The larger questions that are relevant to this debate have to do with the politics of masculinity and misogyny in civil society and women’s responses to it; the politics of gender within communities and the resistance to sexism from within…”

It is time to listen and reflect. If not now, then when?

 

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author, and don’t necessarily reflect the position of CBGA. You can reach Sakshi Rai at sakshi@cbgaindia.org.