The last week found all of social media flooding with the
#MeToo campaign. The campaign that was sparked by the Harvey Weinstein
allegations to convey the magnitude of sexual abuse in our society led a lot of
people, men and women alike, to open up. Some just posted the hashtag while
others wrote about their experiences in detail.
I, for one, was confused about it. Mostly because there have
been so many, that it will be exhausting to open that Pandora’s box. More so because
it will fill me with rage, rage that won’t do any good in it’s true form.
I was catching up with a friend
when he mentioned the futility of this campaign and how it is useless and
propagates self-victimization. Needless to say, that made me angry, sad, upset, and everything in between. How
could anyone accuse any such initiative, of people coming out and talking about
abuse, of self-victimization?
Isn’t it obvious that none of the victims are looking for pity?
Isn’t that the reason why none of us have chosen to speak about the abuses
perpetrated on us over the years. That and the fact that we still try to blame
and shame the victim. The same friend also went on to put the contemporary
fashion under spotlight. According to him, as many others, surge of
testosterone is the primal instinct which is triggered by any show of extra
skin. Extra in this case is subjective, for some experience the trigger of
those instincts when they see a little bit of arm of another person, or the
tiny feet of a baby.
So, on behalf of all those who participated in the #MeToo campaign,
and also on behalf of those who have been abused in some form or another but
could not openly participate in the campaign, I am writing this today.
#MeToo campaign is
- not about self-victimization
- not a collective pity-party that we have
launched to massage each other’s hurt self-esteem
- not about making everyone feel insecure or
become cynical of their surroundings
- not just about women who have been abused
but also men
It is, in fact, about
- Conveying the magnitude of sexual abuse and how
prevalent it is
- The fact that is not just concentrated in one
industry, place, or situation
And most of all, it is about offering a hand to show that we are
there for each other. So that somewhere, someone can see this support and can come
forward and talk about their experience; for you believe it or not, half the population on
this planet is silently suffering and not talking about it. They are still
thinking about how they could have done things differently to avoid those
horrific experiences. I know that I am
still thinking about it.
