The purge is ugly, messy and painful, but the ongoing #MeToo movement is of immense historical significance. And contrary to what one may think, it hasn’t arrived late; the ecosystem necessary for it to thrive, not just survive, has only just come to be.
It was less than a century ago that women, in numbers that mattered, started receiving a meaningful education, one beyond embroidery and the kitchen. A liberal, non-religious Education with its twin, Awareness, have always been bedrocks of progress. Women’s suffrage, which led to female political voice being heard, also roughly followed the same timeline. And then the catalyst occurred – women stepped out of their cocooned existences to work shoulder to shoulder with men. They exhibited a hitherto unseen belief in their own competence, a solid sense of confidence. Equal, not inferior.
These were necessary building blocks to what we see happening in several parts of the world today – a grudging recognition of, and an angry purge of patriarchal privilege. A demand for respect. There is nothing soft about this movement; it is, as it should be, a whiplash.
As a woman, I cannot count the number of ways by which ingrained patriarchy and misogyny affect my kind in our day-to-day life. The catcalls we endure, eve teasing that shakes us up, blank calls with heavy breathing that jolt us, men exposing themselves in blind alleys, uncles feeling us up in the guise of bear hugs… all these aren’t happenstances. These are scars at the very tip of a mountain of scars that every woman bears. Mind you, I haven’t even come to what is legally termed sexual assault. This is just everyday life as a female.
Wresting Power from those that have exercised it since times immemorial is not going to be pretty because Powerplay never is. But the only way to claim one’s space is to step up and fight for it. The old guard needs to fall. So yes, there is anger, rabidity and some individuals that take the focus away from the movement to play the limelight. But many more women and men are fighting very hard to expose ingrained, normalized sexual offences.
There is more than a quorum wanting a better world for our children. Let’s focus on that. The Feminine is finally fighting back, and that’s why we have to realize we are indeed living in interesting times.
(Image Courtesy: GivingCompass.Org)
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