“It all starts with dialogue.”
A movement doesn’t start in a day. A series of ripples cause a wave and that was the case here too. Chinmayi expresses her disbelief over the fact that it took her tweet for the dialogue to start.
She shares, “I think it all has to start with dialogue. This is the second wave of #MeToo. The first began because of Raya Sarkar’s List of Sexual Offenders in Academia (LoSHA). A lot of people stepped down shortly; people were removed from their senior positions. That happened quietly without people even realizing it. So many other harassers have been talked about in whispers. This time it was begun by Tanushree Dutta’s allegations, Sandhya Menon and several other women. The movement spread from the education sector to journalism, entertainment and now politics as well. The accounts that several women have been so vocal about, if you carefully notice, it is generally a violation of their privacy, their bodies and their sexuality. How do we prevent it? Conversations have started. I see men asking if a joke, they shared or statement they put out is okay. It is unprecedented but they are learning. Women themselves are afraid of being called feminists; that’s like saying, ‘I am not into human rights but I would like equal rights for everyone.’ Without feminism, women wouldn’t have voting rights, equal pay or right to love (female infanticide). What will last? It starts from home. It is not about industries but everyday lives of normal people.”
