#BoisLockerRoom — We all know how it started.
It started with one girl and spread like wildfire, because after all, a girl had said something, right? And when we attach the word “rape” then she obviously cannot be wrong about what she said.
But the beginning itself was rigged and where did she actually go wrong?
- The additional information from a Snapchat screenshot that started the fire towards the word rape and against the group of boys from the chat room.
- The continuous use of “underage girls”. The boys are usually as old as the girls are and hence, it really isn’t something to highlight as if the guys are paedophiles.
#ToBeClear — this post doesn’t mean that I support the guys or implies that objectification of women even in the thought is right and neither is the idea of holding the right to comment on their choices of living but this also doesn’t mean that I’m supposed to side with the girls because they’ve come out to be equally wrong.
It has finally come to light that the Snapchat screenshot was generated in a way that a girl seems to have been testing her friend over the course of whether he’d try rape to which the boy denied.
Now, the argument I read everywhere is how these two chats aren’t the same and we should not leave out on the bigger picture, which is somewhat true.
Objectification of women is condemnable, but the idea of name-tagging people on the concept of what some XYZ told you without fact-checking it yourself is equally condemnable. In fact, the casual use of the words — “rape” and “sexual assault” just because you felt it’d build your case on the stronger side of it is not acceptable either. You cannot go around telling people that someone has raped you, or planning onto it without holding concrete proof because, in the world of forgery where videos are not a liable answer in court, the screenshots of some random chat are not liable in any way either, at least not liable enough to use them in the #CourtOfSocialMedia to call-out people and their social media accounts.
This is not only a great example of #SocialDefamation but also about what it can lead to.
Amidst the chaos, a girl chose to come in rising with her #MeToo call and pin-pointed a guy with his social media account details and the word “rape” with absolutely no proof.
Result?
A seventeen-year-old boy chose to end his life because he might not be ready to play his life course amidst the judge and jury of social media and society. We never know whether he was or was not innocent because nobody cared to hear his side of the story, neither did he wait to voice it and that’s the cost of casting the #SocialMediaVerdict.
The girl’s response?
“It’s not her problem if he couldn’t take the pressure.”
Well, he is a seventeen-year-old guy, nobody had really taught him to take so much of hate and degradation at one go, just like you. But that doesn’t give you the right to call him out on social media with no basis.
And while this wasn’t enough, we hear about how this isn’t connected to the Bois Locker Room either, but wasn’t this a product of it?
What I really wanna know is, if the girls were so right, and the solidarity was so strong, why didn’t they choose to go to the authorities than play on the social grounds of the verdict? Was it all worth someone’s life?
Apart from this, the argument that the still-standing-feminists hold is how #GirlsLockerRoom has only surfaced after the boys have been picked on. Why didn’t the guys feel offended when they knew all about the girls? Or rather, why did they wait to retaliate?
Answer — Guys or other girls never posted about the girl’s locker room or the named screenshots in retaliation. It was only in the name of “spotting the hypocrisy”. It’s okay if you’re supporting a campaign against weed-smoking, but it’s not okay if you support it while smoking weed yourself!
You can only preach what you practice, or else it loses its meaning altogether.
The girl who chose to bring this out to the world might have good intentions but the tampering that took place from the very beginning is not acceptable and rather calls for action because this not only sets an example but also creates an idea that leaves a mark and how faults from both sides should be treated equally because one wrongly sent screenshot and the headlines turn out like:
“BoysLockerRoom: Delhi boys Instagram group glorifying gang rape busted“.
While it teaches something to involved and not-so-involved guys and girls, it also teaches a huge lesson to every person who call themselves a part of the aware society.
Just because a girl said it and it involves the word #rape doesn’t make the statement a 100% right or true.
We need to learn the art of patience and wait for the story from both the sides rather than playing the #JudgeAndJury to the case because the product of our curiosity can be someone’s life, reputation or the end of someone’s career ahead.