Yes, we know how much Indians, especially men, are crazy about Cricket and Cricket players. They love their favorite players so much that when they lose, they start blaming and threatening their wives and girlfriends instead of blaming the players for their bad performances. But now, this toxicity and vile nature of trolling has touched new heights altogether.
Almost every girl who is actively using social media to express her views has been on the receiving end of many vulgar messages ranging from demands for nudes or any other sexual favor to blatant threats of rape. But such disgusting comments for a 5-year-old for the bad performance of her father shows why our nation bleeds rapes.
Keeping all this in mind, I’m writing this to all the men who are following the same kind of fandom or and seem okay with such threats being sent to a girl. And if by reading this you felt attacked, then my dear, you are a part of the problem.
Every day, we try to make a safe space for women. We write long articles, make videos, write opinion pieces, share our stories about how these statements affect us and our mental health. But I have realized that men don’t change their mindset after all that. We throw something important at people, but instead of catching it, those thoughts are tossed in the trash. Why? Perhaps because of your fragile ego, toxic masculinity, and the patriarchal mindset that doesn’t allow you to hear out women’s opinions?
Whenever a woman challenges your opinion, you suddenly become defensive of your masculinity. And when you find yourself unable to counter a woman’s arguments, you start abusing them. It clearly shows your ineptness in meaningful dialogue. Perhaps you are so egoistic—full of fear that makes you send those rape threats to women and girls.
But you wouldn’t be able to do that without any support now, would you? Sometimes, you hide behind anonymous accounts to conceal your real identity, and sometimes, you are encouraged by the excuses patriarchy will make on your behalf. It will say, “boys will be boys”. This is probably the most stupid statement that exists to date.
You pass sexist comments and reduce the identity of a girl to a mere object. It is not uncommon but society, the patriarchal society, fails to notice it, or rather, chooses to ignore it to avoid any mess. One can recall dozens of times you cracked a sick sex joke in front of a woman, and they pretended not to understand it… Or the time when you objectified someone, and they didn’t confront you about it.
In such instances, you get a boost due to the silence, and the results are in front of us. You believe abusing women is your right. But it’s time we realise this is against the law! The issue is deep-rooted and so should be the solution. People should be confronted with their comments and made to see some logic. Children should be raised to respect every human being, no matter what. It’s a tough fight against patriarchy, but not an impossible one.