MeToo! No, you are getting me wrong. I am not here to blame someone rather I am just expressing my views on this ongoing rounds of charges of #MeToo Campaign. These days, not a single day goes when I do not come across the Metoo incident.
After all, what is this MeToo? Is this just a campaign or anything else? In 2017, Elisa Milano blamed Harve Winstein for sexual assault and told about the use of MeToo.
Tarana Burke – an American activist, in the year 2006, first used #MeToo for “empowerment through sympathy”, which was the movement for fighting with the acts of sexual assaults on women in the society. A 13-year-old child told her of being sexually assaulted, and she could not help her. This was the time when Tarana Burke thought of using the word MeToo for the first time. Her aim of staring the MeToo movement was to enable the women, who are the victims of sexual abuse and assault, to tell about the incident to everyone and fight against it with the help of technology.
#MeToo Campaign and India
It is good to use #MeToo till the time the motive is to get justice. But is this just limited to justice? Or is this pushing the walls ahead? It is rightly said by someone that without the good leader, it is difficult that a campaign moves in the right direction. It does apply to #MeToo as well. In India, it has been brought to use and soon, as we can see, has become medium to take revenge.
The women who were quite from the last 20-25 years because of the reasons like job, society, dignity and what not eventually seen coming forward and blaming people. And the list of oppressors started getting bigger as names are being added to it one after the other. So, until now were we living in the middle of demons? Or even the humans being masked as demons these days by using MeToo?
My aim is neither to help any man nor to prove any woman wrong. I also, being a human, understand that life becomes painful for the victims of sexual assault. But to what extent, is just adding the name of any person with Metoo without any proof, is correct? He too is a human. He too has dignity and no one has the right to demolish that.
MeToo Campaign can become pointless
Today, we are living in a society wherein dignity, modesty and restraints are not limited to a specific level. In today’s generation, many times it happens that infatuation is considered as love and love a medium of fulfilling physical requirements. Words like “open”, “complicated”, “live-in”, etc. are being used to describe a relationship. And the most astonishing thing is that the radius of thinking is widened so much that people are ready to accept “one-night stand” as a way to meet the physical requirements. Metoo campaign is having a deep impact on society. At this point, it would be wrong to say that #Metoo will not be misused.
It’s a powerful campaign and should have a deep impact. But, it is the need of the hour to understand that a minor misuse of this word has the capacity to destroy the whole life of a person – personal as well as professional. And the most important factor is that one does not need any proof for doing this.
What needs to be done?
At this point, we must see the flip side of the coin as well. Can’t a woman assault a man? Can’t a woman initiate for a sexual relationship with a man? So, when we talk about equal rights for both the gender, is there not a need to investigate this matter, taking into consideration all the facts and information?T
Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
MeToo can become a reason for the change in society! But what is needed is to investigate the matter seriously and strictly, without getting emotional. Then only it is possible to find the truth. The culprit, whatsoever may be the gender, must be punished. Then only the true purpose of this campaign can be served and it can become a catalyst for change!
