Normalization of Women Objectification in India

Will we ever grow above body shaming and slut shaming? 

The “Bois Locker Room” group chat on Instagram has ignited fury amongst many. It highlights the rape culture in India. It is a mirror reflection of the society we live in. When the youth comments on women’s bodies, pass inappropriate comments and discuss how easily they could gang-rape a girl, it just makes me wonder where we’re heading.  I can’t help but ponder about their upbringing, and if they were taught basic morals and values? I feel like objectification is ingrained in the Indian mentality, and if education isn’t helping these people get out of this, then nothing would help. It’s messed up how normal this is becoming in our society. Growing up in Delhi, I thought the unwavering stares from men was a normal thing. We’ve internalized the problem to such an extent that we constantly tell our girls and women to dress appropriately, or to not post revealing pictures because of the excess amount of testosterone in a man’s system. We still aren’t teaching boys to respect the opposite sex. It baffles me how even after being called out by social media, those guys had the audacity to threaten the girls and hack their instagram accounts just to protect themselves. They still weren’t feeling apologetic because they don’t understand that their thought process was at fault. 

Personally, I have been petrified to wear certain clothes and to stay out till late in Delhi ever since I was fifteen years old. As I grew older, I realized that it doesn’t matter what kind of clothes I wear because I would still be starred at from top to bottom. When I was 17, I was at a friend’s farmhouse for a party. The party was thrown for people from school but some guys invited other guys from different schools who were drunk, drugged and high. I still remember how they looked at the girls even though we were not wearing short dresses. It made me so uncomfortable. But what was more vicious was the drivers lurking around the gate holding bottles of alcohol and packs of cigarettes just starring at all of us dancing, drinking and clicking pictures. It was even more frightening to discover that they had guns in their cars and we were at an isolated farmhouse. I was shook. I was startled. I just wanted to leave with my girls. And that’s exactly what we did, at 10:30 pm. None of us ever spoke about this again but I still think about this incident time and again, and thank my 17 year old self for getting out of there on time. This is just one of the many times I’ve felt uncomfortable and scared in Delhi.

Previously, I was only scared to go out, but now I’m terrified to post my pictures on my own instagram or any other social media account because of these boys. I’m not just scared for myself but for my 12 year old sister and my girl-friends. So, thank you to the boys involved in this group chat, you’ve made us more self-conscious, you’ve made us think about why we live in such a society where even in the year 2020 we’re feeling inferior, helped us not forget about the highly misogynistic world we live in, and you’ve made our parents scared forever. As a strong, opinionated girl I will not let this affect me and I will not let it shred my confidence which I have built for a while now, but I will be twice as careful because I don’t want my parents to stress about my whereabouts and my posts even if it’s not my fault. 

I have little hopes from the Delhi Police to even intervene in this and take action. What can they do in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak against the entitled rich brats of South Delhi and Gurgaon? Yes, the news has blown up, social media is enraged but they know it would die down in a few days. Social media has its powers but it’s only for a limited amount of time. If action isn’t taken against these boys, then many more boys will continue trash talking until they are able to normalize this in India.