Indian society despite all the positive changes in it over the years is still mainly male-dominated. Though nowadays you can see true gentlemen who happily share the load with their wives whether they are working women or homemakers and young men accepting girls as they are (ignoring their past relationships with guys as they do understand they themselves were in several relationships with girls and it’s completely normal and natural ). But at the same time, we keep hearing about the cases of domestic violence, acid attacks, eve-teasing, and molestation on a regular basis. All the crimes against women are based on one single thing ‘male ego being hurt’. How could a woman reply them back? How could a woman refuse his proposal? How could a woman go out safely when he is around? All these cases show us how high ‘the male ego’ is in the men of our country! In such a scenario, it becomes imperative that more movie like ‘Pink’ (2016) and ‘Guilty’ (2020) are made for the Indian audience.
The movie Pink which was released in the year 2016 showed the story of three young independent girls who share a PG. Once they go for a party at a farmhouse where after a friendly conversation and hang out with some boys one of the girls Minal finds herself being forced by a man named Rajveer for having a physical relationship. When she refuses it, he files a case against her claiming she hit him and was forcing herself on him. He even assassinates the character of Minal and her other two friends saying they were asking for money in exchange for physical relationships with him and his friends. All these fabricated lies only to hold high the ‘Supreme Male Ego’ how could a girl say NO to a man?? If a man is turned on, he will have, by hook or by crook. A woman in no way has right to say NO to him. The movie gives us a very valuable lesson in the speech by Mr. Amitabh Bachhan where he emphasizes, ‘NO MEANS NO’ Whether it’s your friend, or wife or girlfriend or even a sex worker; when a woman says no, you MUST stop then and there only! You have no right to touch a woman against her wishes! The movie teaches to respect a woman’s consensus for having physical relations with her.
The movie ‘Guilty’ which got released on Netflix in March 2020 also portrays candidly the Indian Male Ego. This suspense thriller is mainly the story of one boy named Vijay or VJ who is the heartthrob of college girls and two girls Nanki his girlfriend and Tanu a girl who likes him and flirts with him openly. Now, on the fateful night of Valentine’s day during a party in their college, Tanu and Vijay are seen together drinking where Tanu is also flirting with Vijay. Nanki is talking on the phone and she leaves the party due to some work. The next morning, Tanu presses charge of rape on Vijay which leaves everyone in shock. Vijay has a very good reputation in the college and he plainly says he under the influence of alcohol had made love to Tanu last night. People find it difficult to believe Tanu as they had seen her flirting with Vijay very often. They say it’s a false #metoo case where the girl is clearly framing the guy for money and attention. Vijay easily wins the case and gets a clean chit in the case. But to everyone’s surprise, Tanu ultimately is proved right. She discloses how she went with Vijay and is his friends at Vijay’s hostel room where he started touching her before everyone else. Tanu opposes this. She did want to make love with Vijay but not before his friends. In her frustration, she slaps Vijay. This hurts Vijay’s male ego badly! He then rapes Tanu before his friends who all support him. The movie ends with Nanki getting to know the ruth about Vijay and supporting her. She also makes a startling confession about her own rape by her teacher at the age of 13. Her story also shows how men always want to assert power over women and can’t take their NO.
Both movies show how toxic masculinity is affecting our society. They also emphasize the fact that you can never take any woman’s consent for granted. You can not just simply assume things about a woman if she wears short dresses, or drinks, or parties till late at night or even flirts with you and is interested in sleeping with you! All of this in no way a ‘signal’ for you to force yourself upon her! Don’t ever cross your limits. Yes, don’t remind the girls their limits, remind it to yourself. The importance of consent can never be underestimated in any physical relationship. Rape can never be justified under any circumstances whether it’s in a marriage, or in courtship days, or on a date. Rape is forced sex against the consent of your partner it’s not natural, normal sex so please stop giving logic in its favor! We as a society definitely need more movies like ‘Pink’ and ‘Guilty’ to make people understand the difference between rape and consensual sex and to stop blaming women for the sexual assaults on them.
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