Follow Us
Saba Naqvi
Senior journalist & columnist
Mj Akbar is not likely to survive the storm of complaints that have hit him. He may never face criminal prosecution but what the #MeToo testimonies have achieved in the media this time is to recognise that inappropriate behaviour is harassment. It's even more unacceptable when the Boss does it to those who work under him.
Working in a patriarchial world
Reading the survivors' accounts about Akbar, one can only conclude, that unchecked, his behaviour kept ascending, from bad to worse. In a patriarchal world, with a celebrated man at the top, this is how it often was, be it in the Hollywood studios run by Harvey Weinstein or in the newsrooms lorded over by MJ Akbar.
But the reason why the cases of MJ Akbar and Harvey Weinstein stand out is because it was not one solitary woman making an accusation but a cascade of protests leading to a stunning downfall. It would still be a struggle for a solitary woman, not backed by a collective, to bring down a man who may have harassed her in the workplace.
#MeToo have createed that collective, driven by social media connections and reach. Now, the task before women is to put it to greater use and across barriers — from the media in big cities to those in small towns and in the regional language press, where the grip of the patriarchal male would be even greater.
Counter-mobilisation
A counter-mobilisation is also happening. Men complain they are scared to have a conversation with a woman in a closed room in case a frivolous charge is thrown at them. But somehow people can tell the truth from falsehoods. Truth has a certain ring to it. Lies have an odour that gives it away.
There are a few caveats that I would suggest. A personal relationship gone sour is not a MeToo issue. If it deteriorated into physical violence, it can be publicised and criminally prosecuted. A mild pursuit or an attempt to flirt by a man that a woman may reject is also not MeToo, presuming that the man stops when told a NO. Lusty eyes or "he looked at me with longing" is certainly not cause for complaint if the man stopped looking; that is the human condition where pursuit by either gender is part of sexual behaviour.
In our hearts, most of us can make the distinction between consensual healthy relations and those that are entered into under pressure. In India, a country where the law is applied poorly and can take years to move, MeToo can achieve what the law on sexual harassment cannot in various ways.
What MeToo can achieve
First, it can begin the process of setting new norms for behaviour in the workplace. The boss who struts around patting the woman on the back, summoning the pretty girl again and again to his office, watching her backside as she retreats, is no longer a personality to be admired but a vaguely embarrassing figure.
Even more important is the other achievement: the MeToo movement has ended the trivialising of women who speak out. In an earlier age, a woman who spoke against the great men who ran the world would be rubbished as hysterical or a problem employee. The victims, it now turns out, after the wave in the US, other countries and in India, are completely normal, healthy women who just kept it bottled up because that is how the world was. And it was the man who was a pervert or a predator. The trivialising of victims will, therefore, hopefully end.
Law not the only recourse
It is an empowering moment for women but let me also show some genuine sympathy for the men as well. Most men are not sexual predators but have been raised in a society where they imagined that they were at times God's gift to any woman who happened to catch their momentary fancy. Hence, the rather pathetic accounts of messages a famous author and a not-so famous journalist sent to some women. It was poor judgement, but not, in my book, equivalent to what Akbar did to his employees.
When it comes to sexual harassment, laws are not the only answer as what a victim undergoes is also subjective unless rape or sexual molestation has taken place, that are anyway crimes under the IPC. But in the current climate, it's also up to institutions to set standards and apply them rigorously.
The precondition for the MeToo campaigns has already been laid by the sexual harassment laws that came into being in India in 2013. The law calls for internal inquiries in the workplace where any complaint is made; and the inquiry should be completed in 90 days.
Media organisations should begin to apply that stringently. A mega offender has been exposed; a Pandora's Box has been opened and it's better to be safe than sorry.
Tragically, what one is also hearing is the backlash, that the safest way may be to not hire women, specially if they are attractive and feisty, the ones who would draw a male gaze but complain if the infatuated man pursues. I've been told this by well-meaning friends who congratulate women on MeToo but are getting terrified that someone someday may name and shame them for behaviour that they thought was quite normal.