“Thoughts on men and #MeToo:
Men feeling the urge to critique #MeToo across various aspects (scope, intensity, tone of outrage etc) don’t. Sit this one out.
First of all–– don’t make this about yourself. It is not. It is the beginning of an equal rights movement that is aiming to reset the norms across a spectrum of systemic, unequal, dehumansing, and violent behaviour that you haven’t been at the receiving end of.
This movement, as it stands today, will cover everything that falls under the purview of law and things that don’t. Those of you who are scared and exhausted by the outings over the last 2 days, maybe experiencing a tiny sliver of [the women’s] fear will help you empathize more.
And please don’t expect awards for talking about #MeToo for 2 days. Women have been suffering this systemic violence for most of their existence and you are tired from talking about this for 2 days?
The burden of the brutalized is not to comfort the bystander. If you have a critique of the resistance, then you better have an established record of critique of the oppression. Jesse Williams said this in context to Black Lives Matter. I feel it applies to #MeToo, as well.
The harassment and assault hasn’t been refined or nuanced. It has been cruel, dehumanising, and relentless. It is weird to expect nuance in the outing. The outing will be messy. It is a sign of just how bad things have been for women for this long.
It is a purge. It won’t be pretty.”
This is a lightly edited version of the post on Raheel Khursheed’s Facebook page. Currently, Raheel leads News Partnerships for Twitter in India and South East Asia and has spearheaded award-winning civic tech products like Twitter Seva, Twitter Samvad, SmartFeed. Raheel is also a 2017 Knight Visiting Nieman Fellow at Harvard, a 2017 Yale World Fellow, and an Asia 21 Young Leader.
In the past few days, the #MeToo movement has taken flight in India among the urban youth on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Men from all walks of life– journalists and professors to film directors and artists– have been accused of sexual harassment, misconduct, and assault. Homegrown believes in the power of narratives and stands in strong solidarity with anyone willing to share their story.