KOCHI: MeToo and similar other campaigns encourage more women to speak up, but the low conviction rate is sending out the message that the oppressor is untouchable, and the survivor is in for a long, scary ordeal.“Look at what I am going through, for example. I am scared to ask women to report their abusers now because I don’t want to be responsible for the pain they will go through,” singer Chinmayi Sriprada said.
The apprehension, together with the fear of criticism and losing opportunities, is forcing women in cinema’s limelight to remain silent. When an AMMA internal complaints committee member was approached for her suggestions to make cinema woman-friendly, she replied: “Darling, let’s talk about anything but cinema.”
Another award-winning Malayalam actress said: “People are waiting to slut shame women like me just because we speak up. There are men in the industry who hate our guts. The media and public always attack us because we don’t fight the battles of other women, but every day, we are fighting our own battles. It is not easy living around hate,” she said.