Mumbai: As the #MeToo Campaign is seen to be growing in strength, professors of the Mumbai University are of the opinion that puberty workshops should be conducted for men at educational institutions. At the workshop, the professors suggested, youth should be taught how to conduct themselves around women.
Sanjay Ranade, Head of the Department, Communication and Journalism, while speaking to The Free Press Journal said, “Our existing socio-political institutions have failed miserably, as a result of which young men and women go to social media to vent about how they were harassed and why they were to forced to hide their names. We need to have open-ended discussions, we need to educate youth.”
“Sexual harassment is not anything to joke about, right now people are making memes about the campaign. It is a serious issue which needs to be dealt with, and it is because we did not learn to ‘listen’ and discuss such matters,” added Ranade. Ranade further said from Class VIII onwards, students should be taught through these workshops about which ‘touch’ is appropriate and which is not. Women should be educated to speak up when they face sexual harassment, he said.
Speaking about the changes needed in non-educational institutions, Ranade said, “Mumbai has so many cooperative housing societies. Instead of merely speaking about painting buildings, we need to include on our agenda allowing our children to speak on such matters, to paint their future bright.”
Meanwhile, Assistant Professor Daivata Patil said, “Social media is not the place where they should be speaking about how they were sexually harassed because the question arises: What do they want ? Sympathy, empathy, attention or justice. If they want justice, then from whom do they want it? We, as women, have given sanction to such acts — what is tolerable and what is not. We need to learn to speak about such matters and learn to “hear’ about it to take serious cognisance.”