‘Life has been a daily struggle after speaking up about abuse’

HYDERABAD: Contradicting the narrative that #MeToo allegations have only been a tool to defame the men in question, the survivors and spearheads of the second wave of #MeToo movement noted that life for them is still a daily struggle, both on monetary and social fronts.

“Every single day, I have to block a 100 trolls on my social media handles because they ask me for my ‘rate’ to sleep with them. People tell me there’s a threat to my life.” These were the shocking revelations made by Chinmayee Sripada, the playback singer who ‘outed’ the two- time Padmashree awardee and lyricist Vairamuthu for allegedly groping her. Speaking at the Hyderabad Literary Fest along with journalists Sandhya Menon and Shutapa Paul who spearheaded the second wave of #MeToo movement in India, the trio highlighted their own share of the battle they are waging with the system.

“Bringing my story to the public has somehow gotten more men to abuse me on a daily basis. This is only one part of the struggle, there is a whole separate legal battle to redeem my work,” Chinmayee added.  

On the other hand, Shutapa Paul, an independent journalist and author, spoke about how the risk of speaking up harrowed her through the months. “Yet, I knew, I couldn’t sleep if I did not break the silence,” added Shutapa. Speaking on what could be the way forward, Sandhya Menon, freelance journalist, said, “There must be more focus on the role of a bystander, because sexual harassment doesn’t happen in isolation. People must speak up and help the survivor.”