For her, the bell trolls

Doesn’t the adage that ‘It’s a man’s world’ sound medieval in the present feminist frenzy era Well, not really — for it seems like there’s still a long battle to fight — at least as far as battling sexism is concerned. In the recent past, the Internet broke out with sleazy comments about the recently elected Assamese BJP MLA Angoorlata Deka. Some of the most viralling remarks being ‘One of the sexiest MLAs of all time.’, “Angoorlata Deka the new BJP MLA from interior of Assam. Oder MLAs shd’nt get distracted @sagenaradamuni @pushp3079”, “How could Telugu movie directors and producers miss a beauty like Angurlata Deka’ flooded. But the obscene sexist remarks weren't just made by the un-initiated common man. In fact, even filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma passed a comment that raised eyebrows. He tweeted ‘If MLA can look like this, Achche din aagaye hai Thank you Angoorlataji, Thank you Modiji..1st time I love politics.’

While the entire episode took us by shock, this isn't the first instance. Recently, a daily received flak for an article about ‘The 10 Most Beautiful Female IAS and IPS officers in India.’ Lashing out how respecting a woman is long over due and sexist trolling has to be done away with; IPS officer Merin Joseph asserted, ‘It’s high time relentless objectification of women and propagation of patriarchal structures, reducing a lady's worth to her face value ended.' An evil deeply embedded into the Indian society or an act, which calls for strict reprimanding A case of misogyny at its best or an everyday truth we tend to overlook ’

Opining about the same, sociologist GK Karanth says, “A clear demarcation on what was accepted in the public and private domain is blurring by the day. A chunk of the average Indian men are unable to alter his notions about women as objects of sexual enjoyment, desire and abuse. He is yet to come to terms with the fact that women have evolved long from being just a wife or mother. He is overwhelmed and enamoured on seeing women in a different light. I concede such instances as an anguish of the average man’s whose ego refrains himself from viewing a woman as an equal. It’s a ‘demoniac’ face that surfaces more often than not.”