The mass molestation in Bengaluru on New Years Eve shocked the nation and came out across as a failure of the system to protect women, but what followed was a round of victim blaming and foot in mouth misogyny which reminded us of the deep rooted sexism in our society.
As the nation was left stumped by the comments of Abu Azmi suggesting that women are responsible for the incidents, #NotAllMen started trending on the social media even when the need was to show empathy for women who were victims of sexual harassment in the country.
The trend was slammed by social media users and the anger against such blatant victim blaming has been seen across social media, and one user summed has a fitting response. In a video the woman recites the poem, "I am not your sugar. I am not your petrol. I am a human being. With fire in my soul."
The video sheds light on the sorry state of affairs where women’s safety in India is in tatters and they are being advised to restrict their movements instead of asking the state to act against offenders.
