Caution/Warning: Trigger words
I came across the movie Saani Kaayidham. Apart from it having a few scenes with good picturization, it is extremely disturbing. I don’t want to get into the story of the movie. But have one universal question? Why target women to get back at men? If the way of toxic masculinity is the only way the world goes round and round, I will put across my question in a way that people depending on toxic masculinity can understand. If you are man enough, then why harm women to get back at a man whom you want to hurt?
The movie brought back a few questions. I will put across my opinion in this blog. Please leave your comments with your opinion.
My first question is, and only forming a basis for the rest of this blog: Why not father-f***er and brother-f***er, and why only mother-f***er and sister-f***er? Irrespective of the language we speak, these abuses, though directed at men, involve women and harm inflicted on them. I would like to know if there is any language in the world that doesn’t follow this concrete pattern. Of course, there are variations, but you get my point.
My second question is: If you being a man want to take revenge on another man, then why do you harm the women related to him instead of himself? Are you not strong or intelligent enough? If you are not, then probably you should improve your strength or IQ and then go after the man of your target. Not that women are not strong and/or intelligent, but if your enmity is with the man, why drag the woman into it? Acid attacks, rapes, mutilations – you name it and women suffer it. By attacking women, you will only piss off one more person.
Now, my third question, derived from the questions above, is: If you want to create a revenge story, is there nothing else worth avenging? Like loss of wealth in terms of money, taking away the opportunity of getting education, loss of well-deserved promotion, someone stealing your dog/cat/bird/pig/bitcoins/whatever, bad investment suggestions, etc. I am not trivialising violence against women, but asking why a woman needs to be harmed to take a story forward? Why does it always have to be that a woman is perpetrated and then, ONLY THEN, all hell breaks loose? Man A wants to take revenge on Man B. So, Man A rapes a woman (mother/daughter/sister/wife/aunt) somehow related Man B. Why do authors and moviemakers resort to such worn-out storylines? The easy way out also incites the readers/audience.
Use Google search to know the books and movies with violence against women and you will see how many bestsellers ad blockbusters turn up in the results list. Some are feminism-oriented, but most are in the disguise of feminism.
A few years ago, I came across a post on Facebook (back when it was somewhat relatable). The post was about an award dedicated to the books that don’t describe/narrate any kind of harm inflicted on women. That award is the Staunch Book Prize. If you check their website, you will realize that the winning books are not famous. For obvious reasons. If you are into reading books, isn’t this an excellent addition to your “To-Read” list?
Feature image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Shwetha H S 