Are We Imagining Being Objectified?

"You're Delusional." That's what people I confided in about being objectified said. They may just as well have called me a liar or mentally unstable. While I'm dejected that very few believe my narrations of incidents, I was also intrigued – Why is this happening? Why are so many people - good people, people who'd punch a street harasser for me - choosing to turn their faces the other way? Then, I came across this article: Why It's So Hard For Men To See Misogyny and I could immediately relate to it all. And it began to make sense. People think I'm making up stories or exaggerating things because "they don’t always have the correct vantage point for recognizing the subtlety of its [harassment's] operation." There are forms of male aggression that only women can see. Aggression of a bully in action.

Isn't it amazing how much in common we have with people across the world? Here I am, sitting across the world in India, hopefully communicating on behalf of other women who experience harassment because of our gender and here is someone in the U.S. who's also doing the same via her article.

Harassment is basically bullying, so let's take the example of a bully who threatens a child on an empty football field. No one's around. Who'll believe the child? If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Is sound only sound if a person hears it? Likewise, is reality only reality if a third person also witnesses it?

Yes, we know. The feminist movement is about actually having those choices and not having them thrust on us.

Naysayers crawling out of the woodwork

Folks are crawling out of the woodwork all of a sudden claiming that feminists make up stories to feel important and that makers of viral content are cashing in on the rise of popularity in the cause of women's empowerment and violence against women. Sadly, some of these naysayers are women themselves, who unfortunately haven't updated themselves about the definition of feminism.

According to them, it's about being treated better than men and just because they themselves don't experience harassment, they think no one does and hence are lying for attention. Wish that were a fact.

Read: Would You Still Be Anti-Feminist If You Knew What Feminism Really Was?

Does it really? 

Check out co-blogger Marina's video in which she explains why anti-feminists should not view the movement as sexist/evil. She calls out celebrities like 'The Fault in Our Stars' actor Shailene Woodley for making statements such as "I think the idea of 'raise women to power, take the men away from the power' is never going to work out because you need balance". 

Should we just agree to disagree?

We're all on different levels of education regarding various subjects. Only after understanding that, can we begin to start conversations that will enlighten those sitting on both sides of the fence. It's easy to hate people belonging to groups that subscribe to notions that differ from our own; what's hard but necessary is love and compassion.