Journalist Purnima Sriram's comments were taken out of context and she has been subjected to lewd and sexually explicit messages for over a week now.
Purnima Sriram, a Hyderabad-based journalist, has been traumatised for the past week after facing vicious abuse and harassment online for her comments during a recent event in the city last week. "I have been sent all kinds of abusive messages and insults. Some men even video called me on Facebook and showed me their private parts, besides making sexually coloured gestures," she narrates.
Purnima had walked into an event on January 24, hosted by Mahaa News, that had director Ram Gopal Varma as the guest, and was debating his recent film with Mia Malkova titled God, Sex, and Truth.
The channel was hosting a debate, with men on one side and women on the other. "I actually went to the event, to interview Ram Gopal Varma. However, the channel just asked me to sit on the women's side. I was hearing the debate play out, and observed that the men were constantly slut shaming and body shaming the women," Purnima says.
In the video of the event put up on YouTube, one such participant can be seen asking why everyone was "always focusing on women."
To this, RGV responds saying that a 'playboy' in society is labelled a 'stud', while a woman who does the same, would be shamed and suppressed. The participant then claims that there are many 'playgirls' in society who are 'ruining' the lives of men. "This got on to my nerves and agitated me. Why should he use playgirl like its a bad term? There were many ridiculous and insensible comments in the debate, even as women were trying to talk about stalking, and the point that one should not be labelled," Purnima says.
Purnima then stood up and called out the participant on his sexism, saying, "It is my choice and about what I want to do.""At this point, he said that men still needed to give the 'software' for the woman to give birth. He couldn't even say the word sperm," Purnima says.
An agitated Purnima lost her cool and said (incorrectly) that women can give birth to a human baby, using a dog's sperm."I was seething with anger, and my intention was to communicate that women have no need for validation from a man, to feel 'complete'. I intended to say that we didn't need sperm to invoke motherhood. I could even adopt a dog and be a mother to the animal as well. However, it came out jumbled up in anger," she says."It is still my choice to go through the pain and give birth. I wanted to say that people must respect choice. I'm the owner of my body and I will lead my life how I want to," she adds.
However, things went downhill as several websites picked up the video out of context and began circulating it on the Internet.
Several memes flooded pages on social media, without looking into the context of those comments. Some suggested that it was 'misguided feminism.' Many of these messages are sexually explicit, lewd, and abusive in nature.
Unsurprisingly, the comments reflected the sexist and patriarchal mindset that the original debate had intended to battle. "I was going to Bengaluru on January 26, and someone sent me a link saying that I should see it. I immediately informed the Hyderabad cyber crime police about it and began reporting the video," Purnima says.
While a few videos and memes were taken down after Purnima and her friends reported them, there was only so much she could do, before her photos and videos flooded the Internet.
Mahaa News on its part, also apologised and held a half-hour discussion on the targeted abuse and sexual harassment that Purnima faced. "The entire long weekend for the trolls, went in humiliating me. I felt so traumatised, mentally tortured and disturbed. I don't have the time to go around explaining the context to each person. So many people have only watched my slip of the tongue out of context, and not the whole video," Purnima says.
The journalist now plans to approach the police and file a complaint soon.
Taking to Facebook, Purnima also spoke about the harassment she faced.