Bois Locker Room Scandal: It is Misogynistic, Patriarchal  & Deep Rooted 

One fine day our daughters will step out late in night without any fear. They will not be judged from their clothes, they will treated equally in corporates, and will take charge of everything in their life. Oh wait! Let us burst the bubble. That ‘Fine Day’ is just confined to our imagination. The reality of this world is different, and it’s horrifying. We all want to give our daughters a safe world, right? But how? Nobody has the answer.

Headlines after headlines that talk about crime against women but it doesn’t have any end. The latest addition to this is Bois Locker room.  It has been the talk of the tinsel from last night. According to a leading daily, a 15 -year – old has been taken into custody already. Police has successfully traced other members too. Meanwhile, Delhi Women Commission has asked Instagram to provide more details.

Bois Locker room was a group on Instagram with 20 participants all boys. These teenager boys used to discuss disgusting and disrespectful content on minor girls. Excerpts of some chats from the group got leaked, and authorities came into action. Well, the chats that were leaked show how deep the problem has become?

The mindset of being disrespectful to women is a part of popular culture. Bad language and lewd comments are a way to punish them.  Amid all this, the most disturbing thing is, ‘We are okay with it’. According to official data, the crime against women modesty has seen a sharp increase of 5.5 percent ( 2012 -13) . The recent scandal shows the problem is deep rooted.  It is misogynistic and patriarchal. Teenagers who should be discussing careers are discussing Women body parts in a shameful way. We should now realise that we have failed as a society.

The moment we come across such incidents, we blame parents and school. For a moment just think only they are responsible? Ofcourse, they a great role to play, but they can’t be only held responsible for such disturbing incidents. The question is, how did our society get here? We cannot escape from taking responsibility by simply saying “Maa -Baap” Ko dhyan dena tha”. This is not the first time when such incident has been reported, and we are sure not the last time too.

Our kids are raised in a society where there is hatred, discrimination and prejudice on the basis of gender. Everytime when we laugh on sexist joke, forward it to others, we too become the culprits. Every time when we pull down a woman simply because we don’t agree with her, we normalise the idea of being okay with that. They are not just learning from their parents, they are absorbing from the society too.

We can also not forget the role of cinema and internet. There is so much content available and it is easily accessible to them. We need to start punishing toxicity and rewarding empathy right from the begining.

Surprisingly, some people on social media are defending them by saying  “Boys will be Boys” . That’s even more alarming. Remember if we didn’t act now, this defense mechanism will make you pay a big price.

 The measure of any society is how it treats its women and girls.” Michelle Obama