Rakhi Sawant and Abhinav Shukla Row: Men have a right to Say No & turn down your proposal, read it again!
Tum Na Kaho Toh Na & when a man says it, you don’t get it?
Rakhi Sawant is fond of Abhinav Shukla and we completely agree that expressing feelings isn’t a crime. We can like somebody, adore them, and can indulge in healthy flirting. But as they say – ‘Hadh se Zyada Kuch Bhi Acha Nhi Hota’. Recently, she pulled the strings of Abhinav’s shorts and then went on to cut his underwear into pieces when Abhinav decided to ignore her. Rakhi’s behaviour irked people on the internet and many called it “Cheap Entertainment”. In fact, Salman Khan’s comments on the whole incident were even more shocking. He went on to say – All this is bringing TRP & ultimately Abhinav is getting the coverage. To which Abhinav said, if this is the kind of coverage he is getting, then he wants to go home.
Well, the incident has left us wondering about two important questions-
1. Is this really entertainment?
2. Why is a man saying No, such a big deal?
Earlier, Abhinav said that he is not comfortable with Rakhi’s banters. In earlier episodes, Rakhi had gone overboard with her declaration of love for Abhinav. She even wrote ‘I Love You Abhinav’ on her body. This is pure harassment. We claim when a woman says no it is a No, then why it is different for men? When a man says No why we don’t take him seriously? In fact, it was said that – Fayada Tumhe Ho Raha hai? What kind of a hypocritic behaviour is this? Why was not Rakhi schooled for her behaviour? What if Abhinav would have done this to Rakhi? In that case, would he have reacted in the same way? No, right?
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Society is conditioned in such a way that accepting man as a victim is hard
In India, men are often believed to be perpetrators of the sexual assault and harassment and not the victim. On the other hand, a lot of people believe that women cannot assault a man. The social pressure, fear of being disbelieved & social backlash stop male victims from opening up to anyone. Talking about the information available on the internet, most of the information related to this topic is on women. Clearly, it is unjust and unfair for males to suffer because of a false belief that they cannot be harassed. The deep-rooted patriarchy holds man as a stronger gender and expects them to be able to protect themselves. Above all, when a man expresses his emotions or cries, he is pulled down. And rather than acknowledging the fact that men also have the right to say no, celebrities like Salman Khan says – Footage Toh Tumhe Mil rahi hai’ – This is toxic! Coming from a celebrated person like Salman Khan makes it worse. He has a huge fan following and his remarks are actually normalising this kind of behaviour.
Secondly, what kind of entertainment is this?
In the name of entertainment, you can’t serve anything on national television. Let us admit, the vicious cycle of TRP is impacting content on the television. Over the years, Bigg Boss has earned a lot of love from the fans. The high voltage drama keeps the viewers hooked to the reality show. Today, the sad reality is – be it news or entertainment content, quality has taken a back seat and everyone is running behind the viewership. There is a constant battle between viewership, money and creative content. Sadly, creative content is last on the list. Extended episodes, unnecessary fights, and melodrama all are just meant to lure the audience.
What we can do as an audience?
Be it Bigg Boss or any other show, we need to choose the content wisely. What we are consuming is not entertainment. It is a voyeuristic content which is giving us sadistic pleasure. Are we learning something out of this? Does it have a social message, gripping story or a phenomenal direction? Watching masala content is fine but you need to understand your responsibility. Earlier, watching shows on TV were meant for family time. Is the situation same today? Can you watch it with your parents or kids? Yes, the creative field demands certain scenes and that’s fine but for the sake of views, promoting a wrong ideology should be stopped right away!
What do you think? Let me know in the comment section below.
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