A wise man once said, if someone pats you on one cheek, turn to them the other. That very wise man also said that “media people are the cheap, lowly, ugly, vulgar beings” who sleep their way to the top and as exposed members of the faternity, we must abide by the ‘turn your other cheek’ rule. So, when a senior BJP leader S Ve Shekher shares a Facebook post making derogatory remarks about women journalists, we must recognise the gravity of sentiment. Let’s admit it, we brought this upon ourselves.
Earlier this week, Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit blessed a woman journalist a fatherly pat on her cheek during a press conference in Chennai, but the “vulgar” media people made it seem so nefarious, so dirty, that the elderly man had to apologise to that chit of a journalist. This is what the world has come to. In a country where you command instant reverence by the virtue of being a geriatric, this was a shameful incident.
You see, this is not the first time this has happened. When great men like Nayaran Dutt Tiwari (who resigned as Governor of Andhra Pradesh after being accidentally caught in compromising position with three women at Raj Bhavan), try to show us lowly media people some love by showering female journalists with some harmless great-grandfatherly pawing, like he did in this 2013 incident, we make it out to be something dirty.
As a character from any Kanti Shah film will tell you, “Mera naam hai Bulla, blah blah blah!”
In the Facebook post shared by Shekher, it was claimed that more sexual abuses happen in media houses than in universities. It also claimed that a woman cannot become a reporter or news reader without sleeping with bigwigs. It’s commendable how in one sweep, the pseudo-achievements of generations of so-called hard-working, award-winning women journalists was exposed. Now, at least the female members of our fraternity don’t have to pretend to work. They can continue being the “dented and painted” climbers that they are.
Thank you Mr Shekher for opening our eyes. Here, we humbly offer you our other cheek. Pat away!
