Shobhaa De’s Sexist Rant Against Adhyayan Suman

Would some law of our lawless land please end the practice of women writers activists and protestors jumping in to cut down any protest about domestic violence if the one complaining is the man?

According to Ms De, Adhyayan Suman should not have spoken out against his alleged abuse by KanganaRanaut when they were in a relationship,since the same abuse that he speaks about has been endured by women all along.

Oh really? So Adhyayan should have quietly allowed himself to be sacrficial lamb for all the suffering and male atrocities that women have endured ever since Draupadi was derobed in public?

Writes Ms De, “Going by his welltimed (seven years after their break-up) account detailing Kangana’s shocking behaviour, a few things about how Bollywood  treats women, need to be pointed out. Everybody is horrified that a woman slapped and beat her boyfriend in a fit of rage. That’s not okay, people chorus. But top heroes, who physically assault their girl-friends, break their arms and punch them hard enough on the face to cause black eyes, are easily forgiven? Don’t we all know men who slap/ punch/ threaten to break noses/jaw/limbs of ‘loved ones’?”

Easily forgiven? By whom?? Evidently Ms De has  has scant knowledge of the way the laws work in cases of domestic violence. While  women are known to march to the nearest police station and the slightest provocation, men who are victims of domestic abuse are sexual assault are not taken seriously by the law enforcers who take the Biwi-basher allegations as a joke.

A very prominent actor tells this story about a superstar-actress who barged in to his vanity van and suggested they have sex during lunch-time. When  our  hero refused the generous offer saying he was in a committed relationship the superstar-actress threatened to inform the hero’s girlfriend that he slept with the superstar-actress.

“To this day I don’t know if she was serious or joking. But if she was serious I’d have had sex with her that afternoon to stop her from calling my girlfriend,” shivers the hero.

As for “top heroes” who break arms and punch women in their eyes, these go unreported because the lady wants to hush it. Many years ago a volatile superstar had  broken his female superstar girlfrend’s hand. She chose to tell the world she fell off the stairs

Shobha De goes on to say, “People are also appalled that a woman can use gutter language, crude cuss words, Hindi abuses during fights…but heroes get away with yelling ‘F*** off!’ Or using demeaning, derogatory language to insult ex-girlfriends. Women in Bollywood  are routinely put down publicly (and at private parties) with pejorative terms like ‘Bitch’, ‘Whore’ ‘Slut’. Even so-called civilised men use this language when they fight with their wives. Nobody reacts.”

Again this is subversive feminism. No one approves of men abusing their wives and girlfriend. And for the sake of argument even if men are allowed to get away with brutish behavior , it doesn’t make it right for the girlfriend to abuse and slap the guy. The point that Ms De misses in her quest to sound fashionably feminist is that violence in any relationship is not acceptable. It doesn’t matter whether comes from the man or woman.

And in our  entertainment industry it comes more often from the woman than Shobhaa De is willing to acknowledge.