The ‘Bois’ Locker Room Scandal, Bollywood Reacts

Tapsee Pannu(actress):  “ It’s a lost battle Sir. How much more commenting can really change or stop this ?We all know such mentality exists so I wonder why is everyone surprised or shocked?”

Nitish Bhardwaj(Lord Krishna in Mahabharat): “I feel  when children  are growing up they learn their values from the elders of  the family. They  absorb and imbibe their  attitude and morals  from  family  and friends. The men in the family  Grandfather , father  or the friend’s father…how do they look at women?  Do they commodify the feminine gender? Do they look  at the mother  in the family only as someone who cooks and  keeps the house clean? This low esteem for women would definitely influence  the  psychology  of  the male heir. Sex is  still a matter to be suppressed in the Indian middleclass. Parents must understand that their son’s hormones become hyper-active  at a certain age around 14-15. They  will be attracted to the other sex. And how they  behave with the other sex  will be determined by the sanskar that they’ve received till age 14-15. It is not   only the school’s responsibility to  inculcate  the  right attitude towards  the other sex. It is the parents’ responsibility as  well. Parents  must speak about sex to their growing children,both the  dos and don’ts.  They must be taught that  if  a  girl wears a skirt she  is not indicating her  availability but her sartorial  preference. What we do is,we push sex education under the carpet. Hence children go to a parallel  sex eduction via the internet watching porn,chatting nonsense with friends. I think it is specially  the  father’s  responsibility  to  give the right  vibes  about sex. Otherwise   more lockerboys will happen. Earlier they used  to  talk under a tree or during tiffin break in school. Now they do it on  the internet with audio, video  photographs. Technology is subverted  in this way. Let  mothers talk sex with  daughters and  let the fathers educate sons on  sex. Parents are considered a  child’s primary  guru.  A child’s education doesn’t  begin in school, but at home.”

Baabul Supriyo(Union  minister and  singer):  “Firstly, the entire gang should be identified arrested, their age, motive, background &  other details determined. Then law shud take its own course.. but only punishment would not do for youngsters like these.. it has to be coupled with counselling to ensure that, after having served their punishments with counselling, they can go back to regular life with a reformed mind and remorse for this utterly despicable misdemeanour.”

Celina  Jaitley(Actress, activist):  “Online violence against women is an overt expression of the gender discrimination and inequality that exists offline. I truly believe the  problem of online violence and harassment is often overlooked in discussions of violence against women, the fact of the matter is that online violence ‘IS’ real violence. In a world where we seamlessly navigate the online and the offline everyday it is crucial for us to address the violence that women face in both realms. The Bois locker room incident is a massive red warning to our society/lawmakers/educational system with regards to the how the laws and the education system needs to change in order to change the horrendous violent mentality being impregnated on the mindsets of boys/men who think they can get away with these heinous crimes. Addressing online violence will require collective efforts from individuals, corporations, and governments.”

Swara  Bhaskar(actress): “Boyslockerroom is a telling tale of how toxic masculinity starts young! Underage boys gleefully planning how to rape and gangrape minor girls. Parents and teachers must address this with those Kids.. Not enough to ‘hang rapists’ .. we must attack the mentality that creates rapists! Personally Sir,  if you ask me- I think it’s unwise – for girls to send nude pics.But with technology and the world we live in , the  concept of   courtship is changing.. and yes sex is becoming casual.That shouldn’t change the fact that even young girls seeking casual sex deserve respect and consent .Personally I’m against sending nudes too.But our personal views shouldn’t blind us to the larger issue,  of respect, and consent .It’s like that logic applied  to a  prostitute who  can’t be raped or that her consent is not necessary. I wouldn’t personally recommend prostitution as a career option but still will respect women who do? I agree  there is neither dignity nor wisdom in sending  nudes to  a boyfriend,  it’s highly foolish.But sending nudes to a boyfriend must have an inherent trust pact that he will not forward it, right?”

Ashoke Pandit(Bollywood spokesperson, filmmaker):  “What was  the AIB roast show if not the original boys locker room,an  open display of misogyny?A  superstar’s sister was ridiculed for  her skin colour. Many big stars  applauded and cheered. The  AIB  began the trend of  sexually explicit jokes on women at the workplace.Women were expected to be fine  with it. Because if you were not, then you were  not cool.Nowadays stand-up comedians  crack jokes  about actress’  growing  breasts and  everyone laughs.The  players  of  the AIB were the front-running culprits of  the MeToo movement.”