There is power in words. And when words are strung into cohesive, thought-provoking and poignant statements, they hold the might to either whip up a storm or dismantle one with a single strike.

So when the MeToo movement shook the nation late last year, no one within its direct line of sight was spared. All it took was for women to take courage and put all their repressed miseries into words. Men were called out for their actions and sense of entitlement. But while all of this came to pass, a section of our society was bothered about the fate of all the men who might have been wrongfully accused and defamed, while women got to have their say, for once.

© Barkha Trehan

Delhi-based Human Rights activist Barkha Trehan happens to be one of them. The virtual lynching for the alleged rapists and assaulters of the MeToo movement disturbed her so much, that she couldn't stop herself from standing up for the men, who may or may not have been wrongfully accussed by women.

The growing uproar and multiple cases of alleged fake accusations against men provoked Barkha to launch the #MenToo movement, which at the heart of it, calls for “equal and fair rights” for men. And according to Barkha that can only come to pass when a Men's Commission is set up in the country.

© Barkha Trehan

Talking to MensXP, Barkha shared her motivation behind this campaign for men and said, “There is nothing for men in this country and I felt so bad that why only women of the country need to be heard. Why only what they say is considered as the gospel truth? Why don't we hear out the men of the country? It worried me, and I decided to come on the street. Rather I was forced to take to the streets because we have been asking the government for a Men's Commission, but they don't hear us.”

© Barkha Trehan

Barkha believes that there are many other underlying factors that provoked her to demand for a Men's Commission in India. Barkha says, “We never look at men's issues. There's no helpline for men. There are so many helplines for women for prevention of suicide, but for men there is nothing. They don't even want to acknowledge that rate of men commiting suicide is almost double of women. These things worry me. This bias towards 51% of the country's population is distressing.”

© Barkha Trehan

Barkha is plagued by the belief that apparently the government has no provisions for men's benefit and is biased towards them. That apparently men are not cared for enough by the government as well as the society. Talking about the same Barkha said that, “There are no government funds for men. It's only for women and the girl child. Beti bachao, beti padhao is fine but what about the beta? Do they want to kill the beta? They don't have jobs, proper education, and male rape is still not considered a crime in India. Moreoevr 53% boys are abused, but there is no policy even for that. Why is there so much discrimination against boys?”

© Barkha Trehan

Now, apart from the fact that as of now Indian legal system does not recognise sexual abuse against men as a punishable offence, the rest of the claims made by Barkha about the men not having jobs and proper education couldn't be more misguided. We all know from experience that for ages our society has put men on a pedestal and turned things around to fit their needs.

From killing a girl child, to restricting her diet and education for the males in the family has been the norm in our country for the longest time. It is only in the recent years that the government has tried to step in and do something to make things fair for women. But to call those very measures discriminatory and unjust towards men almost seems like an insult to the struggles and injustices women have suffered for ages.

© Barkha Trehan

But Barkha seems pretty adamant about her stand, and claims that, “Indian society is biased towards men as it is. We have nothing for men - no budget, no laws. There are fifty laws but none of those are for men. Don't men need any protection? They have no rights, no dignity. Any woman can come and say anything, and that's taken as the gospel truth. Every man is innocent until proven guilty.”

© Barkha Trehan

One of her main motivations behind launching the MenToo movement is related to the future of the men who have been acquitted by court following fake accusations. Barkha questions why people are not concerned about their future, knowing full well that it would be difficult for those men to get over the trauma and societal castration that comes with rape accusations, whether real or fake. “There are so many anti-men laws in the country. Why can't we have gender neutral laws? Why is the rape law not gender neutral? Why can't men have better health care facilities and mental health support?”

© Barkha Trehan

Point taken, false rape accusations by anybody should be penalised and the victims should be rehabilated and given a second chance once they are proven innocent by the court of law. We cannot claim that women are never at fault and that women haven't tried to misuse the rape laws for their own benefit. But such cases are not regular occurrences either.

Barkha doesn't stop there. She goes on and states that the MeToo Movement is nothing but a tool to attack mighty men. She even questions the lack of time frame for women to name her rapist. She says, “Women centric laws are misused. The false accuser should be penalised. There should be compensation and rehabilitation for falsely accused victims. MeToo is flawed too. Women are coming out after 5, 6, 10 years and accusing men. They can't even give evidence for all the accusations they make. It's only a tool for naming and shaming the high and mighty. We are only demeaning the men of our country.”

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© Barkha Trehan

Now, that's something we personally do not agree with. The MeToo Movement came at a time when the society almost took it for granted that sexual and mental abuse against women is the norm, and the culprits are beyond the power of law. MeToo allowed women to speak up, share their personal accounts of trauma, gain strength from each other's survival stories and unravel the face of their perpetrators publicly, who thought they were invincible for one reason or another.

© Barkha Trehan

Gender neutral laws, punishments for false accusers, better policies for rehabilitation, health care and a call for Men's Commission is all good, but MenToo at the cost of absolute disregard for the MeToo movement and women's right is not acceptable.

What are your thoughts on it?

Photo: © Barkha Trehan (Main Image)