Consent is the essence of the #MeToo campaign. At the core of the campaign is the entirely just and legitimate demand that a woman’s right to say ‘No’ or ‘Yes’ must be respected in all situations, that she should have the freedom to take her own decisions, and that she should not be forced to do anything against her will. In short, a woman should be accepted by the society as an independent, free and empowered individual, who can fully take care of herself. Unfortunately, this does not match with the existing social reality. One wonders if misogyny is deeply rooted in our religious, cultural and literary traditions and is an integral part of the social system and its ideology, known as patriarchy.

After prescribing that a girl is guarded by her father, a young woman by her husband and an old woman by her son, Manusmriti unequivocally declares that na stree svatantrayam arhati —“a woman does not deserve freedom”. It is obvious that the lawgiver is merely codifying a social attitude that has evolved over many centuries while, at the same time, also upholding it as an eternal social norm.

Manusmriti’s prescriptions may be known to only a learned few but their essence has percolated deep down so as to become common wisdom. However, our epics -Ramayana and Mahabharata - are very widely known all over the country and almost everybody is familiar with their main story and characters. Women have been consistently denied choice and their consent is never sought for anything. It is another matter that women themselves have internalised patriarchal values and treat other women accordingly. Draupadi’s is a case in point.

Her Swayamvara (choosing one’s husband) was itself a sham as she had no say in deciding about the condition of the Swayamvara: that only that archer whose arrow will pierce the eye of a rotating fish will be eligible to marry her. Although Arjuna had won the contest, his mother Kunti made Draupadi the wife of her other four sons too without her consent as all of them were lusting after her. She was publicly humiliated by her accidental husband Yudhishthira who staked her and lost in a game of dice. When an attempt to disrobe her was made at the Kaurava court and Karna and Duryodhana used vulgar language and gestures, calling her a “prostitute”, nobody rose in her defence. When she raised a point of law, even wise men like Bhishma and Vidura kept quiet. When the Pandavas were living in exile, Duryodhana’s brother-in-law Jayadratha tried to rape her. In all these shameful episodes, the guilty men did not attract any stigma and remained as respectable as ever.