#metoo

“This feminist thing is a boatload of crap”,

I heard someone say the other day,

“MeToo is a plot,

To cry wolf when things stop going your way,

It’s bloody convenient to shout sexual harassment,

Than admit one was incompetent, or messed up, or too stressed to play the game”.

“I agree”, said another, a woman, top of the CEO chain,

“It might happen to some, somewhere but not everyone, everywhere,

It’s never happened to me, no one would dare.

Right now the hue and cry make it seem like a national pandemic,

Now make it international because Hollywood’s too in the fray”;

“True true, echoed the one in blue,

“It’s like the bra-burning movement, quick to flare, popular but momentary, will soon fade away”;

“The men need to be protected from this farce, this assault on reputations,

And this irresponsible mudslinging, Anyone with a grudge can now destroy me”.

This from a director with scores of hits under his belt, And allegations of groping.

I flitted from conversation to conversation, from people for and against the motion.

Diverse views on how Metoo could be misused or used.

Some sceptical, some contemptuous, some supportive, some just angry.

And in that room, amongst the voices shouting right and wrong,

Metoo was hacked and chopped, mutilated and twisted to suit each thought,

For it never was about men and women, or on who was strong,

Or to correct patriarchal mistakes occurring since Eve was born.

Metoo was a cry of the powerless, the helpless, the voiceless, the faceless,

Irrespective of gender;

Metoo was stories of horror and fear and power that went to someone’s head,

The temporary intern who was mauled,

Or the journalist who closed the door and agreed to strip,

Or the girl who walked into the lift knowing what lay ahead,

Or the model who cast away the last piece of clothing,

Or the actor who allowed leers and jeers, and innuendo-filled talking for a part somewhere.

Metoo shouldn’t be judged on why they didn’t speak then,

And why they’re speaking now???

Metoo was about admitting pain and shame and joining hands against abuse of position and power.

It was a fight against people who thought they got away with it.

It wasn’t ever a revenge mechanism or a plot to slander,

Metoo was a wake-up call, for the wrongs that happened and shouldn’t ever again.

A game-changer that sadly never got to change the game.

_{Featured image: The conversation}

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