The #MeToo Movement: Rise of a New Era in Indian Feminism

Last year during this time the world witnessed and awakened to a drastic and path-breaking movement. The #MeToo campaigning.

The movement got its momentum as The New York Times newspaper and the New Yorker magazine published reports illuminating movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's decades-long rapacious behavior with women.

After that, Weinstein has been banished from Hollywood and it became the subject of a criminal investigation in New York City and simultaneously more and more victims have spoken out about various disgusting instances behind show business's doors.

Again after a year, it seems that the #MeToo movement has become a rallying cry for women everywhere and have reached Indian coast with women in the Indian media screaming out for sexual predators on Twitter and making it apparent that they have had enough.

And this time the campaign started with Bollywood actress Tanushree Dutta. Tanushree Dutta spent eight years in the United States and on returning to India she spoke out that she was purportedly harassed by veteran actor Nana Patekar while shooting for the film Horn OK Pleasss in the year 2008.

On October 4, writer Mahima Kukreja blew the lid off sexual harassment in India's mushrooming comedy circuit when she wrote about comedian Utsav Chakraborty sending her a picture of his genitalia without her permission.

Utsav Chakraborty, he is a stand-up humorist who did freelancing with the popular comedy collective, All India Bakchod.

Following Kukreja many others come out and speak up about the sexual nuisance they had faced at Chakraborty's hands. As per their explanations, the comedian had allegedly asked minors to send nude images of themselves.

After this on Friday, Twitter hit the roof as women from the media industry started describing horrifying tales of sexual harassment and molestation.

A reporter from The Wire Website Anoo Bhuyan tweeted about how a journalist had asked her to sleep with him because he 'thought I'm a woman like that'

Journalist Sandhya Menon shared an account of how a senior editor of The Times of India had put his hand on her thigh without her permission and tried to mean that he was available.

Journalist @priyakamal tweeted: 'Ten years ago, as a cub journo, I was harassed at The Hindu by a senior business reporter in Hyderabad. I wasn't believed immediately. TH didn't have an internal committee either. Had to withstand that creep for 3 months before they finally let him go with full benefits... #MeToo'

In the meantime, many women alleged incidents where sexual harassment complaints weren't taken seriously at media organizations.

Most importantly these incidents have been widely shared, raising the hope that women's harassment at the workplace will now be taken seriously.

Although only time can say tell if #MeToo can bring about a real change!