Linked below is a very important observation piece published in The Wire on how rape victims and rapists are depicted in the media. Naresh Prerna has done a careful study and highlighted an important problem, which we in the media usually overlook. Or worse, we actually commission such images.
https://thewire.in/media/sexual-violence-image-graphic-media
The woman with fear in her eyes cowering in a corner and the perpetrator in silhouette, towering over her. This is the general symbolism. Prerna also writes about the dark corner, the rapist in shadow, the tug at the heartstrings of the viewer.
This a problem we rarely think about. News is the here and now. Deal with it, move on and concentrate on what’s coming next. But underlying that remains the attitude to women in the media and to women in newsrooms. No amount of Me Too movements have managed to do more than dent the surface of inbuilt misogyny.
Occasional successes only emphasize the many losses. Last month, the Indian American Muslim Council chose photojournalist Umar Altaf Para for their annual Human Rights and Religious Freedom Journalism Award. No sooner had the announcement been made, than a number of women stood up to say that Para was a serial abuser. Sexual harassment in the guise of work, constant bombardment with calls and messages, stalking, sending unsolicited intimate photographs.
On getting all these complaints, the Network of Women in Media, India issued a complaint to the Indian American Muslim Council:
To their credit, the council cancelled the award with the following statement:
“In light of several serious allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct involving Umar Altar Para… the committee has made the decision to withdraw this year’s award…
“After thoughtful deliberation, the committee treated these accusations with utmost gravity and concluded that revoking the award was the most appropriate course of action.”
https://x.com/NWM_India/status/1832329510823272607/photo/1
The tragedy is that this quick response to complaints of sexual misconduct is the exception. From within the media, almost impossible to find. The number of women journalists who in private discuss newsroom predators are legion. Many say they hope to one day find the strength to go public. But most often, some of us will wonder whether it is worth it. Because the cost is usually borne by the victim. Go back to that image of the cowering woman and the towering rapist.
And let’s not forget that the men’s club will close ranks, and that women who are perpetrator-victims of patriarchy, will support them. Every now and then we need to check that we are not that woman. The one who does not even realise what she’s doing. The “Not All Men’ sort of woman.
I worked for several years for a newspaper – and make no mistake I loved working there – which always carried an image of a scantily dressed woman. You join the newsroom, you make a few weak comments of disapproval, you move on. You hear all the arguments of objectification, of how some women want to be objectified and they have that right. You try and include similar photos of men, to balance the exploitation. Today, I know and I didn’t say enough and do enough. In the days without the internet and easy access to porn, or to constant streams of misogyny on the web, we played into the male need to dominate. The cower and the tower.
We still need to question within ourselves how far we have really come as women in the media. How many times do we let male privilege in – in the egregious argument of “being fair” – and how often we excuse male entitlement. And how sad this is that many men understand this, before some of us women do. They know themselves better than we do. We need to find that strength to shut the door when we must.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.