As India finds itself in the middle of a #MeToo moment with women from the world of cinema, comedy and media houses opening up against sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour, singer Chinmayi Sripaada took to Twitter to detail abuse she had to face.
“It is very, very tough for women to remember accounts of when they were touched inappropriately; a ‘harmless’ hug that looks OK but makes them alone cringe,” she wrote in a thread that detailed abuse she had to face from childhood.
“I was 8, maybe 9. I was sleeping. My mom was supervising a recording session for her documentary. Felt a man in priestly robes feel up my privates and I woke up. Told her ‘that uncle is bad’. This was in the studio called Santhome Communications that still exists,” she wrote.
She also wrote how women tend to internalise such behavior. “I was perhaps 19; again, veryyyyyy respected, wayy older man called me to his office on a pretext, my mom was with me, I was called in alone; we suspected nothing coz said man showed no such behaviour before,walked from behind his table, hugged me and felt me up,” she wrote. Chinmayi goes on to say that her mother told her that it was the man’s way to check if she was “that type of girl”.
{{/usCountry}}She also wrote how women tend to internalise such behavior. “I was perhaps 19; again, veryyyyyy respected, wayy older man called me to his office on a pretext, my mom was with me, I was called in alone; we suspected nothing coz said man showed no such behaviour before,walked from behind his table, hugged me and felt me up,” she wrote. Chinmayi goes on to say that her mother told her that it was the man’s way to check if she was “that type of girl”.
{{/usCountry}}“Mom and I drove home. ‘RespectedMan’ never repeated his behaviour but I’ll never forget feeling as if worms were crawling all over me; how I, a sane, ‘intelligent’ girl had dismissed that predatory behaviour for ‘Thats how it is’. We internalize. But we cant forget,” she added.