Some things are just not funny. They can never be funny. Like jokes about groping someone or behaving inappropriately in the name of pranks.
Time and again Bollywood has glorified and normalised this behaviour and now we have videos on YouTube that show Indian women being wrongly touched and groped in public places for the purposes of pranks.
This was recently brought to light by a verified Twitter account Youth Against Rape.
They posted several videos showing sexual abuse and groping in public in the name of pranks and screenshots of other distasteful videos that were apparently viewed by millions of people on YouTube.
These thumbnails are self-explanatory and disgusting to the core. Just looking at them is giving me cringe and more than that it’s making me angry. How is this even content? And if this is content then there’s something seriously wrong with the way we consume and create digital content.
The content that has attracted a large audience on YouTube is being widely criticised on Twitter and people are demanding action against such content creators.
The tweet is obviously viral now and Rekha Sharma, Chairperson of National Commission of Women (NCW) took cognisance of the matter. Responding to the tweet, she wrote:
They have apparently taken up the matter with YouTube India and the Cyber Cell.
It’s good that those in authority took cognisance of the matter but the question still remains. Are we trying to normalise sexual abuse in the name of pranks? Have we gone mad in the desparation to gain more followers? What message such vile content sends out to viewers?
And most importantly who are the people watching this? On one side we are striving to make our country safer for women and on the other hand we are encouraging such disgusting videos.
Which brings me to my point again: Joking about sexual assault, with or without consent, is not funny. It will never be.