Chinmayi Sripaada has written a scathing Twitter thread on sexual harassment
Chinmayi Sripaada took to Twitter to detail abuse she had to face. 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. “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,” Chinmayi Sripaada wrote.
Chinmayi Sripaada 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”.
“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.
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.
— Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) October 5, 2018
Maybe I was 10/11, December Music Festival, ‘respectable mama’ whose name I dont remember kept pinching my thigh throughout a concert.
I heard more gross stories of Sabha secretaries.
In retrospect, a lot of children weren’t safe around some adults.— Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) October 5, 2018
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.
— Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) October 5, 2018
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.— Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) October 5, 2018
‘Respected Man’ once raged and raged when I refused to do his bidding in a professional setting due to a prior commitment. Threatened political trouble from ‘Higher ups’. I was shaking. Thought the end is near. It left me in tears.
— Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) October 5, 2018
I filed the first case ever that led to arrests (it is not an achievement) after online harassment and threats to disrupt concerts/public events for over 3 years. Mom and I begged them to leave me alone. But I faced more bile and hate from Twitter for the case.
— Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) October 5, 2018
‘Why do YOU alone get into trouble’ is a question I have had to answer a lot of times. I speak up. Others are too scared to speak up. That’s all there is.
Women are told to not attract attention. Anything girls do is chided with ‘whose attention do you want?!’— Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) October 5, 2018