Introduction

The press is considered to be the best platform for a multiplicity of voices to

be heard. At national, regional and local level, it is the public’s watchdog, activist

and guardian as well as educator, entertainer and contemporary chronicler. But the

cacophony of voices remains unheard because of the ways in which dissenting

voices are silenced. Many are therefore forced to adopt the principle ‘censor or

perish.’ Moreover, social media is also taking a key role in shaping public opinion in

this age of new media. Along with it, internet offers the possibility to create, publish,

distribute and consume media content fostering a space of full participation,

engagement and self-expression. Social media like Twitter which has an aspect of

immediacy assumes importance in forming any public discourse within a small time

frame. A preliminary analysis of the data related to the debate on tolerance in India

poses few interesting observations related to the nature of the process of public

discourse formation in India which is a sum total of the influences of all these

developments.

In the Indian scenario, the intricate nuances of intolerance are prevalent in

such a way that what we see is not an outright denunciation or banishment, but a

thinly veiled form of disapproval which impinges the various aspects of public

debate. Further, it would be interesting to ponder deep into the gendered

dimensions of this domestication of dissent in order to understand how effeminising

‘the other’ is the first step to make it impotent. If the effeminised other emerges

powerful, the next step is to resort to defamation. Herein lays the significance of hate

speech in nationalist discourse. In this context, this project is an attempt to reveal

these umpteen shades of grey by analysing the word ‘presstitute’ which has found

currency in public discourse.

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Chapter 1

For a proper functioning of democracy it is essential that citizens are kept

informed about news from various parts of the country and even abroad, because

only then can they form rational opinions. A citizen surely cannot be expected

personally to gather news to enable him or her to form such opinions. Hence, the

media play an important role in a democracy and serve as an agency of the people to

gather news for them. It is for this reason that freedom of the press has been

emphasised in all democratic countries, while it was not permitted in feudal or

totalitarian regimes.

In India, the media has played a historical role in providing information to the

people about social and economic evils. The media have informed the people about

the tremendous poverty in the country, the suicide of farmers in various States, the

so-called honour killings in many places, corruption and so on. For this, the Indian

media is to be appreciated. But how far has it succeeded in bringing out the plethora

of voices which vie for attention in the public sphere. If so, what about dissenting

voices. Has it been ensured that the dissenting voices too are given space? An

attempt to delve deep into these issues make us feels that something is rotten in the

state of affairs in India too.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948

states that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. This

includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and

impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Freedom of speech is understood as a multi-faceted right that includes not only the

right to express or disseminate information and ideas, but three further distinct

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aspects: (1) the right to seek information and ideas; (2) the right to receive

information and ideas and (3) the right to impart information and ideas. Freedom of

the press or freedom of the media, on the other hand, is the principle that

communication and expression through various media, including printed and

electronic media are rights to be exercised freely.

The Indian Constitution, while not mentioning the word "press" provides for

"the right to freedom of speech and expression" (Article 19(1) a). However this right

is subject to restrictions under sub clause, whereby this freedom can be restricted for

reasons of "sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly

relations with foreign States, public order, preserving decency, preserving morality,

in relation to contempt, court, defamation, or incitement to an offense". Laws such

as the Official Secrets Act and Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (PoTA) have

been used to limit press freedom. Under PoTA, a person could be detained for up to

six months for being in contact with a terrorist or terrorist group. PoTA was repealed

in 2006, but the Official Secrets Act 1923 continues.

India ranks poorly at 138th rank out of 180 listed countries in the Press

Freedom Index 2018 released by Reporters Without Borders (RWB). As per

available studies, India's press freedom, as could be deduced by the Press Freedom

Index, has constantly been reduced since 2002. It culminated in terms of apparent

freedom, achieving a rank of 80 among the reported countries. In 2018, India's

freedom of press ranking declined two placed to 138. One of the major reasons for

this decline has been the growth of intolerance in the country, studies suggest.

So here’s the irony. As India marches on to supposedly take her place among

the great powers of the world, an attempt is being made to systematically dumb

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down public discourse. There is little doubt that one of India’s greatest assets --

freedom of speech -- is under threat today. Noise is replacing reason. On prime-time

TV and on social media, voices of logic and reason are being shouted down by

people with an agenda to reinforce lies through fear, intimidation and abuse.

Hate Speech

Hate speech is a verbal or written communication expressing a generalized

negative opinion about a particular demographic, sometimes attacking an individual

as a member of that group. Hate speech often targets particular races, genders, sexual

orientations, nationalities, ethnic groups and religions. However, any distinct group

may be targeted. It covers many forms of expressions which spread, incite, promote or

justify hatred, violence and discrimination against a person or group of persons for a

variety of reasons. It poses grave dangers for the cohesion of a democratic society, the

protection of human rights and the rule of law. If left unaddressed, it can lead to acts

of violence and conflict on a wider scale. In this sense hate speech is an extreme form

of intolerance which contributes to hate crime. On the other hand, any restrictions on

hate speech should not be misused to silence minorities and to suppress criticism of

official policies, political opposition or religious beliefs.

Thus hate speech is speech that attacks a person or a group on the basis of

attributes such as race, religion, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, disability, sexual

orientation, or gender identity. It is widespread irrespective of the political

orientation. The laws of some countries describe hate speech as speech, gestures,

conduct, writing, or display that incite violence or prejudicial actions against a group

or individuals on the basis of their membership in the group, or disparage or

intimidates a group, or individuals on the basis of their membership in the group.

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India prohibits hate speech by several sections of the Indian Penal Code, the

Code of Criminal Procedure, and by other laws which put limitations on the freedom

of expression. Section 95 of the Code of Criminal Procedure gives the government

the right to declare certain publications “forfeited” if the “publication ... appears to

the State Government to contain any matter the publication of which is punishable

under Section 124A or Section 153A or Section 153B or Section 292 or Section 293

or Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code”.

Section 153A of the Indian penal code says, Whoever (a) by words, either

spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or

attempts to promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language,

caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of

enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional

groups or castes or communities, or (b) commits any act which is prejudicial to the

maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional

groups or castes or communities, and which disturbs or is likely to disturb the public

tranquillity, . . . shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three

years, or with fine, or with both.

Section 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) enacted in 1927[3] says,

Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings

of any class of [citizens of India], [by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or

by visible representations or otherwise], insults or attempts to insult the religion or

the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either

description for a term which may extend to [three years], or with fine, or with both.

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In spite of all such Constitutional provisions, hate speech is rampant in

public discourse in India. It is directed against others in the name of caste, religion,

colour, ideology and beliefs. Its use has become widespread with the advent of

social media. Today twitter handles and face book comments spew venomous hate

in such a manner that it becomes difficult to separate hate and politics. Irrespective

of their political orientation, each and every group resort to defamation of the other

in an attempt to assert themselves above them. This project is an analysis of the hate

speech propaganda which has been making headlines over the past five years.

Nita Bhalla, who is the South Asia Chief Correspondent for Thomson

Reuters Foundation opines: since 2014, the crackdown on the press has - like in

many countries - been built around a single narrative. Those who oppose the

government of an issue are “anti-national.” Journalists have been branded

“presstitutes”, “bazaaru” and “sickular” by senior politicians. Like many female

journalists on social media, I have been insulted, bullied and even threatened with

rape for highlighting failures by the state -- from bringing peace to Kashmir to

curbing violence against women or even to allowing the displacement of

impoverished tribals to make way from coal mining firms.

Stories on the marginalisation of India’s minority Muslim attract the most

responses which are generally along the lines of “You are Bin Laden’s Begum”, “Go

to Pakistan if you don’t like it here” and “Jihadi lover get out of this country.”…But

when the comments come thick and fast -- and are bigoted, sexist, racist, and packed

with offensive and sometimes lewd language, journalists begin to wonder whether it

is even worth debating. As Reporters Without Borders rightly points out many

journalists in India are now exercising an unparalleled level of self-censorship in the

world’s largest democracy.” In an attempt to purge all manifestations of ‘anti-

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national’ thought from the national debate, self-censorship is growing in the

mainstream media,” which of course indicates the alarming rise in intolerance levels

in our country. Journalists are increasingly the targets of online smear campaigns by

the most radical nationalists who vilify them and even threaten physical reprisals.

Rohan Venkataramakrishnan in “A Glossary of Right wing Troll speak” lists

out a glossary of this heavily loaded complex language. This does not deny the fact

that such connotative words are galore in political parlance irrespective of

ideologies. Here are some of the common connotations in the right wing

phraseology he lists out - signifiers for those who dare to air a different opinion.

(a) Bootlicker : An American term that harks back to a time when military

loyalty had to be demonstrated by following every demeaning order. Right

wing trolls use this term to refer to refer to anyone who supports the Nehru-

Gandhi dynasty.

(b) Coolie: In the US, a term from the 19th and 20th century for labourers

from Asia that eventually became a racial slur against all people of Asian

descent. In online discourse, this term is used to suggest that the subject

mindlessly carries the briefs of any party opposed to the ruling party.

(c) Intellectual Mafia : Intellectuals have always been the objects of derision

among the Twitter Right, and adding the word "mafia" to the term fortuitously

calls to mind criminals from Italy. Now commonly used in online hate speech

to refer to the educated class that has used their hold on the state to keep

progress away from the truly deserving ordinary people of this country.

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(d) Libtard : A straight-up attempt to demean liberal ideas. A blend of liberal

and retard. Despite its wide usage in India, the term actually comes from the

US, where it has been common to attach the suffix "tard" to communities. eg:-

mactard for people who fall prey to Apple’s advertisements.

(e) Sickular: From the word secular, to be separate from religion, and its off-

shoot, pseudo-secular, this term suggests a deceitful, opportunistic form of

secularism. This is an interesting coinage which is shorter than the term

pseudo-secular, especially in this 140-character age. Sickular is the grand old

term which is meant to refer to a particular kind of Indian liberal who spouts

secularism, but is really resorting to tokenism.

(f) Sepoy: Indian soldiers recruited to serve in the British army. In online

parlance, it refers to Indian professors and intellectuals who are actually

working to undermine the country’s sovereignty by facilitating American

interventions.

Some of these words are neologisms or new coinages. My interest is in the

use of the term presstitute. Before going deep into an interpretation of the term

presstitute, it is necessary to understand the implications of gender in journalism.

Gender and Journalism

Media freedom is the freedom to participate in media, the rights of

expression, and access to and production of media content. These are all issues that

can be fully understood only by considering their gender equality dimensions as they

often overlap, and they have been compounded by the growing complexity of the

digital sphere. Across all these issues, women do not enjoy full equality with men,

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nor do they have their work valued to the same extent as men. In many newsrooms

around the world, there continues to be a culture that makes it difficult for women to

progress. In such workplaces, harassment is common and a lack of monitoring

means that even with gender equality policies in place, they are often ineffective in

challenging gender discrimination.

Research on gender and journalism can be divided into two categories: (a)

gender “at work” in newsrooms (including opportunities or inequities in jobs,

promotions and salaries, as well as sexism), and (b) representations of women.

Scholars often assume that the first issue over-determines the second. On both

issues, research shows improvement, but also continuing problems. Now women

journalists appear to be well established and the news includes issues associated with

women’s quotidian concerns and it takes women seriously. Yet a variety of gender

divide continue to characterize journalism. Researchers find gendered patterns in

coverage, especially in politics and sports. Women television journalists are

routinely sexualized and their high visibility in television broadcasting—through

explicit scrutiny of their bodies, hairstyles, clothing, and voices—is countered by

their invisibility in management. Gendered double standards and a glass ceiling

continue to stymie the promotion of women to key decision-making and governance

positions in print and broadcast news organizations. Moreover, women are far from

enjoying equity in the online context.

Women continue to be concentrated in low-status media outlets and beats:

they dominate community, small-town and regional news organizations and they

produce “soft news,” human-interest stories and features. Men still dominate,

although they do not monopolize, most of the high status areas of news production,

particularly politics and business, as well as the lucrative and popular area of sports,

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a highly gendered and sexist domain. The most overtly gendered arena is war

correspondence. Women who report on war and conflict are judged by very different

standards than men. In particular, mothers are condemned when they go off to

dangerous conflict areas, although fathers who cover war continue to be largely

immune from public criticism. Women war reporters run a high risk of sexual

violence and harassment, although women who have been sexually attacked rarely

tell their supervisors—probably for fear of being pulled off an assignment.

Gendered aspects of media freedom intersect heavily with journalists’ safety.

Women journalists face unique concerns, such as personal safety when dealing with

confidential sources, which can restrict their freedom of expression and add

challenges that can hamper their ability to carry. Another dimension is the

manifestation of physical violence as virtual violence through the increased

incidence of hate speech and abuse directed towards women. Such abuse has had a

chilling effect and disrupted their online participation. Countering the proliferation

of such abuse has proved a serious challenge for policy-makers wanting to minimize

the harm directed towards vulnerable groups.

To mark International Women's Day in 2017, the United Nations Special

Group on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and

expression noted the challenges for governments, corporate bodies and civil society

organizations to address such abuses while remaining attentive to international

human rights law. It warned against censorship and undue restrictions on freedom of

expression as a means of curbing online abuse, warning that such restrictions could

‘end up undermining the rights of the very women for whom governments and

corporate actors may seek to provide redress’. It takes an interesting dimension in

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India because of the way in which sexual politics gets intertwined with nationalist

discourse.

Presstitutes: An Analysis

The hashtag ‘#presstitute’ is a common sight when one comes across hate

comments directed at journalists on social media. The term is a play on ‘press’ and

‘prostitutes’. A portmanteau word, presstitute is a term that applies to journalism that

is misleadingly tailored to fit a particular partisan, financial or business agenda.

While the term “presstitute” has not yet made it to the Mainstream

dictionaries, the Urban Dictionary provides the following definitions of a

“presstitute” (1) A member of the media who will alter their story and reporting

based on financial interests or other ties with usually partisan individuals or groups,

(2) A term coined by Gerald Celente and often used by independent journalists and

writers in the alternative media in reference to journalists and talking heads in the

mainstream media who give biased and predetermined views in favour of the

government and corporations, thus neglecting their fundamental duty of reporting

news impartially. It is a portmanteau of press and prostitute, (3) One who "screws"

the general public by intentionally submitting false or mis-leading information to the

Press. especially for politicians and news folks.(e.g. “Our congressperson really

presstituted themselves with that interview”. or “That politician is a known

presstitute” ) and (4) Either an individual reporter or news broadcaster, or a media

news group, who reports to be unbiased, but is in fact tailoring their news to suite

someone's goal (usually corporations or big business political affiliates.

For a word that has hardly found any currency in common language, Minister

of State for External Affairs Gen V K Singh has certainly helped to make the term

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‘Presstitute’ popular in India. The former Army chief used this word in his tweet

@Gen_VKSingh “Fyi for all hyperventilating on term 'presstitute' should know it

applies to persons whose pen is available to highest bidder.” 10:05 PM - Feb 26,

2014 . (Express Web Desk, April 8, 2015)

In this careful twisting of the word to describe journalists, the term

presstitute paints all journalists with the colours of moral and monetary corruption,

without making a distinction between individual journalists and the organizations

they work for. Also, to allege that all the media and all journalists have the same

agenda is over-simplification of a rich and a fairly diverse group of people and

organizations. Journalism in India is protected to some measure from becoming so

homogenous because of linguistic diversity and local interests. It is also unfair to

equate journalists with the media houses they work for because journalists are not

agenda setters. While they are obliged to work under policies shaped by editors,

editorial policies are themselves influenced as much by economic considerations as

by political views of individual journalists or media houses. What is really on

display here is just how ingrained misogyny and sexism are in our lives. It is

ingrained so evidently that we do not even notice it.

Prostitution has been called the world’s oldest “profession.” In reality, it is

the world’s oldest “oppression” and continues to be one of the most overlooked

human rights abuses of women on the planet today. Prostitution of women is a

particularly lethal form of violence against women and a violation of a woman’s

most basic human rights. While many societal institutions attempt to normalize

prostitution, prostituted women are subjected to violence and abuse at the hands of

paying clients. For the vast majority of prostituted women, prostitution is the

experience of being hunted, dominated, harassed, objectified, assaulted and battered.

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It is “sexual terrorism against women at the hands of men and little is being done to

stop the carnage.” Above all, prostitution is not a choice, as some claim. Survivors

of prostitution have described it as “the choice made by those who have no choice.”

Women are forced into prostitution by gender discrimination, race discrimination,

poverty, abandonment, debilitating sexual and verbal abuse, lack of formal

education, or a job that does not pay a living wage. Prostitution must be exposed for

what it really is—a “male social system in place to ensure the satisfaction of male

demand for sexual servicing and for objectified sex.”

Sexual politics is equally important in nationalist discourse because it is in

the interests of conservative, establishment forces to mould individuals, to control

and manipulate their desires and make the young in particular feel guilty and

repressed about their sexuality. (Jairus, 28). Before proceeding further, I would like

to outline how 'Gender' was used as a category of analysis in discourses. It was the

feminist historian Joan Scott, who first suggested ‘gender’ as a primary way of

signifying relations of power in complex social structures. Scott theorized that the

symbols, metaphors and concepts ‘societies use to articulate the rules of social

relations' also are used 'to shape power relations in nation-states, nationalisms and

institutions of high politics' . Lovenduski is of the opinion that the mechanisms

through which gender is ' 'encoded in institutions ' as 'cultural codes of masculinity'

during nation-state founding or restructuring become historic legacies that affect

power relations today. Consequently, 'gender is constitutive of states' with a

society’s dominant models of masculinity embedded in institutions through imagery,

symbols and behavioural rules that privilege masculine behaviour. Thus suppression

of sexuality is a powerful factor in the reinforcement of authoritarianism. By

constantly encouraging individuals to exhibit their masculine prowess in order to

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protect the ‘lady in the cradle,’ attempts are made to reduce the protected to the

status of mere objects. This objectification leads to a rationalisation of prostitution,

ie, calling names to the ‘other’ who does not fall into the boundaries prescribed by

the patriarchal establishment.

Pryke (1998) identifies three intersections between sexuality and

nationalisms: (1)sexual stereotypes appear in national ideologies (2) sexuality is

employed in nation-building when nation-states regulate inter-personal behaviour

and (3) sexuality is part of national conflicts e.g. rape is a practice of war . Now,

what has prostitution to do with the gendered dimension of nationalism? Pryke

(1998, 543) theorizes that 'nationalism's use of sexuality is invariably gendered

making it impossible to draw any singular conclusion about the role of gender within

the relationship between nationalism and sexuality.' As gender regimes regulate

women’s sexuality and reproduction, for many women, gender and sexuality are

inseparable. This of course, is one of the thrust arenas in which women's relations

with nationalists occur. Vickers envisioned that nationalists engage in 'battles of the

cradle' over who should reproduce with whom, and limiting women's freedom of

choice in sexual practices and partners. Families are the sites in which languages,

national, denominational and sexual 'loyalties' are transmitted to young children.

This, says Vickers, is another reason for the interaction between nationalisms and

sexuality and the importance of fertility and demography in public policy and private

sphere.

It thus becomes inevitable to bring in the links between the perception of

nation state and chastity, when one tries to attempt a critique of this notion with

special reference to India. The notion of the nation state was closely linked to the

issue of honour as evident in its anthropomorphic imaginings. Urvashi Butalia

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analyses a picture in the “Organiser”, a magazine of a Hindu right wing organization

during Partition, showing a woman’s body mapping the territory of India and Nehru

(the first Prime Minister of India) cutting off one arm which stands for Pakistan.

…there was a deep sense of shame, almost inadequacy, that India had

allowed a part of itself, a part of its body, to be lost to the other nation. Throughout

the nationalist movement one of the most powerful symbols for mobilizing both

women and men had been the image of India as the mother, Bharatmata. Now,

Partition represented an actual violation of this mother, a violation of her (female)

body. (Butalia 1998: 189) Therefore it becomes contradictorily correct to justify

partition.

A curious feature of this type of stereotyping is that it is applied within the

dominant by in-group members to other in-group members. There exists, then, a

different class of stereotype, the kind the dominant in-group makes of itself. These

stereotypes delimit the boundary from inside the fence, so to speak, ostracizing

"flawed" in-group members who, for one reason or another, fall short of dominant

ideals, ie, those who do not possess the requisite amount of the in-group's superior

characteristics. It has been suggested that sections of the traditional Brahmanic-

Kshatriya elite were convinced that it was the defeat at the hands of Muslims and the

British, which had led to emasculation of the Hindus and made them nirverya or

impotent or sterile. The theory of action associated with such ‘scapegoating’ was that

the Hindus would have to redeem their masculinity by fighting and defeating the

Muslims and the British (Nandy, 86). But as it is clear from the track record of the

movement guided by the cultural nationalists, this deep-seated feeling of impotence

and Hindu search for self-esteem was directed exclusively, and continues to be so.

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By blending the words press and prostitute, there is an oblique allegation that

the media tailors or twists news to fit a particular agenda. The word blending implies

that members of the press sell themselves for money, thus indicating that those

journalists and news organizations are “inappropriately influenced” by and biased

towards particular business interests, political motives etc. It is true that many of its

practitioners allow themselves to be manipulated by vested interests and personal

motives. But generalizing them as “presstitutes” in order to stereotype a group which

is not ready to get on the bandwagon, which questions and raises concerns is

definitely unfair to those who work hard to tell stories as they are.

It is exactly this hashtag that features most often when scrolling through the

comments section on journalist Barkha Dutt’s twitter page, indicating the idea that

“just as prostitutes sell their bodies for money, @BDutt sells her country for news”,

Says Supriti David in her article “#Presstitute: The Online War Against Women

With An Opinion”. This comment, found on the journalist’s twitter page, is just one

among a plethora of others that exemplify the deep-rooted misogyny that plagues

our society thereby colouring the comments directed at female journalists with the

same. Female journalists have the added burden of being a woman with an opinion,

therefore it is not the opinion that they hold that attracts the hate as much as the fact

that they hold an opinion in the first place. (David,1)

But what about women who dare to cross the divide, those who

intentionally violate their notions of chastity? Women crossing the divide and

talking with or even working together with the ‘enemy’ can be a major threat to the

dominant political discourses of the warring groups and may be looked upon as

traitors to the cause of the armed struggle. Audury Wood, editor of The Arunachal

Times, in an interview talked about the destructive institution of patriarchy where

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“women are supposed to maintain silence,” and any instance of transgression by not

abiding to this ancient instrument of suppression would inevitably be met with

resistance, as we see represented by rhetoric used by the trolls. (David, 2). The

security of a screen allows these trolls to become bolder and more violent in the

language that they use. They do not usually see the women at the receiving end of

these comments to be real people, but as images and ideas that threaten their

patriarchal society.” The debate also brings into focus the hypocrisy of the Indian

traditions as innumerable goddesses are worshipped by a vast majority, but a living

woman is denied even the basic respect.

That is one side of the coin. Usually male journalists are attacked on

professional grounds, whereas their female colleagues have to endure personal

attacks, including references to their bodies (and parts thereof) and sexual lives (as

imagined by the sick minds of their tormentors), as well as actual threats of violence,

particularly sexual violence. While the term prostitute throws open the question of

feminity, chastity and right of a woman over her mind, body and choices, the term

presstitute which is a neutral signifier is inclusive of both men and women who

questions the majoritarian agenda and disagrees with the national discourse of the

day. Therefore presstitutes are traitors who sell their nation for the highest bid. This

in turn raises the never ending debates of nation and nationalism- whose nation and

for whom.

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Conclusion

What is curious in the use of the term presstitute is that effeminising the

‘other’ as a whole and considering them as possible threats to the chaste image of the

Bharat matha, the so called nationalists deny space for the ‘other’ just like women

were denied space and rights in the misogynistic patriarchal framework. Bina

Agarwal explains that ‘the spread of religious fundamentalism is due to its emphasis

on the ideology of female exclusion which provides further justification for male

chastisement of women who ‘transgress’ into public spaces of predominantly male

presence, giving social and legal sanction to husbands and relatives to physically

chastise women for their behaviour.

A term like Presstitute is thus used to describe the whole institution of

journalism. It is a reflection of just how tolerant we are about abusing half of

humanity: women, men who are perceived to be feminine, and persons of non-binary

genders, sexualities, and sexual orientations. This results in a crucial shift: ‘whereas

earlier the exercise of patriarchal authority rested only with particular men- fathers,

brothers, husbands and extended family kin- what is significant about state-sponsored

religious fundamentalism is that it not only reinforces this patriarchal control, but

more importantly, shifts the right of control to the dominant group giving every and

any man on the street the legitimate right to stop the ‘other’ who does not conform to

the ‘traditional and proper’ role assigned to her... What appears to be happening today

in much of South and South-East Asia is the convergence of state and community-

dictated patriarchal norms. (Agarwal 1998: 20-21). Today, the anonymity of the

social media has changed the excesses of intolerance in such a manner that all the

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men and the women on the street who belongs to the dominant group are given

‘innocent consent’ from the top to stop the ‘other’ from raising their voices and airing

their concerns.

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Works Cited

Anthias, Floya and Nira Yuval-Davis. Racialized Boundaries. London:

Routledge.1992. Print

Bacchetta, Paulo. ‘All Our Goddesses Are Armed’, Bulletin of Concerned Asian

Scholars 1993.25 (4): 38–51. 1993.

Butalia, Urvashi. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India.

Delhi: Penguin Books. 1998. Print

Chaturvedi, Swathi. I am a Troll: Inside the Secret World of the BJP’s Digital Army.

Delhi: Juggernaut Books, 2016. Print.

Chopra, Shaili. The Big Connect: Politics in the Age of Social Media. Noida:

Random House Publishers, 2014. Print

Connell, R.W. 'The State, Gender and Sexual Politics: Theory and Appraisal',

Theory and Society, 19, 5: 507:44.1990.

Dalla, Rochelle L. Global Perspectives on Prostitution and Sex Trafficking. Lanham,

MD: Lexington, 2011, 78.

David, Supriti. “#Presstitute: The Online War against Women with An Opinion

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