Twitter has become a space where trolls lurk and live out their hate agendas with impunity. But it is also a platform that the police and other agencies effectively use for educating and informing the general public. When the Mumbai Police sent out this message about consent, people were very appreciative:
No does not mean ‘maybe’, it doesn’t mean ‘keep trying’. It just means ‘No’. This is a simple concept that all adults need to internalise if we are to see any change in mindsets or any decline in crimes related to sexual molestation.
The message is straightforward and unambiguous. This is about the Mumbai Police trying to send out a positive message hopefully to bring about behaviour change. The response to the post was generally very positive.
Some of the Tweeple thought that the message needed to go further and to be disseminated more; suggesting that it should go up on billboards and so on.
This tweet decided to make things even clearer – unless one is talking about nitric oxide, no means only no!
Bollywood has a long history of condoning and even promoting sexual harassment; where the unwilling woman is shown to give in because of the sheer sustained pressure of a man's pursuit. This tweet suggests that the portrayal of the male-female equation in popular culture is largely to blame for the mindset of men who think stalking and harassment are the same thing as wooing.
While some Twitter users used the thread to highlight some issue or complaint they had in their area, others tried to call attention to some endemic policing problems. This tweet suggests that the police use ‘No’ to clamp down on the rampant corruption among their ranks and to address problems such as the reluctance to lodge FIRs either because of dereliction of duty, political pressure or personal bias.
While the Mumbai police tweet is gender neutral, it does carry the picture of a female, which is why people thought to point out the fact that men are also the victims of sexual abuse. It is important to remember that when men are subjected to sexual harassment, they are rarely taken seriously; often dismissed or laughed at. When it comes to consent, it always has to be clear, conscious and ongoing. Men as well as women need to have this clearly sorted in their minds.
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