'Of course I had free sex': When Kavita Krishnan's mother shut down a misogynist troll like a boss

The internet can be a terribly misogynistic place and trolls imagine that the way to shut up a person is to ask questions about their ‘character’ or to threaten their female family members. A troll tried that with Kavita Krishnan, a member of the CPI (ML) and secretary of All India Progressive Women’s association (AIPWA).

'The Spoilt Modern Indian Woman' page had put up a with a quote by Krishnan in which she said: “One can only pity the bunch of JNU teachers and likes of Gyandev Ahuja (BJP legislator) or Subramanian Swamy who fear ‘free sex’ – un-free sex is after all nothing but rape.”

This led one troll to reply: “Ask your mother/daughter whether she had free sex?”

While Kavita Krishnan replied: “Er yes, my mother did. Hopefully so did yours. Because if the woman is not free, it’s not sex but rape. Get it?”, her mother Lakshmi Krishan also got in on the act and wrote: “Hi GM Das! I am Kavita's mother. Of course I had free sex. I should jolly well hope so! As and when I wanted, with the person I wanted. And I fight for every woman and man to have sex according to their consent. Never unfree, never forced.”

This led Kavita to share the post and she wrote on Facebook: “My mum's kickass reply to trolls asking if my mother had 'free sex'. With ma and behen of the fantastic kind I have got, the trolls find it so ineffectual and frustrating to give ma behen ki gaali. This happened on this post about my article on the JNU 'dossier'”