Hoping for a different #MeToo

If you are a male social media user, the last couple of weeks must have brought forth a scary realisation about the secret lives of the members of the fairer sex that shares the planet with us.

The #MeToo campaign that spread like wildfire across social media used only two simple words and yet managed to strip men of the cloak of pretence that we have been wearing since the beginning of civilization.

The overwhelming success of #MeToo proved that regardless of country, race, culture, level of education or effluence, men are men and, being a woman is synonymous to being sexually harassed anywhere on the planet.

#MeToo was a great success in reminding us about the massive scale of the problem of sexual harassment, but what next?

Social media, the new forum where humanity socialises, is rife with irresponsible posts, latest being one that nonchalantly names 75 senior professors from at least 21 universities as "academics who used their position to allegedly sexually harass scholars". While the post accuses some senior men of most heinous of all crimes, it doesn't see the need to provide any proof or evidence. It has the classic social media logic of "These people are criminals, because I say so.", and it is still shared as gospel truth by people.

With the air vitiated by those who think that men and women are at war, I would like to plead to the sex that is more sensible, and hence the choice not difficult to make!

If you are a woman, and hence a realist by default, it would not take you long to realise that #MeToo may have released pent up emotions, but it is not a magic wand that will solve the harassment problem.

If the aftermath of #MeToo is pronouncing all men as guilty, it is unlikely to find a positive response from men. Women must realise that if men are a big part of the problem, men are also a bigger part of the solution. So, if the campaign is treated as a war cry with a hope of gravitating women to fight a war against this malaise, it is probably the worst idea in the history of womanity.

Let us realise that, just as every woman has faced sexual harassment by men; it is equally true that every woman is also loved by men in her life. While being woman may be a hell in terms of safety and security when alone; as a daughter, a sister, a mother, a wife, a friend or a lover, women are cherished and taken care of by men. If you close your eyes and try looking at moments of happiness in your life, there is a great possibility that they will involve a man who loves you.

So, just as you participated in a #MeToo campaign that told men how rotten they can be, equally useful would be a campaign of #MeToo that tells men that you care for the love that they are capable of giving.

Let there be another wave, hopefully as overwhelming, that reminds every father that his daughter understands how much he loves her. Just as you acknowledged finding revolting creeps in your life, also remember the guy who silently pined for you.

Please understand that #MeToo has also hurt men who love you. When you shared your secret through this campaign, your father, brother, husband, friend or wooer must have winced in pain. You may have reason to hate some men, but if you look beyond that, a lot many men love you.

Please remember that it is not always that dark clouds have silver lining, sometimes silver clouds have dark lining too. Life is all about how you want to look at it.