'Bois Locker Room'

Through your esteemed daily, I would like to highlight the incident of Bois Locker Room that caused outrage on the internet all over the country. Recently, screenshots of a group chat named 'Bois Locker Room' was exposed in social media where a bunch of Delhi boys aged 16-19, degrade women in every way possible. They objectified them, humiliated them, body shamed them and shared private photos of the girls. They also planned illegal acts such as rape of minor girls. They are all teenage boys from South Delhi. The incident is appalling and it exposes India's rape culture and how it starts so young. When even boys who are barely 18, feel justified objectifying and sexualizing women, that's when we know and realize that the problem lies much deeper - in the deeply rooted patriarchy and toxic masculinity of the society. Children internalize this at a very young age. The female child learns to be subservient from the beginning. The casual misogyny and normalization of rape in the society perpetuates the wrong idea that it's actually okay to sexualize and victimize women. Such a mindset can transition into an actual incidence of rape and sexual assault. This incident exposes many ugly truths of our society. It shows that rape mentality is ingrained in our culture. Rapists just don't happen, it is inbred and cultivated at a very young age. It makes us wonder how conversations about rape and sexual abuse can be made so casually for fun and labeled as 'boys locker room' talk. It exposes the sick mentality of the people who have the audacity to defend such people and blame it all on the victim. The accused boys in the incident further threatened the girl for exposing them without any fear or guilt as they must believe that they can get away with it because of their privileged backgrounds and in a patriarchal society like India it is the often woman who is victim shamed and vilified. The normalization of rape culture in our country is so toxic and ingrained that this is how children of "well-educated" families unapologetically talk about rape. Women's safety has garnered debates for years now and this incident has once again reminded women that they are not safe, even during a lockdown. The accused should face serious consequences for their actions else it will give further encouragement to such perverted mindsets and heinous deeds.

Krishangi Borah,

Cotton University