The wave of #MeToo that first sprung up in India with Raya Sarkar’s list in 2017, has finally hit the media and film industry in India with allegations against actor Nana Patekar, Rajya Sabha MP and former editor MJ Akbar, actor Alok Nath, HT political editor Prashant Jha, actor Rajat Kapoor, and others being named on social media for their alleged sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. With this new wave of allegations, a growing sense of rage has started to build in India because of the normalisation of harassment and assault by powerful men.
With powerful men being named openly on social media by women, these brave survivors were risking legal action against them as well as dealing with PTSD and the mental health ramifications of coping with their trauma.
Also read: #MeToo Hits Indian Media – Women Journalists Are Sharing Their Stories of Workplace Harassment
As a collective #IWillGoOut strongly felt the need to channel our rage into building solutions for survivors and we had the idea to crowdsource the help of lawyers, social workers, therapists, counsellors and journalists across India, and to collate this information into one resource sheet for survivors to identify help easily. This is how the #MeTooIndia support and resource base came into being.
we currently have over 230 individuals who have signed on to help across over 40 locations in India and 8 international locations.
We put out the call for professionals to sign up to help survivors on 8th October, and as of 10th Oct 10 am we currently have over 230 individuals who have signed on to help across over 40 locations in India and 8 international locations. The sign up sheet is still live for those looking to help and is available at this link. The #MeTooIndia resource sheet is live at this link.
Also read: Did Tanushree Dutta Kickstart The Long Overdue #TimesUp Movement In Bollywood?
While the #IWillGoOut collective is compiling this sheet, we cannot confirm the authenticity of all the information on the sheet. Our hope is for this resource to be useful for survivors to access help without any judgement. In case there are any complaints about any specific resource on the sheet, do write to us at iwillgoout2017@gmail.com. In case your information has wrongly appeared in the sheet or if you would like you information to be removed, again write to us at iwillgoout2017@gmail.com. The #MeTooIndia support sheet will continually be updated by the #IWillGoOut team and both the sign up form and sheet are available on all our social media channels.
#IWillGoOut is a feminist collective started in 2017 to reclaim public spaces for women and girls. We are an evolving team of feminists who are working towards creating a gender equitable India. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Featured Image Source: The Wire
