"Does the Invalidity of One of Those Screenshots Disregard the Existence of the ‘Bois Locker Room’?"

A few days ago, while the country was locked down and confined in their homes, screenshots of chats in an Instagram group titled ‘Bois Locker Room’ began surfacing on social media. These screenshots contained morphed and obscene pictures of girls, some of whom were their classmates, lewd comments on these girls and their images, and some screenshots containing suggestions to sexually assault a girl. 

As these screenshots circulated over social media, they caused an uproar; the Delhi Commission for Women sent a notice to the police, who began investigating the matter. Two boys, one minor and another over eighteen, were arrested. The devices of 24 boys found connected to the case were sent over for analysis.

Later, it was found that among all the screenshots to surface, the screenshot which suggested sexual assault wasn’t a part of the ‘Bois Locker Room’ conversation at all. In this particular screenshot, a ‘Sidharth’ suggested raping a specific girl to a guy; this guy sent this screenshot to his friends and the girl who was the subject of the conversation as well. This screenshot then got mixed up in the Bois Locker Room screenshots, and upon investigation, the Sidharth turned out to be the girl herself, who claims that she did this to test the character of the boy.

Now men all over Twitter see this as a fit opportunity to demand an ‘apology’ from women, especially feminists- the logic of which I am unable to grasp. What are feminists supposed to apologise for? The mixup of the screenshots? Or for believing the news? 

Does the invalidity of one of those screenshots disregard the existence of the ‘Bois Locker Room’? Does one girl posing as a boy nullify the lewd conversations of more than two dozen boys? How can the callow actions of one girl, thoughtless and misguided as they are, be equated with the intentional and malicious actions of a group of boys who shared obscene images and went on to say even more vulgar things about those images?

When the ‘Bois Locker Room’ screenshots emerged, I was revolted but completely unsurprised. Demeaning and misogynist talk about girls is common, acceptable, and even appreciated in social groups. If families can sit together and enjoy sexist comedy shows that denigrate women, and teachers can make girls feel ashamed for the length of their skirts and the makeup that they wear, it’s not surprising that teenage boys emulate sexist behaviour. This is not an isolated group chat: thousands like these must be thriving, well supported in a patriarchal society. I can’t think of any girl who hasn’t been talked down, commented upon about how she looks or spared the indignities of verbal or physical abuse, may it be catcalling, inappropriate advances, slut-shaming, or sexual assault. Then how can its perpetrators be expected to remain invisible?

And for those who sit triumphant, feeling smug that it was a girl this time and not a boy who messed up, what are you feeling victorious about? Patriarchy has oppressed women throughout the ages and continues to do so, in a country known for being the worst place in the world for a woman. They have only to look at the DCW Chief, Swati Maliwal, who brought the notice of this case to the police: she was given death threats for posting about it on Twitter. And what does it even say about the society we live in, when the fear of rape is so pervasive in a young girl’s mind, that she attempts to check via dangerous and half-witted means, if a boy she knows would agree to participate in rape culture or not? Patriarchy propagates actions and cultures far worse, and the Bois Locker Room is just a testament to that, and not a chance for men to go out and scream ‘not all men’.