From trivialising the condition to 'bad dates' affecting women, how #MeToo has impacted mental health

A week ago, Utsav Chakraborty, a stand-up comic for All India Bakchod (AIB), was accused of sending sexually explicit images of his genitalia to multiple women on social media. After they called him out, Chakraborty put out a series of tweets, which have since been deleted, claiming that his actions are the consequence of mental illness.  

Last month, a prosecution expert ruled that disgraced comedian Bill Cosby, who has been accused of raping multiple women, be labeled a ‘mentally ill person’.

Here's the problem when it comes to trivialising. A WHO report has said that at least 5 crore people in India suffer from depression. The report adds that India has one of the highest rate of depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in the world. A phenomenon like suicide does not exist in isolation and is often accompanied and triggered by mental disorders of this kind. Of all the people suffering from depression globally, only half of them seek treatment.

Women's Harassment

India’s average rate of reported rape cases is about 6.3 per 100,000 of the population. Even India’s average rate of 6.3, which is not very high when compared with the rest of the world, suffers from under-reporting. According to a recent report by the Livemint, about 99% of cases of sexual violence go unreported. If true, this would put India among the nations with highest levels of crimes against women.

When it comes to online abuse against women, the numbers too are startling. In 2017, Amnesty International polled 4,000 women in eight countries, including the UK and the US, and found that nearly 76 percent of women who had experienced abuse or harassment on a social media platform changed how they used the platform. Around two-thirds of women who experienced abuse or harassment on social media platforms said that they felt a sense of powerlessness after experiencing online abuse.  

Nikita Gupta, a psychologist with Mpower says that while mental illness could be an underlying factor, it cannot be used as an excuse to behave like this.

"Public apologies lose sincerity when personal responsibility is replaced by a justification such as a mental health concern," she told DNA. 

 Gupta adds that mental health is a new topic of discussion within Indian culture. “It’s still a stigma in society, and it continues to be a topic of taboo despite efforts to normalize it. When mental illness is cited as an excuse for sexual harassment, the offender is, in essence, misusing the public’s naivety of and stigma towards mental health, because it is presented as a valid reason for the misconduct. If mental illness is a contributing factor causing people to sexually harass others, they should take responsibility for their actions and seek professional help to address the mental health concerns,” she added.

Since the Chakraborty incident, several women have come out to say that they were sexually harassed by men. These include AIB’s Gursimran Khamba, following which both him and Tanmay Bhat were temporarily relieved of their duties, actors Alok Nath (who has been accused of raping a television show director) and Rajat Kapoor, and several prominent names in mainstream media, including journalist-turned politician MJ Akbar.  

At the same time, some women have even shared tweets asking others not to ‘kill the movement’ by citing ‘bad dates’ as an example of ‘sexual harassment’.

Gupta, however, disagrees. “When “bad dates” are cited as “sexual harassment,” women who think these examples are “killing the movement” should try to look into why those women who were on dates feel like they were sexually assaulted. Sexual assault can also take place when a woman has agreed to go on a date. It also takes place between husband and wife. If a woman decides to go on a date, and the man sexually assaults her, that is not “just a bad date,” it is sexual assault. These cases of sexual assault do negatively impact a woman’s mental health. We need to believe women when they talk about their experiences of assault so that we can empower them to stand up for themselves, and so that sexual harassers can take accountability for their actions,” she said.

ONLY VERBAL CONSENT?

According to a report in Psychology Today, "Data suggests that anywhere from 30 to 80 percent of sexual assault survivors develop PTSD. With so many women exposed to sexual assault, it becomes clear that the disparity between men and women in mental health issues might be closely related to the trauma many women face.”   

Journalist Shalvi Mangaokar-Biswas added that in the case of bad dates, the word ‘no’ isn’t taken seriously. “I think anything where discomfort seeps in, things go against your will and comfort and ‘no’ isn't taken seriously is a bad date. Anything that caused you discomfort can further affect your mental health,” she says.

However, she adds, people define their own boundaries and therefore spoken consent needs to be addressed before moving ahead. “Unspoken consent is dead in this day and age. So the blanket rule is when the person says no, you back off. And this is applicable to both genders,” she adds.

Aiman Khan, who works in the area of gender, corroborates Mangaokar-Biswas’s statement, and says that boundaries vary from individual to individual, and while this is a huge grey area in defining what is and what is not harassment, it is quite difficult to determine. “If someone says no, men need to understand that. The problem is Indian men have been conditioned to never take no for an answer, but this is not the case, and hopefully they will understand this soon,” she says.

Khan adds that while there are several women appealing to others not to ‘kill the movement’, this movement will not die. “There are several types of harassment, apart from sexual harassment. And for the longest time, women could not vent their stories and after years of enduring problems, have finally had the courage to speak out. Social media is in chaos, and there will be a period before the types of harassment are segregated,” she said.