What happened at Satyawati College was display of toxic masculinity

Delhi University (DU) is grappling with a growing culture of disruption of events that started with the Ramjas College ruckus in 2017. The campus space which once championed the cause of liberal critical thinking is now controversy’s favourite child.

Recently, the disruption of the Digital Trust Dialogue in Satyawati College, on February 22, was a grand display of toxic masculinity. The talk, which was organised in collaboration with Google and She The People TV, focused on countering harassment faced by women in digital spaces. It was interrupted by students affiliated to the ABVP, who demanded the removal of Kawalpreet Kaur, a law student and president of the DU All India Students’ Association (AISA), from the panel. Kaur was invited as a panelist to share her experience of online trolling.

The disruption of the discussion becomes a critical vantage point to assess how intolerant and masculine our university spaces have become. It is important to not dismiss this instance as a mere ideological standoff between the AISA and ABVP as two student organisations with different ideologies. It is actually a systemic and symbolic attempt by men who deem themselves powerful enough to show a woman with a voice her “space”.  This was about telling young women that their voices could be muzzled with fear and there are consequences of speaking out and transgressing the boundaries society has set for them.

In the global context, where women are speaking out against sexual harassment in the light of the #MeToo movement, it becomes important to see this violent act as one which was deliberately aimed at creating an atmosphere of fear.

One can observe how assertion of masculinity works in physical spaces, more importantly spaces that are considered safe to have discourses on harassment. When the disruption transpired, the men were sloganeering, threatening and harassing the panellists and professors alike, young girls from the college were crying, huddled together, fearing for their safety on the college campus.

The brazen attempt to curb the voices of women points to student politics as not just governed by money and muscle, but also the exertion of masculinity. Instances like this not only create fear, but have been proven as the “go-to” strategy to shift focus from issues that require real consideration.

At a time when DU campuses are witnessing mass student gatherings to protest against the Metro fare hike and unfair hostel norms for women students, this act of disruption comes as a carefully planned move to shift focus. The members of ABVP were suspended from the premises of Satyawati College, which is a welcome move, however discussion on disruptive politics calls for structural solutions that go beyond mere suspension.

So folks at ABVP, to your disappointment, we are not backing down, we are not going to be silenced and no, we are definitely not taking our revolution anywhere else.