Locker Room Talk: Sexual Crimes and the need to delve beyond Criminal Justice

Syed Shakeel Imdad:

The netizens of the country woke up yesterday to a rude and vile shock when contents of a private chatroom/group on the popular social media app “Instagram” were unearthed and the horror kept mounting as people read and gasped at the sheer amount of misogyny and distinct instances of sexual misconduct being propagated by the members of a 'locker room'. Since then, the screenshots have gone viral with multiple news agencies reporting it and if sources are to be believed, the Delhi police is already initiating an investigation into the participants who rampantly engaged in the horror with consent (duly including the “so-called” inactive ones). Heartening.

What isn’t optimistic is the discourse on social media reflecting the upsettingly unapologetic nature of many of the culprits – with open statements like the will to continue unabashed in other platforms like “Telegram” and let “Instagram Warriors” cry their river. However, an argument can be made that the current dialogue on the issue and the appeal for action does not address a few key arguments which might hold pertinent answers to what is unarguably a minuscule tip of the ice-berg that has been unearthed.

The Name, Shame and Blame game: It is to be noted that the whistleblower, a lady from Delhi, explicitly and courageously, named the members of the group “Boys Locker Room” along with a significant number of messages exchanged amongst them, which proves the criminal intentions of the group beyond doubt. The objectification carried out therein did not even spare underaged girls (15/16 years of age) and thus they are liable to be prosecuted for child pornography (IPC 292 and 293, POSCO Act), should there be explicit content in the shared content. The naming and shaming can only be applauded and encouraged but if the buck stops here, the resolution to this problem (and as an umbrella – all similar incidents) takes a superficial turn. The naming and the shaming and eventually the lawful blaming solves the effect that has already been observed and like most instances of reactionary problem solving, does not do anything to eliminate the source of the menace. The incident holds significance over and above the unfortunately common examples of crimes against women in this country because unlike an actual molestation or a rape incident, this provides a glimpse of a crucial stage preceding and building up to potential criminal behavior. Thus, there is a need to have a dialogue and enact effective control loops to enable our law enforcers and even the laypeople to adopt preventive measures before traumas have been dealt out and maiming blows struck deep into the hearts of victims. The first stop that can be made is at the “economics” junction.

Supply, Demand and Control: We are each one of us essentially a demand function each and upon aggregation to whatever level we want, we get a snapshot of the collective community, society, country and the world. The demand in this case is nigh infinite. It is the sad truth – case in point being the Disha gangrape and murder incident that transpired in the vicinity of Hyderabad city in Telangana. A leading daily’s crime reporter personally shared the horrific truth of how the search for the video of the same was trending on several pornography aggregating websites upto 4-5 days after the inhumane incident was executed. In a utopian world, incidents such as todays, should effect mass realization and propel massive decline in the demand. But we do not live in a utopian world. The aspiration should and must be to curb demand and there are methods being deliberated and piloted to varying degrees of success (hanging of rapists for instance). Has this prevented crimes against women in our country – one would like to presume “yes” – however minuscule the number be? But at its heart, the problem is a systemic one and changes in attitude and mentality do not come to pass in a jiffy. This mandates us a society to look at the “supply” side of the equation and place control loops on it, even as our efforts to neutralize demand are ramped up through all possible means. In talking about this supply side, the area holds gargantuan importance is social media. And we must talk about it – more today than ever before.

Social Media: A cesspool for pedophiles and sexual criminals?

The platform under the scanner as a part of today’s incident is Instagram. But people aware of the array of such apps/sites available to tech savvy users today know that WhatsApp and TikTok have a significantly larger monthly and daily active user base, compared to Instagram. More importantly, these two platforms have a much higher rate of penetration in our country – and that itself makes them potent platforms to conduct nefarious activities as the one uncovered today and oftentimes, way more horrific (if one were to put a scale to the sheer corruption of morals).

And why are teenagers/young-adults way more susceptible to crimes? The first part of the answer is user demographics. According to Digital Marketing and Advertising firm Omnicore Agency, 41% of TikTok users are aged between 16-24 and nearly 50% below the age of 34. The platform (so does Instagram, Facebook and Twitter) has a minimum age limit of 13 years for any user to be on it. But the reality as can be easily guessed is that there are multiple accounts which subvert these norms in open violation and are active on the platform(s).

The demographic is important though not adequately granular because the content in TikTok for example is oftentimes “mature” and a 13-14-15 year old teenager with a myopic view of garnering more likes, comments and followers is not equipped mentally to navigate without being prey to influences – which when unrestrained and unguided often times verge on the explicit. Secondly, sexualized content always sells – (remember the demand?) and these teens are easy prey for pedophiles and sexual criminals. It is not uncommon to find barely teenage girls and boys alike explore the world of social media with their underdeveloped senses of perception and putting up content that can have far reaching ramifications – and sadly they are unaware of it. As for these groups like the one uncovered today, there are forums in which people openly share pornographic content – often things like molestation and rape, or even if not criminal in terms of the sexual act, illegal in terms of non-consensual filming/photographing.

The predators and their nexuses exist and so do the hordes of consumers – it is an efficient supply chain. One can hark back to a not so old article in a leading daily which exposed an entire market for rape videos in an Indian State. Even if one considers the case of consensus on all levels between partners, like sending a nude photo over a platform for example, the propensity of it being leaked and shared and the subject condemned to a life of trauma are too high and too rampant in practice. The criminal undeniably is the one who leaks it. But potential victims need to be aware, their guardians need to be aware. Unfortunately, teenagers and young adults are not cognizant of the long-term effects. Also, unsurprisingly, most victims are women.

Is there a preventive course of action?

The answer to this million-dollar question is Yes and No. There have been multiple suggestions circulating even today – floated by conscious citizens as well as lawmakers and enforcers. However, almost invariably it operates in a reactive setting – like quit all such groups, if you are not a part but know that such a group exists – call them out, check on your brothers and cousins and friends – all effective but all reactive. A fatalist outlook will force us to believe that there is indeed an absence of preventive actions. But upon probing the matter a bit from a bird’s eye view and examining the possible contributing factors (it will require a detailed sociological and psychological study to eke out in detail), we can point at a few potential areas that can contribute positively:

1. Regulation: This is the easiest to point and possibly enact but arguably one of the difficult to enforce. We have had laws criminalizing crimes against women for ages but has that curbed the numbers on ground? Sadly no. Having said that however, in line with the GDPR norms in Europe and possibly by concentrating on how to limit/omit subversions users take to create and view content on social media platforms, there is a lot that can be done externally to prevent young people from getting influenced in such platforms.
2. Social Media Algorithms: Sexualized content grabs eyeballs and the social media algorithms are designed as such to promote this behavior – this stands as the easiest and the most potent way to game the hits, likes, comments, followers’ equation. As said earlier, victims are oftentimes unaware of the possible avenues of crime that their content may lead to and hence the onus is on the product managers and CEOs of these firms to actively take that call for the sake of ethics and safety of their user base. This is not to discourage freedom of expression by any means but to encourage utilization of freedoms in less dangerous scenarios.
3. Education: This invariably is an avenue to explore – Indian education, in particular co-ed education, is shockingly inadequate when it comes to understanding of gender and sex – things which youngsters gather information about anyway but from biased and inaccurate sources and that too piecemeal. Mandatory sex education across state and central curricula is a basic need and should be introduced in the 5^th-6^th standard itself – commensurate to the time when people start getting exposed to social media. The imparting of this knowledge as of today is non-existent – be it in rural or urban areas. It must be called out that rural areas need special focus as crimes against women and forums like the one uncovered today have permeated to all social and economic strata regardless of geography.
4. Indirect Guidance: The reason I use indirect in here is because strict prescriptions invite more defection than adherence – that’s human nature. What should thus be advocated is mass scale awareness sessions (possible some NGOs and individuals are already doing it – but ramping up is must) that mention use cases and highlight the wrongs and rights. It can be for parents, elders, children alike – young people can also be segregated into groups based on age (and not on gender) – the tactical details can be ironed out. The purpose behind this would be to provide warning glimpses of what can go wrong and how. So, the decision maker still exercises free-will as they should be allowed to, but there is an effort to portray the good, bad and ugly - not unlike a warning on cigarette packets.

The above four are in no way all-encompassing in their output towards prevention of sexual crimes and pedophilia – direct or indirect - the crypt beneath the locker room is confounding and a maze in essence, but they do have a potential to make significant dents in this vicious flow that has plagued our nation.

The fact remains that young boys and men reducing women to objects, a conglomeration of a few organs and observing the feminine gender in its entirety through an overtly sexual lens at such a tender age leaves us with a lot of questions to ask – of our society, of our systems and of ourselves. Technology will only empower people further in the years to come. There is no stopping it.

What we can thus hope for and do actively is what we witnessed today from some brave women who decided to call it out at a great personal cost and initiate the process to bring a few vile men to the book, like the millions who are standing up for them and fellow victim. But like the Hydra, the monster of sexual crimes is many headed and powerful. So, the need of the hour of is not only to chop one head after another but to cauterize each one of those wounds from ground up to the best extent possible until the immortal head is severed one day. Prevention is undeniably preferable to cure in this regard.

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