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Why protest against Sunny Leone's performance in Bangalore is shameful

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DailyBiteDec 15, 2017 | 20:46

Why protest against Sunny Leone's performance in Bangalore is shameful

Sunny Leone is in the eye of the storm once again. Pro-Kannada group Karnataka Rakshana Vedike Yuva Sene has raised objections over Leone's scheduled performance on New Year's Eve - December 31 - in Bangalore saying her performance in the city would have a corrupting influence on the people of the city in general and the state at large.

The protests against the event, titled "Sunny Night in Bengaluru NYE 2018", which began on December 7 have now escalated and are poised to take an even uglier turn with Yuva Sene members threatening to commit mass suicide if the event is not called off. Yuva Sene's contention is that Leone does not represent Kannada culture and that she would "perform in short clothes". This nondescript organisation has taken to burning Leone's posters and raising slogans against the "assault" on Kannada culture.

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That any group of people can raise objections to any imagined assault on culture or religion and successfully browbeat the system to accept their demands is fairly common in the country. But this particular protest by Yuva Sene needs to be condemned in the strongest possible words for the ignominy it has subjected Leone to.

According to an India Today report, the group's general secretary, Syed Minaj, said that they want to send out a message. "We all know who Sunny Leone is, she is not an Indian or a Kannadiga. We know her history, we don't want her to spoil the culture of the land," said Minaj.

It is important to understand here who Sunny Leone is and what her history is. Leone or Karenjit Kaur Vohra is a Canadian-born Indian-American actress and model, who currently works in the Indian film industry. The "history" that Minaj is eluding to is Leone's successful run as a porn star. Minaj maybe shy of using the word porn star, Leone is not. It's an identity she has never attempted to hide. In fact, she wears it proudly on her sleeve. Minaj and others of his ilk are hypocrites. Leone is not.

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Minaj's problem, and that of many many more men like him, with Leone in particular, and with women in general, starts from here. Their assertion of their lifestyle choices and right over their bodies, which have for far too long been used by men as means of subjugation, is an affront to Yuva Sene and its primitive and parochial way of thinking.

Harish, another office-bearer of the group, has said, "We know what kind of clothes she wears and what kind of movies she acts in." Harish needs to be informed these are the kind of movies that have a huge market in India and that is the reason producers are ready to sign Leone one after the other.

Harish has also gone on to say: "We have all seen what happened at MG Road and Brigade Road on December 31 last year. Bringing people like Sunny Leone to Bangalore will only corrupt the minds of men and women, and lead them to behave inappropriately," he said.

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Someone needs to tell Harish, Minaj and the countless other misogynists out there that men's minds are not corrupted by women dressing up in "skimpy" clothes. Their minds are corrupted because hatred for women is institutionalised in them through years of social conditioning. It is this mental corruption which draws them to rape girls as young as five year old and as old as 100 years.

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Incidents like that at MG Road happen because we continue to indulge in victim blaming and shaming not focusing on helping our men deal with their rotten sexual perversities, telling them women have a right over their minds and bodies, that they are humans - no more no less.

This particular protest in Bangalore stems from the belief that women are mindless, low creatures who need guardians to tell them what to wear, how to talk, how to walk, what kind of subjects to study, what kind of jobs to take up, when to breathe and just when to stop, in short, control their mind, body and soul.

According to a 2016 review by Pornhub, the largest porn website, India is the fourth largest consumer of porn worldwide, coming behind United States of America, United Kingdom and Canada. Is this huge market for porn in India being driven by Leone alone? Despite being immensely talented as a porn star, assuming this would be an exaggeration.

We have brazenly tried to shame Leone about her "past". From making her feel "alone and upset" in television interviews to raising questions over her ability to produce a child. Hopelessly exposing ourselves in each bid to expose her. On her part, Leone has handled all criticism and insult with such aplomb that respect for her only grows.

In this backdrop, Leone must be allowed to perform not just in Bangalore but cities across India because she is empowerment personified, claiming it as a matter of right.

Last updated: December 15, 2017 | 20:50
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