The Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), which has emerged as a strong voice in Malayalam cinema, has condemned the cyber abuse against their fellow founding member who had maintained that there was no sexual abuse in the film industry. The collective stated that every woman has the right to speak about their individual experience without fear. The cyber attacks on the founding member began after the Hema Commission report revealed that she had kept reiterating that there was no problem for women in the industry.
“With the release of the Justice Hema Committee report, we hope it is examined with the seriousness and gravity it deserves, to understand the historical reasons for misogyny in this profession and steps are taken to address and correct it. The public support for survivors is much appreciated however, we strongly condemn the cyber attacks and belittling comments about senior women artistes including a founding member of WCC that undermine a woman’s professional journey and experience especially when they have stood in solidarity with survivors. WCC believes that every member has the right to speak about their individual experience without fear. Throughout our history, many women have carved their own space in this film industry through hard work and their talent and shone like beacons despite many challenges.
When a civil society recognizes that women are victimized in their workplaces, we cannot stand by while some elements of society use that same information to stone and demean female professionals. This only illustrates the attitude of such commenters towards women in this industry. WCC reiterates that, according to cyber laws, this is punishable, and such instances of cyber abuse or defamation will be addressed by the laws of the land. Let us instead use this opportunity to understand the issues at hand as raised by the Hema Committee report and others who are speaking up to move toward the change that is required for a clean and equal workplace in our industry,” the statement read.
