The World of Uninvited ‘D*ck Pics’: Barkha Dutt is Everywoman

Back in 2016, Dutt had tweeted about a similar abuse campaign that targeted her with sexual slurs.

Journalist Barkha Dutt’s recent experience has made one thing clear.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Journalist Barkha Dutt’s recent experience, involving an uninvited ‘d*ck pic’, has made one thing clear. At this point, it is fair to assume that masculinity — the kind in question — has a daily sales target to reach. Lest we forget how coveted the male junk — its most prized possession — is.

The elevator pitch sucks though. Imagine walking down a busy street, aggressively minding your own business, when, with startling flex, this one guy pops out of thin air, jeers at you, and exclaims, “Here’s my junk, just in case!”.

Do we need such power missiles? No.

Also Read: Probe Alleged Harassment of Barkha Dutt, NCW tells Delhi Police

When Barkha Dutt offered to help Kashmiris after the Pulwama terror attack, she was met with online abuse, sexist vitriol, and, of course, an unsolicited ‘d*ck pic’. What really was her ‘fault’ though? Other than being a woman with an opinion? I will get back to you once I find out.

Back in 2016, Dutt had tweeted about a similar abuse campaign that targeted her by mass-sharing her contact details, filling her inbox and life with sexual slurs of the most vile sort.

Let’s rewind. Remember Freud? Contrary to what he — hailed as the ‘father of psychoanalysis’ — would have us believe, the penis is not... God’s light on earth. To him, the male reproductive organ — for some inconceivable reason — was... #GenitalGoals (?!), for lack of a dressier word.

What’s more, Freud came up with something called ‘penis envy’ in women — the equivalent of ‘castration anxiety’ in men. ‘Penis envy’ is when young girls, according to Freud, experience anxiety upon realization that they do not have a penis.

Boy, was he messed.

And it is all around us. Take, for example, a popular jingle on a renowned radio channel that croons, “Bade acche lagte hain... kya? Chhote ad breaks”. If the stray sexual innuendo isn’t enough to vex you, the coy pause will make you want to light your libidinal energy on fire.

Are we, collectively, so intellectually fragile that nothing piques our interest more than sexual puns that are centred around the size — and thus, the potency — of a man’s junk? That is, when we’re not reducing a woman to her’s.

What happened to Dutt is of course one among the many incidents that constantly perpetuate a cultural myth that is hinged on male supremacy, wielded through a physiological imposition that amounts to plain harassment.

The #MeToo movement gained momentum in India when comedian Utsav Chakraborty was under fire, a while back, for sexually harassing a woman on social media by sending her “unsolicited d*ck pics” and asking for her nude pictures. This was followed by many more women, with similar concerns — speaking up.

These are just the instances that you and I know of. Of course there are many more, systematically creeping their way into DMs, chat boxes on dating apps, and email IDs.

Healthy sexual power relations are obviously on a sabbatical at this point of time and we have an entire culture of the “bigger, the better” jokes to blame, that mistake power dynamics for sexual satisfaction.

Sadly, we are raising kids in a world where they are probably conforming to penis-strong-vagina-weak binaries before even potty-training themselves.

So many straight women are just one unsolicited d*ck pic away from changing their settings to women.

DeAnne Smith.