When 23-year-old Karuna (name changed) attended a team dinner for the first time, just a month after she moved to Chennai for her job, she was the only woman who ordered a beer along with her male counterparts. Little did she know that this would become the topic of discussion for the next few days.
"Almost everyone on the table seemed to be surprised. For almost a month after that, one of my colleagues made it a point to tell everyone that I drank alcohol. Every conversation between him and me would involve questions about when I started drinking, and why I started drinking. I am not at all sure what the relevance was and it made me feel judged," Karuna, who moved to the city earlier this year, told The Quint.
Women in Chennai are tired of being subjected to moral policing simply because drink in public spaces like pubs and restaurants. It has not much to do with safety per se, but the gaze with which women in these public recreational spaces are viewed by society at large – they are considered 'out-of-control', and 'immoral', just as reflected in the coverage of Big Bulls Lounge 'raid' on 19 November, multiple women told The Quint.
On 19 November – the evening of the ICC World Cup 2023 – at least two Tamil TV channels, including Thanthi TV and Polimer News, allegedly ran behind the women exiting the pub, forcibly filmed them, and purportedly passed lewd comments at their attire.
The posts carried suggestive captions like – "All-night alcohol party was busted", "half-dressed women running out of pubs", and "Please leave, here's what ladies did at night" when the actual incident or raid had nothing to do with them.
One of the news flashes on a TV news channel even implied that the entire party was sexual in nature – in an attempt to shame women.
The incident has sparked outrage on social media, with many questioning why the women pub-goers were targeted, as well as the misogynistic and misleading nature of the coverage of the incident by the media.
The Chennai Police on Friday, 24 November, filed an FIR against the crime reporter of News Tamil 24*7 channel and five others in connection with the incident.
"Do you see the irony in this incident? Drunk men created a ruckus at a pub, but it was the women, who had nothing to do with any of it, who paid the price. This sums up how women who are just minding their business, having a good drink or two, are viewed by most people," Pavithra Ashok, a 30-year-old architect, told The Quint.
'Middle-Class Women Judged the Most'
Pub culture has been around in Chennai for a long time – since the early 1990s. But these spaces were strictly for the caste and class-privileged elite women, who were away from the general societal gaze. Drinking among working class women also did not raise eyebrows, explained Shalin Maria Lawrence, a Chennai-based writer, political analyst, and activist.
"But in the 2000s until now, when more and more middle-class women started hitting the pub, the character assassination by society at large, films, and media in general began. The elite or working class women don't face this moral policing. But others are considered ruined, and not fit to be a 'family woman'. They are termed a 'bad woman', a 'bad person' – not because of any actual characteristic but because they go to the pub to have a drink."Shalin Maria Lawrence
Several Tamil films, even to date, show the heroine as someone who is 'traditional', 'law-abiding', 'non-drinking' – while the villain or the 'other woman' is a 'woman who commits sins' by just drinking alcohol, Shalin pointed out.
A sociologist and professor at a leading women's college in Chennai told The Quint:
"Men are insecure of women in pubs – because their drinking makes these men uncomfortable, yes. But they are sharing space as an equal. This makes them feel threatened. It is ingrained in them that the woman is 'acting out of' what is considered a societal norm."
The sociologist, quoted the example of a hit 2012 pop song by HipHop Tamizha, the lyrics of which go like:
Club Le Mappu Le Thiriyira Pombala
Ennadi Nadakkuthu Senthamizh Naatula
Ladies Elaarukkum Vanakamunga
Ladies Maanam Parakkuthunga
The lyrics essentially say – 'There are ladies roaming around in the pub, in a drunk state. What is happening in Tamil Nadu? The dignity of ladies is flying away.'
"The song was called out for its misogyny back then – but this is very much the outlook even today. If someone wants to target a woman in urban Tamil Nadu, the first thing they want to do is show her in a short dress or with alcohol, or better both," the sociologist explained.
'Have Been Named & Shamed': Women Share Harrowing Experiences
Pavithra, now a resident of the city, first moved to Chennai from Bengaluru almost 12 years ago, to pursue her degree. The first time she 'felt judged for drinking in public' was when a woman professor at her college remarked about a few photos uploaded on Facebook.
Recalling the incident, Pavithra said: "A bunch of us were hanging out at a city pub when one of my classmates was inappropriate with me. When I resisted his advances, it led to a bar brawl – and I have no idea how the matter reached the professors. I remember her saying – "Thanni adikra ponnunga ketu vaangara madiri. (Girls who drink ask for such things to happen to them.) She implied that It left a deep scar on me. The next time I had a drink in a city pub was almost three years later."
But not much has changed between the last 12 years and now. Gyathri K, who is pursuing engineering at a city college, was also pulled up by one of her professors, in March this year.
"I got a great lecture, in front of 5-6 people in the staff room, on how I come from a 'good family' and that I will be throwing my life by drinking – from a professor, who supposedly heard from 'somewhere' that I am a 'party girl.' She said that despite me being a good student, I would go nowhere. When I gave it back, I was told there's not much to expect from a 'woman like me'. I felt humiliated. I don't think it is anyone's business what I drink or where I drink – as long as I abide by the law," Gayathri told The Quint.
'A Cop Stopped Me & Asked Why I Was Buying Drinks'
It's not just colleagues or professors – some women also shared with The Quint that they have been moral policed even while buying drinks from TASMAC – the Tamil Nadu government-run shops where alcohol is sold.
"I was with another girl and we were buying a couple of bottles to take it back home with us. A cop stopped us, when there were scores of men behind us. He started telling us that we were not allowed to drink alcohol in public, and wanted to check our bags. We wouldn't just start drinking on the road, we were taking it to our hostel. But the cop was harassing us for nothing," Sneha (name changed), who graduated from a media college in Chennai earlier this year, told The Quint.
"How often do we see women who are lying drunk on the road? With no consciousness of even their clothes falling off? Never. If anything women are responsible drinkers. So if buying alcohol is legal for both men and women, why are the women alone pulled up at these local shops? How many women could afford to go to the elite shops? Again, the aim seems to be to be to make access difficult from all levels," the sociologist told The Quint.
"What society needs to make peace with is that drinking or smoking is a personal choice. It should neither be treated as revolutionary nor a matter of shame. it is just a normal thing that people do. It is a normal thing that women do. While this happens across India, it is sad that such moral policing is so prevalent in a state that calls itself progressive," Shalin added.
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