The Indian incel is fundamentally different from the conventional definition of the word. In the West, the incel is someone who does not want to have sex, is a loner, and despises ‘chads’ (internet slang for a confident ‘alpha male’). The far-right manosphere in India, though, is full of ‘chads’. They operate in a corporatised manner with coordinated attacks and troll farms. Much of it becomes about the political capture of power,” said poet-author Meena Kandasamy.
She left an engaged audience laughing in short bursts, as she spoke at the ninth edition of The Hindu’s Lit for Life Unplugged event at Amethyst’s Wild Garden Bar on Friday. The conversation was centred around her latest book Fieldwork as a Sex Object (Harper Collins), that released in June this year in India. Answering questions by Vaishna Roy, Editor, Frontline, on a wide range of topics including politics, privilege, troll farms, activism, male gaze, big tech, and the Me Too movement, Meena elaborated on what it means to exist on the internet today, especially as a woman who is politically engaged.
When answering a question about why she chose to write the book, Meena, who has been at the receiving end of tireless trolling on sites like X (formerly Twitter), said that besides her own encounters, she was influenced by the infamous Pollachi sexual abuse and extortion case (from 2019), calling it the “fulcrum of blackmail”. She stated that women on the internet, who are living in the inverse of patriarchy, are particularly portrayed as shameless or bad. The trolling, she said, does not stop even if one becomes shameless, owning the identity. Big tech, she said, was inherently misogynistic and that women who exercise agency are vilified irrespective of any opinion. “The female nude is beyond feminist discourse because anyone on the internet with the use of AI, can denude a woman,” she said, adding that the idea of agency here was a moot point.
When asked about her stance on the Me Too movement that swept the world in 2017, she said that people across the political spectrum must claim feminism for themselves.“No gains made across time despite the state of the world have been lost. They will hound us into silence. We have to find ways to push back,” she said.
The author also said that the privileged often encounter the question of having to prove their genuineness but those who are genuinely involved in political movements and are ready to go to jail or give up their life and fight for causes that are of importance will find support as long as performativeness is minimal.
When a member of the audience asked about how to be ‘a good feminist’, she said that the notion and language of desire is complicated. “I don’t know how one can be a feminist in bed,” she said, adding that the statement would land her in trouble. The crowd laughed, seeming to engage with the author on several other topics including moving past their own privilege and accounting for appropriation.
The evening ended with a book signing by the author.
