Two strong women personalities spoke to a packed house on What change has the presence of women in social media brought to Kerala. Moderated by screen writer and short story writer Unni R, the speakers, multi-faceted J. Devika who is a historian, feminist, social critic and academician, and Dr. A.K. Jayasree, a medical practitioner and gender activist debated the pros and cons of social media at a time when women were active in the medium.

Both women were pioneers in their way of thought and living, creating waves and being subject to ridicule as well. But Devika said it was nothing compared to what women who dared to share thoughts from their private lives in the form of biographies or other writings faced as trolls. When a woman creates a profile on social media for herself, subconsciously society, a patriarchal one, links it to her sexuality which makes them deeply insecure. People feel they can say anything in a patriarchal society.

For the same reason, Dr. Jayasree said she prefers to limit the time she spends on social media while admitting that there are those who may not have the same privilege and so will have to withstand the vitriolic violence unleashed towards women online. Social media is a male-dominated space. Women occupy a small space in comparison.

They agreed that social media helped to bring much-needed attention to many cases including that of the Delhi rape victim, the Jisha murder case, campaigns like the Kiss of Love, and most recently, that of Sreejith’s fast to win justice for this brother who was killed in police custody. It helped me force people to take notice of my views on the Hadiya case, Devika said.

However, she warned against reaching conclusions based on numbers given out by surveys and called platforms like Facebook a shallow space where no one had the patience to delve into subjects. She said that while cyber-feminism had its own worth, it was important to not restrict oneself to that space and instead explore what more could be done. Jayasree agreed that in its own way, social media was a form of self-expression for many women. Unni R. new book ‘Pusthakapuzhu’ was launched at the event.