Thiruvananthapuram: The session at MBIFL on, ‘the politics of gender in Cyberspace’ discussed various topics including the role of women in the family and in Society. Teacher and Writer S Saradakkutty, Writer and Playwright P.V Shajikumar, Entrepreneur Geethu Sivakumar and I T Professional Smitha Prabhakar participated in the discussion.
S Saradakkutty strongly voiced the opinion that women are indispensable in family and in society. The traditional family system of women labor has burdened women and hence it’s time to throw off the master – slave relationship in marriage.
She mentioned that it’s not women who need family but the family that needs women. For her, Cyber space is her second world, the first being her family. Through social media, she is able to share her mind with the world and to hold hands with many women to motivate and inspire so that they could enjoy a better world.
Though the progress is slow, she is hopeful that the world for women will soon change for the better. Saradakkutty believes that social media support accelerated the acceptance of transgender community in Kerala.
Shajikumar opined that women occupy cyberspace more than men and men have accepted the fact. He stated that it is the women who have the male dominated system predominant within them, who are judgmental and who criticize women.
Shaji kumar expressed his joy in the fact that present day women break marriage when they cannot take it forward further. The era of sufferers is gone and the present generation is a more responsive and progressive one.
Geethu Sivakumar felt that humanness and value to relationships is reducing due to overpowering cyber interactions. Most of the Social media interactions are with people who have never met and hence people are connected in a virtual world which will result in lack of understanding and in weak relations. People are able to share their difference of opinion in the cyber space and that’s an advantage as they find a venue to share their mind.
Smitha Prabhakar factually stated that mostly women who respond and who have a political, cinema or any noted background are attacked by cyber bullies. Statistics show that cyberbullying is more against women though it doesn’t prove that men are the only attackers.
The session concluded with various perspectives on the topic.
