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The Pressandthe Presstitute AGendered Reading
The Pressandthe Presstitute AGendered Reading
The Pressandthe Presstitute AGendered Reading
be heard. At national, regional and local level, it is the public’s watchdog, activist
and guardian as well as educator, entertainer and contemporary chronicler. But the
voices are silenced. Many are therefore forced to adopt the principle ‘censor or
perish.’ Moreover, social media is also taking a key role in shaping public opinion in
this age of new media. Along with it, internet offers the possibility to create, publish,
engagement and self-expression. Social media like Twitter which has an aspect of
immediacy assumes importance in forming any public discourse within a small time
frame. A preliminary analysis of the data related to the debate on tolerance in India
poses few interesting observations related to the nature of the process of public
discourse formation in India which is a sum total of the influences of all these
developments.
such a way that what we see is not an outright denunciation or banishment, but a
thinly veiled form of disapproval which impinges the various aspects of public
‘the other’ is the first step to make it impotent. If the effeminised other emerges
powerful, the next step is to resort to defamation. Herein lays the significance of hate
these umpteen shades of grey by analysing the word ‘presstitute’ which has found
Chapter 1
informed about news from various parts of the country and even abroad, because
only then can they form rational opinions. A citizen surely cannot be expected
personally to gather news to enable him or her to form such opinions. Hence, the
media play an important role in a democracy and serve as an agency of the people to
gather news for them. It is for this reason that freedom of the press has been
totalitarian regimes.
In India, the media has played a historical role in providing information to the
people about social and economic evils. The media have informed the people about
the tremendous poverty in the country, the suicide of farmers in various States, the
so-called honour killings in many places, corruption and so on. For this, the Indian
media is to be appreciated. But how far has it succeeded in bringing out the plethora
of voices which vie for attention in the public sphere. If so, what about dissenting
voices. Has it been ensured that the dissenting voices too are given space? An
attempt to delve deep into these issues make us feels that something is rotten in the
states that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. This
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and
impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Freedom of speech is understood as a multi-faceted right that includes not only the
right to express or disseminate information and ideas, but three further distinct
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aspects: (1) the right to seek information and ideas; (2) the right to receive
information and ideas and (3) the right to impart information and ideas. Freedom of
the press or freedom of the media, on the other hand, is the principle that
The Indian Constitution, while not mentioning the word "press" provides for
"the right to freedom of speech and expression" (Article 19(1) a). However this right
is subject to restrictions under sub clause, whereby this freedom can be restricted for
reasons of "sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly
relations with foreign States, public order, preserving decency, preserving morality,
as the Official Secrets Act and Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (PoTA) have
been used to limit press freedom. Under PoTA, a person could be detained for up to
six months for being in contact with a terrorist or terrorist group. PoTA was repealed
India ranks poorly at 138th rank out of 180 listed countries in the Press
available studies, India's press freedom, as could be deduced by the Press Freedom
Index, has constantly been reduced since 2002. It culminated in terms of apparent
freedom of press ranking declined two placed to 138. One of the major reasons for
this decline has been the growth of intolerance in the country, studies suggest.
So here’s the irony. As India marches on to supposedly take her place among
the great powers of the world, an attempt is being made to systematically dumb
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down public discourse. There is little doubt that one of India’s greatest assets --
TV and on social media, voices of logic and reason are being shouted down by
people with an agenda to reinforce lies through fear, intimidation and abuse.
Hate Speech
as a member of that group. Hate speech often targets particular races, genders, sexual
orientations, nationalities, ethnic groups and religions. However, any distinct group
may be targeted. It covers many forms of expressions which spread, incite, promote or
justify hatred, violence and discrimination against a person or group of persons for a
variety of reasons. It poses grave dangers for the cohesion of a democratic society, the
protection of human rights and the rule of law. If left unaddressed, it can lead to acts
of violence and conflict on a wider scale. In this sense hate speech is an extreme form
of intolerance which contributes to hate crime. On the other hand, any restrictions on
hate speech should not be misused to silence minorities and to suppress criticism of
Thus hate speech is speech that attacks a person or a group on the basis of
attributes such as race, religion, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, disability, sexual
orientation. The laws of some countries describe hate speech as speech, gestures,
conduct, writing, or display that incite violence or prejudicial actions against a group
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India prohibits hate speech by several sections of the Indian Penal Code, the
Code of Criminal Procedure, and by other laws which put limitations on the freedom
the right to declare certain publications “forfeited” if the “publication ... appears to
the State Government to contain any matter the publication of which is punishable
under Section 124A or Section 153A or Section 153B or Section 292 or Section 293
Section 153A of the Indian penal code says, Whoever (a) by words, either
groups or castes or communities, or (b) commits any act which is prejudicial to the
groups or castes or communities, and which disturbs or is likely to disturb the public
Section 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) enacted in 1927[3] says,
Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings
of any class of [citizens of India], [by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or
the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to [three years], or with fine, or with both.
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public discourse in India. It is directed against others in the name of caste, religion,
colour, ideology and beliefs. Its use has become widespread with the advent of
social media. Today twitter handles and face book comments spew venomous hate
in such a manner that it becomes difficult to separate hate and politics. Irrespective
of their political orientation, each and every group resort to defamation of the other
in an attempt to assert themselves above them. This project is an analysis of the hate
speech propaganda which has been making headlines over the past five years.
Nita Bhalla, who is the South Asia Chief Correspondent for Thomson
Reuters Foundation opines: since 2014, the crackdown on the press has - like in
many countries - been built around a single narrative. Those who oppose the
journalists on social media, I have been insulted, bullied and even threatened with
rape for highlighting failures by the state -- from bringing peace to Kashmir to
responses which are generally along the lines of “You are Bin Laden’s Begum”, “Go
to Pakistan if you don’t like it here” and “Jihadi lover get out of this country.”…But
when the comments come thick and fast -- and are bigoted, sexist, racist, and packed
with offensive and sometimes lewd language, journalists begin to wonder whether it
is even worth debating. As Reporters Without Borders rightly points out many
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mainstream media,” which of course indicates the alarming rise in intolerance levels
in our country. Journalists are increasingly the targets of online smear campaigns by
the most radical nationalists who vilify them and even threaten physical reprisals.
out a glossary of this heavily loaded complex language. This does not deny the fact
ideologies. Here are some of the common connotations in the right wing
phraseology he lists out - signifiers for those who dare to air a different opinion.
(a) Bootlicker : An American term that harks back to a time when military
wing trolls use this term to refer to refer to anyone who supports the Nehru-
Gandhi dynasty.
(b) Coolie: In the US, a term from the 19th and 20th century for labourers
from Asia that eventually became a racial slur against all people of Asian
descent. In online discourse, this term is used to suggest that the subject
mindlessly carries the briefs of any party opposed to the ruling party.
(c) Intellectual Mafia : Intellectuals have always been the objects of derision
among the Twitter Right, and adding the word "mafia" to the term fortuitously
calls to mind criminals from Italy. Now commonly used in online hate speech
to refer to the educated class that has used their hold on the state to keep
progress away from the truly deserving ordinary people of this country.
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and retard. Despite its wide usage in India, the term actually comes from the
US, where it has been common to attach the suffix "tard" to communities. eg:-
(e) Sickular: From the word secular, to be separate from religion, and its off-
term which is meant to refer to a particular kind of Indian liberal who spouts
(f) Sepoy: Indian soldiers recruited to serve in the British army. In online
interventions.
use of the term presstitute. Before going deep into an interpretation of the term
expression, and access to and production of media content. These are all issues that
can be fully understood only by considering their gender equality dimensions as they
often overlap, and they have been compounded by the growing complexity of the
digital sphere. Across all these issues, women do not enjoy full equality with men,
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nor do they have their work valued to the same extent as men. In many newsrooms
around the world, there continues to be a culture that makes it difficult for women to
means that even with gender equality policies in place, they are often ineffective in
Research on gender and journalism can be divided into two categories: (a)
Scholars often assume that the first issue over-determines the second. On both
issues, research shows improvement, but also continuing problems. Now women
journalists appear to be well established and the news includes issues associated with
women’s quotidian concerns and it takes women seriously. Yet a variety of gender
positions in print and broadcast news organizations. Moreover, women are far from
they dominate community, small-town and regional news organizations and they
produce “soft news,” human-interest stories and features. Men still dominate,
although they do not monopolize, most of the high status areas of news production,
particularly politics and business, as well as the lucrative and popular area of sports,
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a highly gendered and sexist domain. The most overtly gendered arena is war
correspondence. Women who report on war and conflict are judged by very different
standards than men. In particular, mothers are condemned when they go off to
dangerous conflict areas, although fathers who cover war continue to be largely
immune from public criticism. Women war reporters run a high risk of sexual
violence and harassment, although women who have been sexually attacked rarely
Women journalists face unique concerns, such as personal safety when dealing with
confidential sources, which can restrict their freedom of expression and add
challenges that can hamper their ability to carry. Another dimension is the
incidence of hate speech and abuse directed towards women. Such abuse has had a
chilling effect and disrupted their online participation. Countering the proliferation
of such abuse has proved a serious challenge for policy-makers wanting to minimize
Group on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and
expression noted the challenges for governments, corporate bodies and civil society
human rights law. It warned against censorship and undue restrictions on freedom of
expression as a means of curbing online abuse, warning that such restrictions could
‘end up undermining the rights of the very women for whom governments and
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India because of the way in which sexual politics gets intertwined with nationalist
discourse.
Presstitutes: An Analysis
The hashtag ‘#presstitute’ is a common sight when one comes across hate
comments directed at journalists on social media. The term is a play on ‘press’ and
While the term “presstitute” has not yet made it to the Mainstream
“presstitute” (1) A member of the media who will alter their story and reporting
based on financial interests or other ties with usually partisan individuals or groups,
(2) A term coined by Gerald Celente and often used by independent journalists and
writers in the alternative media in reference to journalists and talking heads in the
mainstream media who give biased and predetermined views in favour of the
news impartially. It is a portmanteau of press and prostitute, (3) One who "screws"
Press. especially for politicians and news folks.(e.g. “Our congressperson really
news group, who reports to be unbiased, but is in fact tailoring their news to suite
For a word that has hardly found any currency in common language, Minister
of State for External Affairs Gen V K Singh has certainly helped to make the term
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‘Presstitute’ popular in India. The former Army chief used this word in his tweet
applies to persons whose pen is available to highest bidder.” 10:05 PM - Feb 26,
presstitute paints all journalists with the colours of moral and monetary corruption,
they work for. Also, to allege that all the media and all journalists have the same
equate journalists with the media houses they work for because journalists are not
agenda setters. While they are obliged to work under policies shaped by editors,
display here is just how ingrained misogyny and sexism are in our lives. It is
the world’s oldest “oppression” and continues to be one of the most overlooked
most basic human rights. While many societal institutions attempt to normalize
prostitution, prostituted women are subjected to violence and abuse at the hands of
paying clients. For the vast majority of prostituted women, prostitution is the
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It is “sexual terrorism against women at the hands of men and little is being done to
stop the carnage.” Above all, prostitution is not a choice, as some claim. Survivors
of prostitution have described it as “the choice made by those who have no choice.”
education, or a job that does not pay a living wage. Prostitution must be exposed for
what it really is—a “male social system in place to ensure the satisfaction of male
and manipulate their desires and make the young in particular feel guilty and
repressed about their sexuality. (Jairus, 28). Before proceeding further, I would like
to outline how 'Gender' was used as a category of analysis in discourses. It was the
feminist historian Joan Scott, who first suggested ‘gender’ as a primary way of
signifying relations of power in complex social structures. Scott theorized that the
symbols, metaphors and concepts ‘societies use to articulate the rules of social
relations' also are used 'to shape power relations in nation-states, nationalisms and
through which gender is ' 'encoded in institutions ' as 'cultural codes of masculinity'
symbols and behavioural rules that privilege masculine behaviour. Thus suppression
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protect the ‘lady in the cradle,’ attempts are made to reduce the protected to the
ie, calling names to the ‘other’ who does not fall into the boundaries prescribed by
and (3) sexuality is part of national conflicts e.g. rape is a practice of war . Now,
making it impossible to draw any singular conclusion about the role of gender within
women’s sexuality and reproduction, for many women, gender and sexuality are
inseparable. This of course, is one of the thrust arenas in which women's relations
with nationalists occur. Vickers envisioned that nationalists engage in 'battles of the
cradle' over who should reproduce with whom, and limiting women's freedom of
choice in sexual practices and partners. Families are the sites in which languages,
This, says Vickers, is another reason for the interaction between nationalisms and
sexuality and the importance of fertility and demography in public policy and private
sphere.
nation state and chastity, when one tries to attempt a critique of this notion with
special reference to India. The notion of the nation state was closely linked to the
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during Partition, showing a woman’s body mapping the territory of India and Nehru
(the first Prime Minister of India) cutting off one arm which stands for Pakistan.
…there was a deep sense of shame, almost inadequacy, that India had
allowed a part of itself, a part of its body, to be lost to the other nation. Throughout
the nationalist movement one of the most powerful symbols for mobilizing both
women and men had been the image of India as the mother, Bharatmata. Now,
partition.
different class of stereotype, the kind the dominant in-group makes of itself. These
stereotypes delimit the boundary from inside the fence, so to speak, ostracizing
"flawed" in-group members who, for one reason or another, fall short of dominant
ideals, ie, those who do not possess the requisite amount of the in-group's superior
Kshatriya elite were convinced that it was the defeat at the hands of Muslims and the
British, which had led to emasculation of the Hindus and made them nirverya or
impotent or sterile. The theory of action associated with such ‘scapegoating’ was that
the Hindus would have to redeem their masculinity by fighting and defeating the
Muslims and the British (Nandy, 86). But as it is clear from the track record of the
and Hindu search for self-esteem was directed exclusively, and continues to be so.
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By blending the words press and prostitute, there is an oblique allegation that
the media tailors or twists news to fit a particular agenda. The word blending implies
that members of the press sell themselves for money, thus indicating that those
towards particular business interests, political motives etc. It is true that many of its
is not ready to get on the bandwagon, which questions and raises concerns is
definitely unfair to those who work hard to tell stories as they are.
It is exactly this hashtag that features most often when scrolling through the
comments section on journalist Barkha Dutt’s twitter page, indicating the idea that
“just as prostitutes sell their bodies for money, @BDutt sells her country for news”,
Says Supriti David in her article “#Presstitute: The Online War Against Women
With An Opinion”. This comment, found on the journalist’s twitter page, is just one
among a plethora of others that exemplify the deep-rooted misogyny that plagues
our society thereby colouring the comments directed at female journalists with the
same. Female journalists have the added burden of being a woman with an opinion,
therefore it is not the opinion that they hold that attracts the hate as much as the fact
But what about women who dare to cross the divide, those who
intentionally violate their notions of chastity? Women crossing the divide and
talking with or even working together with the ‘enemy’ can be a major threat to the
dominant political discourses of the warring groups and may be looked upon as
traitors to the cause of the armed struggle. Audury Wood, editor of The Arunachal
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“women are supposed to maintain silence,” and any instance of transgression by not
resistance, as we see represented by rhetoric used by the trolls. (David, 2). The
security of a screen allows these trolls to become bolder and more violent in the
language that they use. They do not usually see the women at the receiving end of
these comments to be real people, but as images and ideas that threaten their
patriarchal society.” The debate also brings into focus the hypocrisy of the Indian
That is one side of the coin. Usually male journalists are attacked on
attacks, including references to their bodies (and parts thereof) and sexual lives (as
imagined by the sick minds of their tormentors), as well as actual threats of violence,
particularly sexual violence. While the term prostitute throws open the question of
feminity, chastity and right of a woman over her mind, body and choices, the term
presstitute which is a neutral signifier is inclusive of both men and women who
questions the majoritarian agenda and disagrees with the national discourse of the
day. Therefore presstitutes are traitors who sell their nation for the highest bid. This
in turn raises the never ending debates of nation and nationalism- whose nation and
for whom.
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Conclusion
What is curious in the use of the term presstitute is that effeminising the
‘other’ as a whole and considering them as possible threats to the chaste image of the
Bharat matha, the so called nationalists deny space for the ‘other’ just like women
were denied space and rights in the misogynistic patriarchal framework. Bina
Agarwal explains that ‘the spread of religious fundamentalism is due to its emphasis
on the ideology of female exclusion which provides further justification for male
presence, giving social and legal sanction to husbands and relatives to physically
humanity: women, men who are perceived to be feminine, and persons of non-binary
genders, sexualities, and sexual orientations. This results in a crucial shift: ‘whereas
earlier the exercise of patriarchal authority rested only with particular men- fathers,
brothers, husbands and extended family kin- what is significant about state-sponsored
religious fundamentalism is that it not only reinforces this patriarchal control, but
more importantly, shifts the right of control to the dominant group giving every and
any man on the street the legitimate right to stop the ‘other’ who does not conform to
the ‘traditional and proper’ role assigned to her... What appears to be happening today
in much of South and South-East Asia is the convergence of state and community-
dictated patriarchal norms. (Agarwal 1998: 20-21). Today, the anonymity of the
social media has changed the excesses of intolerance in such a manner that all the
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men and the women on the street who belongs to the dominant group are given
‘innocent consent’ from the top to stop the ‘other’ from raising their voices and airing
their concerns.
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Works Cited
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Chopra, Shaili. The Big Connect: Politics in the Age of Social Media. Noida:
Connell, R.W. 'The State, Gender and Sexual Politics: Theory and Appraisal',
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http://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/NewsDetail/index/7/10942/Presstitute-
Deborah Chambers, Linda Steiner, & Carole Fleming, Women and Journalism,
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and Facts. Ed.Chaitanya Krishna. 20-29 Delhi: Manak Publishers. 2003. Print
Melissa Farley. “Prostitution, trafficking and cultural amnesia: What we must not
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