Twitter enables a certain kind of discourse – extreme & immediate opinions, sly tweeting, in-groups. The edgiest tweets receive the most attention & nuance is lost. The Mahima-Utsav controversy has me thinking a lot about feminist praxis and the nature of social media. (1/11)

This is all new – there is no blueprint for social media trials, and we are all figuring it out. I'm devastated by recent developments, and not knowing how to proceed from there. Clearly, something went wrong in the way Utsav was treated last year. #MeToo

Unverified information was shared, certain narratives (like the 'young women' who turned out to be quite adult) were propagated. It was wrong. It was pretty fuckin unethical. So was the audio clip (which seems legit) where Utsav is being intimidated into not putting out a defence

Of course this will be picked up by MRAs & people just waiting to discredit the feminist movement. Of course this is going to be used to not believe survivors. And I'm wary of my thoughts on the matter being used to fuel anti-feminist discourse.

But I believe that that fear (of putting up a "united front to the MRAs") should not dissuade me from speaking to my tribe – Indian feminists. #MeToo

I feel like there's something missing from the Indian Twitter feminist discourse – a sense of responsibility. If we don't hold ourselves accountable, then how do we build legitimacy? How do we grow as a movement?

The reactions I've seen all day have been those of extreme defensiveness, or outright dismissal – favourite chips flavours, really? That's your only reaction to this deeply upsetting controversy? Consider that we might have done something wrong. Introspect.

Someone spoke of the 'perfect survivor'. One has to do things perfectly to be believed. And it is so hard for women to be believed. I agree. But does that strip us of accountability? Don't we have responsibility to the feminist movement to see where we messed up and own up to it?

The #MeToo movement has already started to be discredited, and I am heartbroken. #MeToo was so much more than Mahima-Utsav, and it was a watershed in this country.

In the light of this, isn't it that much more important that we dissect our politics about this and call out what we feel was unethical so that the record shows that we WORKED to improve our movements? Shouldn't we be thinking about mechanisms of accountability for us? #MeToo

Social media was essential to #MeToo . Women found voice on Twitter that they couldn't within homes & workplaces. But there are also CLEAR issues with social media trials.

There seems to be no space on Twitter to think about these inconsistencies & how to move forward.

11/11.