Recently, screenshots of an Instagram group chat called ‘bois locker room’ were made public, in which the participants shared pictures of underage girls, objectified their bodies and made disgusting comments. This came amidst a surge of similar efforts to call out and expose patriarchy in law school and beyond, reminiscent of the #MeToo movement we saw in October 2018. This poem has been written by Tansa Shah (Batch of 2023) to capture the courageous effort to renovate our spaces into safer, friendlier zones.
Many things have been said aloud
Within these sound proof walls
After every word, cheered the crowd
But no sound seeped through the halls.
If listened to by a complete stranger
These words were enough to enrage,
For every word spoke of instilling danger,
To those outside this gross cage.
The boys’ locker room is no longer secret,
The sound proof walls have broken it seems,
But those inside don’t deserve a clean chit
Not by any amount of not-all-men memes.
But let’s not pretend we didn’t know,
About the locker room at all,
It was only a matter of time, in status quo,
Before these walls were meant to fall.
The movies we watch, the songs we hear,
Are testament of the fact,
It’s not just ‘them’, but all of us peers,
That are participants in the act.
Although individuals make up society,
It’s society that an individual would ape
But did we really go wrong in entirety?
What led to the normalisation of rape?
I’m angry. I’m sad. I want to scream
At this dire state of things,
But I also want to hope and dream
Probably escape on some unicorns’ wings.
But problems aren’t solved by running away,
Of this much I am sure,
Check your actions and what you say,
Mentalities needs to change from their core.
The conditioning and structures we see,
Although pervasive, aren’t set in stone,
Support others and share your story,
In fighting this patriarchy, we’re not alone.
For everyone to fight we call,
So that equality and respect we bring,
But girls, we’ve already torn down the locker room walls,
Now we just have to break the glass ceiling.