Why South Brunswick Can't Have Nice Things, v. 2.0

So I haven't written anything in a while and I know that I normally wait till the "optimal" time of day to post or write something (at least, according to social media analysts), but it would be irresponsible of me not to take this opportunity to talk about misogyny and slut-shaming in the place where I grew up and experienced it for myself.

A friend of mine brought to my attention the following Instagram account:

[I censored the avatar because it was of some girl's butt and just no]

Whoever the creator of this account may be, they want people to send them pictures (presumably sexually explicit pictures) of "hoes" in South Brunswick. I'm not 100% sure that this account was made by/for high school students, but I think it's a fair assumption to make considering that the majority of Instagram users are under 30 and there's no strong college demographic in South Brunswick, save for the few people who commute to school. This phenomenon of sending or publishing sexually explicit pictures that someone else has sent to you and trusted you with is known as "revenge porn", and when it involves people under the age of 18, it's child porn and is ILLEGAL.

Legalities aside, the entire premise of this Instagram account is incredibly misogynistic (not that I expect its creator to be well versed in feminism or social justice). This account takes advantage of young women in one of their most vulnerable places, when they have entrusted someone else with their bodies, and has the audacity to call them "hoes" and demands that they be "exposed" so that everyone can know how horrible they are for expressing their sexuality in what they thought would be a safe and healthy way. Revenge porn vilifies those who have the level of trust and confidence to send nudes while praising those who breach that trust and violate other people's privacy. It plays into the age-old idea of slut-shaming, in which women who express their sexuality are written off as sluts and whores while men who express their sexuality are treated as healthy, normal, and worthy of praise.

I left South Brunswick High School approximately one and a half years ago, and clearly the environment with respect to misogyny and women's sexuality has only gotten worse and more toxic. I definitely experienced my fair share of misogyny and variations of slut-shaming as a student, but this is an entirely different level of messed-up. Part of me feels like it has something to do with the "good Indian girl" narrative, where South Asian women are expected to uphold the highest standards of purity and cleanliness and South Asian men are allowed to get away with a lot more because, like, patriarchy. But part of me also feels, much like the racial tension that's also present, that the toxic levels of misogyny present in the social environment at SBHS are due to our failure to acknowledge that they even exist in the first place. When I was a high school senior, I was one of the only openly feminist students that I knew. I was at a point where I was afraid and uncomfortable as self-identifying as feminist for fear of social rejection, or, potentially worse, not being taken seriously. We're afraid to call out sexism, we're afraid to call out casual racism, we're afraid to call out messed up stuff because we have to see these people every day. But, I think, once we get past that fear, we can start moving towards a healthier and safer environment for every student.

[PS - hopefully by the time you read this, the Instagram account has been taken down, but if not, I strongly encourage you to report it by pressing the "share" button in the top right corner of your phone]