Ten days since the #MeToo movement started on social media once again, the latest celebrity to share her story of sexual violence is singer Sunitha Sarathy. She wrote a Facebook post describing the abuse that she, as a child faced. The post, which said that she was sharing her experiences and contributing to the #MeToo campaign to ‘give courage to women all over’, went on to describe two instances of abuse from the people she knew.
“Sexual abuse kills you in ways that only someone who goes through it can understand. If you have never been sexually abused - you will never know what it does to you,” reads her post.
While one instance is that of her mother's cousin abusing her, the other was her mother's colleague and friend. Sunitha has described how these incidents affected her and made her stay away from her relatives. She has also talked about how she still meets and shares a stage with people who she knows are "devils" - possibly an allusion to all the questions that are being asked of singer Chinmayi who accused lyricist Vairamuthu of sexual harassment but had also invited him to her wedding.
Adding that her pet animals gave her the solace that she needed at that time while undergoing trauma, Sunitha said that she was describing only two incidents that have happened to her, indicating that there are many more of which she does not wish to speak as yet.
Sunitha also wrote in her post that among her abusers was one music director who was influential enough to make sure that she does not get any more assignments since she refused his advances.
“One Devil who makes sure I’m unrecommended from work because I said no to his advances - 1 of them is a very saintly , influential musician , who makes sure I don’t get work,” read the post.
Urging men and women who have been abused to speak the truth irrespective of what others say, she also implored singers to not protect sexual predators.
“To my fellow singers - DO NOT PROTECT KNOWN PREDATORS, we have all spoken abt men who have been dirty to us to other singers. Give this #Metoo movement a chance,” the post read.
She also expressed her support for Chinmayi, although she said they are not as good friends as they used to be. 'Women need to support one another', Sunitha wrote.
The #MeToo movement has exposed several men in powerful positions who have allegedly exploited women sexually. Scores of women have come out with their experiences of how they have faced sexual harassment in their respective fields. The campaign has exposed prominent names from the journalism, advertising, standup comedy, film and Carnatic music industries to name a few.