Caste and Gender Backlash: A Study of the #MeToo Movement in Tertiary Education in Kolkata, India

Abstract

In the light of the #MeToo movement, this paper explores how the positionality (in terms of caste and class) of female university students in Kolkata, India is employed as an instrument of backlash to pushback their efforts at making progressive change with regard to sexual harassment. The study includes an analysis of six semi-structured interviews based on an amalgamation of conventional and alternate understandings of backlash. It argues that conventional and alternate understandings are not independent of each other, but are interlinked and exist side by side. Backlash silences women and forestalls their demands and pushes crucial gender issues to the backburner.