Viduthalai Is Ghastly Reminder Of Society's Regressive Perception Towards Women

The Tamil film Viduthalai, set in 1980, is a cat-and-mouse chase between the cops and the so-called "terrorists," who are basically people who dare to question the government in the film. This is quite a regular template used in many films, but Viduthalai stands out because the cops in the film hunt down innocent women to nab the so-called terrorists.

The police in the film try to nab the head of a "terrorist" gang, Perumal alias Vaathiyaar. And the go-to method the police use to find Vaathiyar's whereabouts is by taking the women of his village into their custody, stripping them naked, harassing them, abusing them, assaulting them, and raping them mercilessly.

Seriously, though, isn’t there any other way to find out the location of Vaathiyaar? Is harassing and assaulting women who are connected to a so-called terrorist the only way to find his location? The women involved in this picture are tribal women who have little or no knowledge about their rights and thus don’t dare question the cops. They also don’t have anyone reliable to stand up for them. Women of all ages, from teenagers to senior citizens, are tortured by the cops just because they are women and the patriarchal belief that women’s sanctity resides in their bodies.

Viduthalai Objectifying Women Bodies

Viduthalai could just be a movie, but it is also loosely based on true events—the Vachathi rape case. 18 tribal women were allegedly raped by Tamil Nadu Forest Department officials who entered their village to arrest sandalwood smuggler Veerappan in June 1992. It took decades for the perpetrators to be penalised. So, it’s not completely fictitious and not something that would ever happen again.

This is probably just one of the many examples, but the fact is, from ancient times, women have been perceived as "objects of sexual gratification." Back in the day, when a king conquered a dynasty, the queen and the rest of the women of the empire had to submit to the king and his soldiers. Women in war zones continue to be exploited by soldiers from other countries even today. Women everywhere get random assault and rape threats, especially with the advent of social media. Threatening or attacking women by exploiting their bodies is used as a method to terrorise and control them.

A scene of cops harassing women from the Tamil film Viduthalai 

Why do men feel entitled to use women’s bodies to attack them? How can women’s own bodies be used against them?

If anything, shouldn’t women’s bodies be their own weapons? This raises the question of who owns the female body. Patriarchy has ingrained in women the belief that their honour is embodied in their chastity. Women are deemed impure; their dignity is considered lost; their family’s reputation is believed to be tarnished; and their lives supposedly end if they are sexually assaulted.

How long are women going to be told that they are "Ghar ki Izzat" and that it’s the end of the world for them if they are sexually assaulted? When are we going to teach women that it’s the men who assault them who should be ashamed? If a man is objectifying and sexualising the body parts that women are bestowed with to bring another life into this world and feed that life, isn't he supposed to be the one who loses his honour?

When are we going to stop shaming, blaming, and judging female survivors of sexual assaults and begin teaching men that there's nothing more despicable than attacking a woman by using her body against her? As long as women are raised to believe that their honour lies in their bodies and that they hold them preciously, men are going to spinelessly attack a woman by sexually assaulting her. It's high time women got rid of the internalised patriarchal beliefs that give men the power to exploit them.

Suggested Reading: Jewellery Brand’s Nude Photoshoot Receives Flak: Can We Stop Sexualising Everything?

Image Credits: Money Control and Tamil Filmbeat

Views expressed by the author are their own