Bois Locker Room: Leaked Instagram Group Chats Tell Us Where We Stand As A Society

If you are active on social media, you must have come across some extremely disturbing and disgusting screenshots from Instagram/Snapchat group chats from a group titled "Bois Locker Room". If not, let me tell you what is all about and why are people talking about it. So, a group of teenagers, hundreds of boys aged 17-18 from South Delhi are objectifying women, sharing pictures of girls their age, casually talking about gang-raping them, and passing disrespectful comments. That's not all! When the group chats were leaked on social media, the claimed they would leak nude pictures of girls standing against them and teach them a lesson.

What's shocking here is the violent attitude of these school-going boys. Clearly, there is no fear of exposure. These boys are okay with objectifying girls, normalising the rape culture, and leaking nude images of girls their age.

DCW Chairperson @SwatiJaiHind's reaction on the shameful #boyslockeroom incident. pic.twitter.com/kcE9n26lKI

— Delhi Commission for Women - DCW (@DCWDelhi) May 4, 2020

A case has been filed against these teenage boys from South Delhi. Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal has asked Instagram to share the user IDs and locations of all the group members and admins. DCW Chief Swati Maliwal took to social media and wrote, "DCW has issued notice to Instagram and Delhi Police in the matter of a group named "boys locker room" being used by some miscreants to share objectionable pictures of minor girls and planning illegal acts such as gangrape of minor girls. All the people involved in this act should be immediately arrested and a strong message needs to be given out."

Where Did It All Start?

Let's be honest, it is all disgusting to read the leaked screenshots from these group chats but hasn't surprised us at all. Why? This is not the first time something like this is happening around us. Sexual violence, rape culture, sexual images are all around us for years now but where did it all start?

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Why are girls and boys differentiated in their homes from the very beginning? Why are girls expected to act and dress in a particular way? Have you ever heard of parents teaching their boys to behave or dress a certain way?

Instagram gc named #boislockerroom had been made for sole purpose of sharing photos of girls, pass disgusting comments, sexualize them and even rape threats. - a thread to spread awareness pic.twitter.com/wQanrkIH0X

— kay⁷⟭⟬𖧵🦄 (@THICCMINY00NGI) May 4, 2020

Boys will be boys, why do we say that? Do we feel they are flawed and have accepted it or just don't feel like questioning them, their behaviour?

People Backing The Young Boys

After these screenshots went viral on the net, a lot of netizens came in support of these school-going boys and said it is common and there are millions of such groups on social media. However, does that make these boys less wrong? Also, there are people saying they are kids, and its okay. Really? Such people should be equally blamed. Girlfriends of these teenage boys have also come out to support them. These girls should be personally attacked seeing these screenshots otherwise they are equally responsible for normalising things like objectification and using rape for revenge.

It Is Not Just About Sex

Believe me, your parents didn't raise a 'boy' if this is the kind of shit you're upto. Period. #boislockerroom pic.twitter.com/MReIXvUjH8

— Umang Sri 🌻 (@worldbestbawse) May 4, 2020

If you have read enough comments on social media on these posts then you must have understood that it is not just about sex but power too. Why do these young boys feel they have the power to talk about anything, be it gangraping girls or morphing their images? They also feel they have the power to shut their mouths by raping them if they get exposed. These teenagers feel they can do so because it is a patriarchal society, they can glorify rape and then get away with it because girls will anyway be victim shamed.

Time To Be Watchful Of Your Sons

Teens are active on social media today and you never know if they are a part of such online chat rooms where boys openly perpetuate rape culture, objectify women and there is no questioning. A lot of parents don't communicate with their sons thinking they will grow up but will it make a difference if they grow up feeling their opinions are correct?

In Indian households especially, it is rare that boys face criticism. This plays a major role in turning a young teen into narcissists. It is very important for parents to educate their sons before they start believing their opinions are correct and there is nothing wrong about them. Boys should be taught that it is not okay to make a girl feel unsafe or uncomfortable, it is not okay to rape girls or objectify them.

Men are trash and nothing can change that narrative #boislockerroom pic.twitter.com/LWc8HVCNIt

— kay⁷⟭⟬𖧵🦄 (@THICCMINY00NGI) May 4, 2020

We hardly have any conversations around gender sensitivity and this has brought us here where even teenage boys feel its normal to talk about gang-raping, sharing nude pictures as jokes. High time we start talking about right and wrong, change in the cultural norm, and let boys know that they just can't do anything because they are boys. Not just parents, people around young boys should start to make them understand what positive masculinity means and why is it important to respect everyone irrespective of their gender.

These locker room chats are more like a wakeup call for all of us. These speak enough about us and where we stand as a society at the moment. Time to make boys/men understand that rape is not a joke and degrading anyone is not acceptable!

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Honestly, I was thinking what could be worse than the coronavirus pandemic but then these locker room chats came up! Clearly, 2020 is not the year for us!