The simple principle, that a woman’s no means no, remains unintelligible to many boys and men even today. The Kerala High Court went to the root of the problem when the judge reportedly emphasised the need for boys to be trained both at home and in schools and universities to respect women, which was not an old-fashioned value but an enduring one. Peer pressure and social training exacerbated the problem. These have to be neutralised during a boy’s growing-up for a woman’s denial of consent to be comprehensible and credible to men. The court’s remarks would bring to mind that a society dominated by values convenient to male control and wish fulfilment teaches boys that a woman’s refusal need not be taken seriously — more dangerously, that women want to be taken by force. Popular entertainment validates such stereotypes and a mythological inheritance of the less pleasant values of warrior clans contributes to the image of the ‘macho’ male. So it is not surprising that, responding to the increase in sexual harassment on campuses, the judge said that sexism was not ‘cool’.

The high court’s pronouncements turn the stereotype inside out. Bullying a woman is the mark of weakness, not of ‘manliness’. This makes sexual harassment a shameful deed for the man or boy by asserting the full value of a woman’s refusal. The court thus cut through the hypocrisy of the shame culture that targets the woman in every sex-related incident by associating the shame of bullying and weakness with the perpetrator of harassment. The fairness of perception in the judgment was indicated by its awareness of the possibility of girls, too, being harassers. But since these were negligible, it is the boys’ training that needs greater attention, although both girls and boys should be taught to respect the other gender. The most important aspect of the judgment, however, was its strong statement regarding the issue of consent or, rather, its withholding. This is the crux not only in court in cases of harassment, molestation and rape, but also in everyday social relations. Ultimately, it comes down to the value given to women in society. The Kerala High Court’s judgment could lead to the envisioning of a gender-equal society: it has shown the way, but that way is still long.