Why Vinesh Phogat And Other Wrestlers' Protest Is Revolutionary?

Sexual harassment in sports in India is prevalent and everyone knows about it. Despite several sportspersons revealing it and making complaints to internal committees hardly necessary steps are taken. When gold medallist wrestler Vinesh Phogat gathers her courage and comes out on behalf of fellow wrestlers, it becomes revolutionary. Vinesh Phogat’s allegations on President of the WFI (Wrestling Federation of India) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, also a BJP MP is taking on the power.

Phogat going public has given voice to several fellow athletes who suffered abuse in silence. "I never came out with fear of my career getting ruined." Phogat pointed out wrestling is only a livelihood, and they are not even let to do it. The only option is to die, so must do good before dying.

Vinesh Phogat And Wrestler's Protest

Phogat’s coming out in public, exposing the abuser, and protesting against the power make so much sense. It is revolutionary because is a new development in the #metoo movement, which has encouraged several women to come forward in solidarity with each other. Sexual abuse in sports has been hardly acknowledged, many time filed complaints has been avoided. In one of the incidents, five girls at Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) training centre in Hisar accused their coach of groping them. Later, the police complaint was withdrawn. In 2021, a national-level runner filed a sexual harassment complaint against Chennai-based athletics coach P Nagarajan, in another case in 2022 a cyclist filed a case against coach RK Sharma. It doesn’t end here, as per the 2020 data, 45 complaints of sexual harassment have been registered over the past 10 years. Among them, 29 complaints were filed against coaches. Many times cases go underreported given the socioeconomic background of the athlete. Even a parliamentary committee constituted for the empowerment of women in February 2019 confirmed sexual harassment in sports can be higher than reported.

There is a constant fear of being threatened by the abuser and treated differently after the complaint. Also, they have no assurance that action would be taken. For example, P Nagarajan threatened the athletes to cease their training. The above examples show how power is misused, and coaches under whom female athletes practice are at risk. It shows the misogyny in the sports industry, and how athletes live in a hostile. The athletes train and stay far from public scrutiny, what happens with them no one knows, also their voices are diffused. Who is to be blamed for everything that goes wrong behind the doors? The accused WFI president denied charges, what would have been the case if it was not brought in public?

Given the scenario wrestlers standing up against injustice can be a lesson for potential predators that female athletes are not alone. This can help in placing a transparent system, where can take action on the complaints filed. For many athletes, it is a protest to save the future of the sport and women wrestlers.

Another noteworthy part is that the protest is not alone led by female athletes, many male sportspersons have joined the protest and supported their women counterparts. Tokyo Olympics silver medalist wrestler Ravi Dahiya, World medalist Deepak Punia, Anshu Malik, Vijendra Singh, and Bajrang Punia joined the protest. It is a positive side that men are becoming an ally to women. It is gender equality activism on men’s part. They are setting an example that how men can support women in their daily struggles of taking down the patriarchal, sexist, and misogynist constructs of society. On one side there are men committing sexual harassment and violence, on another side also men who are supporting women against power.

Now the wrestler demands to suspend the WFI president, a new set of the framework concerning women athletes may come into existence.

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