Why Bigg Boss 13 is a Sheer Endorsement of Abusive Behaviour, Violence and Toxic Masculinity

I haven't felt this triggered in a long time! The current season of Bigg Boss has sunk to a new low by widely endorsing blatantly violent, misogynistic and abusive "contestant" Sidharth Shukla as "most desirable man in the house." Ever since the show began, he's been pushing and unnecessarily shouting at fellow participants and suppressing female contestants' opinions without fail. Yet, on every Weekend Ka War, he is portrayed as, "He might not be that bad. Give him another shot."

Sometimes, it feels like the whole season is edited to undermine women. We get it, Sidharth Shukla is the most popular contestant on the show - he's got a huge fan base, he's done a lot of work in the industry - but no, that doesn't give him the right to abuse and intimidate women or call their opinions "stupid" and "useless".

And when another contestant attempts to point it out, then, rather than chiding Sidharth, the former is asked to mind his or her own business. Even if the makers want to show this problematic behaviour on television, the least they can do is ask their "Dabangg" host Salman Khan to make Sidharth realise his misplaced male entitlement. In fact, the makers should know that by consistently playing down the severity of Sidharth's actions, they are only proving that they are complicit in it.

It feels absolutely terrible that women have to stay forcefully with a violent man because they fear the consequences (contract) if they leave. And it really amazes me that a man intimidating and belittling women around him is not only condoned, but encouraged. I still remember an episode where Asim Riaz was seen struggling to talk to Sidharth as the latter cut him off in the conversation and said, "Forget Arti (Singh), her opinion doesn't matter because she doesn't have brains."

I also have a problem with the makers in repetitively showing Shehnaz Gill and Arti drooling over Sidharth. In doing so, they are only romanticising the archetype of the male chauvinist.

Moreover, a recent video which has been doing the rounds on social media showing Sidharth manhandling Shehnaz, depicts only one side of the story. The clip was incomplete, and hence, did not capture how Shehnaaz was constantly pestering Sidharth as to why he was not talking to her. She even went to the extent of hitting him. The whole fiasco was neutrally pointed out by Bigg Boss 7 winner Gauahar Khan on Twitter.

Gauhar said, "If you're watching the show you know that Sana is allowing this by encouraging it in most ways! She's been slapping him as seen in the last episode, also hugging him at the same time! I believe one's own respect is in ones own hands, why allow anyone?" She didn't support Sidharth's action either. In another tweet, she posted, "Not that I agree with anything that the gentleman in the clip does."

Sometimes I feel the makers are no more interested in calling out the wrongdoings of any of the contestants. Take for example Madhurima Tuli who hit her ex Vishal Aditya Singh with a slipper. There are precedents of contestants being evicted or punished for being violent on the show. What are the makers waiting for this year?

The contestants' abusive and violent behaviour is being used to win the TRP chart, and that's why this season feels like a celebration of a wholly dishonest, problematic and unhealthy projection of human relationships.

The biggest problem is that the makers of the show are not even making an effort to do something about it. In the real world, it's an extremely dangerous example to set.

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