There is clearly much work to be done around social advocacy, respect and equal rights for men and women in the public sphere

Rajinder Dudrah, Professor of Cultural Studies and Creative Industries at Birmingham School of Media, part of Birmingham City University (UK), has  commented, following the news that the women in India are posting midnight photos of themselves online with the hashtag #AintNoCinderella after a DJ was allegedly chased and almost kidnapped, and a senior BJP politician, Ramveer Bhatti, stated that “the girl should not have gone out at 12 in the night”.

“The #AintNoCinderella tweets going viral on social media rightly draw attention to patriarchal culture as control and governance in India. That a government leader instead of condemning the male perpetrators of the alleged chase and kidnap, and instead tells women – referring to them almost as juvenile ‘girls’ and ‘childlike’ – what to do, shows up the double standards in parts of Indian society. There is clearly much work to be done around social advocacy, respect and equal rights for men and women in the public sphere.

“As India continues to develop, particularly in its urban centres, with a growing night time economy and leisure opportunities for young people, such issues need to be handled collectively by listening to and respecting women and their spaces.

“The images of urban women enjoying nightlife on their own terms that can be seen in their tweets answer back to the patriarchal double standards as part of a conversation that needs to take place.”