What is the common thread joining the Bangalore car crash claiming five lives, Blake Lively’s sexual harassment complaint against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, and France’s Giséle Pelicot rape trial? The tenuousness of the thread of safety we hang by. It can snap in a snap. It doesn’t matter how solid your car, career, or conjugality is; it may not necessarily keep you safe. Then, what is even the point of doing anything? If the basic need to be safe, both physiologically and emotionally, is too much of an ask, how can anyone stay motivated to achieve anything at either individual or communal level? 

Abraham Maslow surmised at least 80 years ago that safety is one of the five fundamental needs of human beings. According to Maslow’s A Theory of Human Motivation, the hierarchy of human needs is as follows: physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation. Safety, however, needs to be seen as an overarching holdall category. What is anything worth if nothing is safeguarding it? 

What is a long, stable marriage worth if the husband had been inviting strangers to rape the sedated wife?

What is a sturdy car, facilitated by a hefty pay packet, worth if the roads are unsafe?

What are an illustrious career and fame worth if they don’t ensure a safe work environment?

Women And Vulnerability

According to Maslow’s theory, the satisfaction of lower-level needs facilitates satisfying the next higher-level need. Sans safety, no need is ever fully met. The need for safety is also to be understood from a gendered perspective. Are women ever capable of reaching the top of the pyramid and meeting their self-actualisation goals if they have to be constantly watching over their shoulders? Or, have women trained themselves differently to see safety as an elusive, unattainable concept, and they are carrying on regardless? Have women, in other words, self-actualised as essentially vulnerable human beings? Perhaps so. Because this is the only way they are allowed to operate. Accepting their vulnerability and putting up their fences is what they have been getting good at. 

It involves a process of becoming a less-than-human entity. A focus on women’s bodies leads to “women to be perceived, and to behave, more like object and less like a human,” psychologists Nathan A. Heflick and Jamie L. Goldenberg concluded in their study of literal objectification. The most damning indictment of the gender status quo of our world comes as follows: “Women themselves also behave more like objects (by, e.g., speaking less) when they are aware of this focus by others”. 

When The ‘Code’ Is Broken

Women’s need for safety has been marginalised, unless it is fetishised, for so long that anyone asserting it makes the headlines. It is seen as something radical and, ironically, destructive. Women’s need for safety hurts men’s need to always be in control. By not continuing to be objects, women break the code. 

During the historical Giséle Pelicot rape trial, Dominique Pelicot stated that the trial had ruined his life and family. Coming from a man pronounced guilty of programming an elaborate rape-my-drugged-wife activity for almost a decade, the sentiment is dark and sinister.

Similarly, in the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni case, the demand for a safe workplace environment was touted as a problem that needed to be addressed only by destroying Lively’s reputation. Women are not supposed to ask for safeguards, even from men who claim to be safeguarding women—Baldoni received the Voices of Solidarity Award on 9 December from the Vital Voices Global Partnership for his commitment to women’s empowerment. What does it tell us about the dispensability of women’s equal rights when even an ‘ally’ finds it difficult to stop being a garden variety workplace harasser?

Sometimes, it feels that only women are not allowed to feel safe. It’s as if almost everyone, including many women, has accepted it, too. When an accident happens on the road, a process of accountability assignation kickstarts. Who’s at fault may come later, but at least there is no quest for the perfect victim. Women’s lives are shattered by multiple metaphorical car crashes, and they mostly go unnoticed. If women demand safety, they are labelled as destructive, difficult, delusional or deranged, depending on what the flavour of the month is.   

It does not make sense anymore. 

(Nishtha Gautam is a Delhi-based author and academic.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Amidst sexual harassment accusations from co-star Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni has been stripped of his Vital Voices award. Lively alleges Baldoni not only harassed her but also engaged in a campaign to destroy her reputation, the BBC reported. 

The organisation announced Monday evening that it had rescinded the award. This decision follows a legal complaint from Blake Lively alleging “abhorrent conduct” by Baldoni, his studio, and their PR team, which the organization deemed inconsistent with its values.” 

Baldoni’s legal team informed the BBC that the allegations are “categorically false” and explained that a crisis manager was hired because Lively allegedly threatened to sabotage the film unless her demands were met.

On 9 December, Baldoni received the Voices of Solidarity Award at an awards ceremony in New York, according to a statement from Vital Voices. Presented by comedian Hasan Minhaj, the award honours “remarkable men who have shown courage and compassion in advocating for women and girls.”

Baldoni shared his gratitude for the recognition on Instagram, expressing that he was “deeply honoured and humbled” while emphasizing the importance of ongoing efforts to inspire future generations of men. “My hope is that we can teach our boys, while they are still young, that vulnerability is strength, sensitivity is a superpower, and empathy makes them powerful,” he wrote.

However, in a statement issued on Monday, Vital Voices announced it had revoked the award and notified Baldoni of the decision.

Additionally, Baldoni has been dropped by his talent agency, WME, following these allegations.

Less than two weeks after the ceremony, Lively, best known for her role in the TV series Gossip Girl, filed a legal complaint. She alleged that Baldoni and his team had attempted to damage her public image following a meeting where she raised concerns about “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour” by Baldoni and a producer on the film.

Hollywood star Blake Lively has apologised for making fun of the photoshop fails of Britain’s Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, after the UK royal revealed that she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.

In an emotional personal video message released by Kensington Palace on Friday, Kate said the news came as a “huge shock” to her family and requested for “space and privacy” as she completes her treatment.

Lively apologised on social media for a joke that the 36-year-old actor had made at Kate’s expense during her “manipulated” photo controversy earlier this month.  “I’m sure no one cares today but I feel like I have to acknowledge this. I made a silly post around the ‘photoshop fails’ frenzy, and oh man, that post has me mortified today. I’m sorry. Sending love and well wishes to all, always,” the actor wrote on Instagram.

On March 10, the UK royal had posted a UK Mother’s Day photo of herself with her three children — George (10), Charlotte (8) and Louis (5). But soon after, the photo was pulled by multiple news organisations over concerns it had been “manipulated”.

Kate disclosed her condition in a video message recorded on Wednesday and broadcast Friday. It came after weeks of speculation on social media about her whereabouts and health since she was hospitalised in January for unspecified abdominal surgery.

The news comes as her father-in-law, King Charles III, is also undergoing treatment for an unspecified form of cancer.

Meanwhile, many Hollywood celebs wished speedy recovery to Kate in their messages on social media.

Actor Olivia Munn, who recently revealed her breast cancer diagnosis, commented on Princess of Wales’ Instagram post.

“Thank you for showing what it’s like to fight with grace and determination for yourself and for your family. Wishing you all the best,” she wrote.

Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis slammed those spreading conspiracy theories about Kate.

“This is a human being with young children, and clearly some sort of a health issue. That is a private matter. Do we not have better things to do and more important things to think about and be concerned about than this? It’s a really low point in our society when there are SO MANY crucial issues that need our attention,” she wrote.

Catherine Zeta-Jones posted on Instagram, “Wales and the World is with you HRH Princess of Wales. Love to you always.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)