What does consent mean when it’s already been chipped at by power in a culture where we are often raised to not question elderly men or their motives, and to respect their decisions above what we might experience?

Consent cannot be watered down to a simple ‘yes’ and ‘no’ — we can’t speak about it without considering the power dynamics, and how much autonomy a person has in context to a parental figure who has raised them.

An experiment to prove one’s ‘self-control’ or ‘harmlessness’ through someone else’s body, is a violation.

Along with being referred to as the ‘Father of the Nation’, Gandhi was 60 years older and like a parent to his 19 year old grandniece, Manu, who was among the women made to sleep with him.

He referred to his grand nieces as his “walking sticks”: an objectification that reflects a patronizing gaze — his track record of dehumanizing actions and violations against survivors of sexual assault, speaks for itself.

This same practice of superiority through Gandhi’s use of language is reflected in how he described caste and race. Here’s an article that documents his anti-Black racism, paralleling it with his casteism: https://www.google.com/amp/s/theprint.in/opinion/ramachandra-guha-is-wrong-a-middle-aged-gandhi-was-racist-and-no-mahatma/168222/%3famp