Bigg Boss 13, a Celebration of Toxic Masculinity Flaunted by Sidharth Shukla, Asim Riaz and Paras Chhabra

Bigg Boss 13 is only a day away from its much-awaited and long-impeding culmination. The current season, going by the words of the makers, has been the most successful one. It has even recieved an extension by one whole month, which I will be honest, was tiring to cover. But what was more exhausting about the show was its celebration of toxic masculinity. The male housemates have been undeniably more aggressive (physically and verbally) than any of the contestants in the past. Pushing each other has been shown on the screen, that it almost seems like the makers want to normalise physical violence. Researchers have noted one of the traits of toxic masculinity as, "Violence as an indicator of power".

Now, Madhurima Tuli was the one female contestant who was once warned over physical violence, and was made to exit the house the second time. But her male housemates were not held to the same stringent standards. So, the question about both genders being toxic inside the house could be thrown out the door, just like Madhurima was.

Here Is A Video of Sidharth And Asim Getting Violent With Each Other

India as a country itself loves toxic masculinity. Kabir Singh was the most popular movie of 2019. So, of course, we are going to love it when Asim Riaz, Sidharth Shukla, or Paras Chhabra, come so close during a fight, that one doesn't know if they are about to hit each other or passionately lock lips. Even a hetero-kiss is way too progressive to be shown on an Indian reality show. The number of times the guys in the house have pushed, pulled or hit each other, in the heat of the moment, is too high to even remember now. The threats of "Tu bahar mil" were dished out like morning coffee.

Host Salman Khan warned the men of the house multiple times over violence. Once he told Asim and Sidharth that since violence is not permitted in the house, they will open the main door. They can go out, hit each other and came back inside. Sidharth had stood up, ready to grasp this 'bahar mil' dream of his with Asim. "Chal khatam karte hain".

Later, Rohit Shetty had entered the show as a guest and tried to patch things up between Sidharth and Asim. He told them, "Koi mard saabit nahi ho raha is se."

Bigg Boss 11 runner-up Hina Khan very rightly, pointed out about the depiction of physical violence on the show in a recent interview, "We, who are watching the show, are responsible. We wait for the next episode. They are giving people what they want to watch. If people stop watching the show, they will change the format," she said.

Watch This Video of Asim Riaz Getting Violent And Throwing Things Around:

Violence is not the only toxic trait our beloved men have shown on the show.

During the course of Bigg Boss 13, Sidharth has asked his "close" female friend, Shehnaaz Gill, to not talk to other dudes in the house. This triggered a similar diktat from her for him. Both of them are absolutely wrong. Sidharth also lost his cool when Arti Singh and Shefali Jariwala voted against him in a task, showing us how gracefully he is able to accept defeat. God forbid what may happen if he loses the show.

Paras has been accepting gifts from his ex (?) girlfriend, Akanksha Puri, who is outside the house, while gleefully claiming that he never asked her to do this. But in the same breath, he also accepted to have sent her a list of items - perfumes, shoes, clothes - that he wanted, while he was out of the house for a medical checkup. He claimed that he wanted to end the relationship but its Akanksha who has been latching on to him. And just to stress the fact, he continued to accept favours from her for over three months on the show. When confronted by Salman Khan, he said that if Puri wants to behave like a broker between him and his stylist, he cannot help it. Akanksha finally stopped sending stuff to him after being dejected on national TV like this, as per reports. Paras has flaunted about the number of girls he has been with.

Asim got so close to contestant Himanshi Khurana that she had to call off her engagement with her fiance outside the house. Asim was told by Himanshi that she is with someone. Asim is also rumoured to have a girlfriend outside the house and has also flaunted about the number of women he has dated.

As a society, we should have rejected these men who cannot get past the typical alpha-male attributes. But here we are, rooting for all three of them in the grand finale week, celebrating their toxic masculinity.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 14, 2020 10:54 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).