Women have traditionally been considered the more inquisitive sex. But when it comes to snooping on your partner, men aren’t that far behind either, as the usage of a new “snooping tool” on Firefox, called Firesheep, has revealed. It is claimed that Firesheep allows users to keep tabs on the social networking contacts of others and reports say that men are using the tool to keep an eye on their partners.
Whatever the numbers may say, men in India staunchly deny that they would ever resort to such tricks. “Everybody needs to have some space of their own,” says photographer Shobhan Singh, on why he would never snoop on his partner, using technology or otherwise. “It’s very voyeuristic. If partners confide in each other completely, then the need to spy should never arise.”
Delhi-based blogger Bharat Iyer and advertising executive Clint Fernandez add their nays to the question of spying on their partners. “I wouldn’t do it; I’d be too scared of what I’d uncover,” jests Iyer. “I trust my girl. Also I’m very lazy,” he adds as an afterthought. Fernandez has another perspective: “I think men are as inquisitive as women are, and have always been so. Couple this with the infamous male ego, and it’s a deadly cocktail that explains, among other things, why domestic violence is such a male dominated sphere.”
But RJ Siddharth Kannan says this isn’t a question of ethics or trust and men should be able to snoop to their heart’s content! He declares, “Over the years, women have accused men of a infidelity, going to the extent of hiring detective agencies to prove their point. At the same time, women also claim that both the genders are equal. Can’t we assume that women are equally capable of infidelity and that men have every right to use whatever tools are available to them to keep tabs on their women? Also there are a lot of ugly men who are married to hot women and are very insecure, so they are willing to resort to any means to find out if their wife is truly a one-man woman. And if women are honest, then what need for fear? Even goddess Sita had to pass a test.”