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A young Muslim woman in Kerala has recently petitioned the Courts, asking for protection from fundamentalist elements who are forcing her to adopt purdah. One must applaud this young woman for her courage – this is a society where all kinds of people think they have the authority to dictate what women must or must not wear. While the HC has come to her rescue, there will be many who think that she is only asking for trouble.
To some, jeans are ‘Western’ and indecent; to others, headscarfs are a symbol of ‘difference’ and therefore not allowed. To still others, as in this case, headscarfs are a symbol of religion and must be worn. What is common to all these enforcers, regardless of the backgrounds they belong to, is a feeling that women must be controlled. Still others will justify these on the grounds of ‘respecting the wishes of elders’.
Why is is that we never hear of the ‘trouble’ with allowing young men to wear Western clothes? It is assumed that trousers and shirts are ‘normal’ for men, whether Indian or Western. Women, on the other hand, must uphold the symbols of their cultures or religion. All the furore one hears over women wearing the hijab or burkha – why is it that this is never an issue for men? Simply because most men, even from Arab countries, don’t feel obliged to wear traditional dress once they are out of their countries. I bet the fundamentalists in this case don’t pay much heed to what young Muslim men in Kerala are wearing – when it comes to women though, they want to have their say.
Underlying it is the fear that when women become ‘too independent’, they will start thinking for themselves. You can’t sell them like cattle – they may even marry someone of their choice from outside the community, GASP! Fundamentalists often couch this desire under other pretexts such as, ‘women are the honour of the community,’ but if women are that honoured, how about letting them choose for themselves how they’d like to dress, work, live?
The desire to control women’s clothing is part of the mentality that treats women as the property of a community, however couched this may be in the language of affection or dignity.
Founder & Chief Editor of Women's Web, Aparna believes in the power of ideas and conversations to create change. She has been writing since she was ten. In another life, she used to be read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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