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An Indian woman. Plus a feminist. Minus a homely girl. A poem on the sum total of me.
One Indian woman
Plus
a feminist
Minus
a fair, homely, beautiful eligible girl
determined and strong, opinionated
tall, slim and a slender figure
independent and a critical-thinker
traditional, cultured, well-mannered and modest
anti-patriarchal and anti-misogyny
submissive, docile, adjusting home-maker
fearless and honest
faithful and God-fearing
rational and practical
a “abla naari”
Divided by
nothing
Multiplied by
a strong desire to fight back and live
sums me up.
Disclaimer: This post has been inspired from a film by Sonali. Original title of the film is Sum Total. A Matrimonial. Sonali is an activist and filmmaker who has made several films including Sum Total and Barefeet.
I smash the patriarchy for a living! Founder & Editor-in-chief of Feminism in India. Gender, tech, media and internet. Tweets @japna_p 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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