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Akkai Padmashali's story is that of a phoenix rising from the ashes. Find out how a sex worker fought the odds and became a human rights activist!
Akkai Padmashali’s story is that of a phoenix rising from the ashes. Find out how a sex worker fought the odds and became a human rights activist!
Deep down, Jagdish always knew he was a woman, but he wondered when that woman was going to come out in the open.
Born as Jagdish in a typical middle class background, a struggle for his gender identity and social acceptance led him into sex work. Today, she – a male to female transgender – calls herself Akkai Padmashali and is a human rights activist.
In this video Akkai recounts her struggles with gender identity, her sex work in Bangalore’s Cubbon Park and that she always knew deep down she was a woman. “I used to play with girls a lot. One day my father brought me home and poured hot water on my legs. He said that if I didn’t act as per society’s norms, this was my punishment,” recalls Akkai while in conversation on Chai with Lakshmi.
In this video we hear the life story of a woman, who was been constantly pressurised into living a socially acceptable life. We learn of the difficulties she has faced at home, at work, in the sex trade and how she now fights for other transgenders who face the same.
Watch this amazing video here:
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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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