Trolling Priyanka Chopra For Having Previous Boyfriends Shows Our Ugly Mindsets

Any number of ugly memes have surfaced taking potshots after Priyanka Chopra’s engagement for her having dated other men in the past. Any bets on how long it will take us to abandon this misogynistic mindset?

Indian society has a tendency to bring down independent women who believe in exercising their agency in all matters of their lives. The recent trolling of Priyanka Chopra for her engagement with Nick Jonas is once again a proof of this mentality. From calling Priyanka Chopra ‘used goods’ (because of her previous relationships), to telling her she’s a ‘deshdrohi’ and ‘dharmdrohi’ (because she’s marrying an American belonging to a different religion), to the jibes about her age difference with Jonas, social media is having a field day abusing a woman for exercising the right to choose her life partner.

Yes, Nick Jonas is 10 years younger than Priyanka Chopra. But you can find many such couples in Bollywood like Saif and Kareena (12 years), Shahid and Meera (14 years), Ritesh and Genelia (9 years), Aamir and Kiran (9 years). In fact, the new lovebirds Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt also have an age gap of ten years between them. However, none of them were criticized for being a couple to this extent.

The reason why Priyanka Chopra is receiving the flak is because ‘being a woman’ she is 10 years older to Jonas. If age gap is such a huge deal to our Sanskaari janta, then shouldn’t the above mentioned couples come under scrutiny as well? But in all those cases the man was older. You see, the man being significantly older than the woman is perfectly acceptable, but how dare a woman chooses a younger man? Some people simply forget that it is 2018 and a woman can choose whoever she wishes to, irrespective of their age, nationality, or religion.

Next, what is this brouhaha about her having had relationships in the past? Firstly, it is none of our business. Secondly, Do you really think that Indian women can’t date several men (just like it is acceptable for men to do so) before they decide upon a life partner? Please take your concept of purity and use it to judge the quality of ghee or olive oil. Leave us, women, alone for God’s sake!

Finally, what is this fuss about religion and nationality? So what if Jonas belongs to a different culture and religion? How is that a barrier towards two people who truly love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together?

Be it Priyanka Chopra or the neighbor’s daughter, can we leave women alone to take their own decisions, please? The very criticisms against Priyanka show how we still consider women to follow certain rigid norms in order to be acceptable to the society. However, when it comes to men, whether they have slept with other women or they are way older than their partners, these things seem to hardly matter. Isn’t it time for a reality check to end this hypocrisy?

Kasturi Patra

Kasturi’s debut novel, forthcoming in early 2021, had won the novel pitch competition by

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