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An anti-rape poster that went up recently has received a lot of flak and rightly so. The poster states that it's wrong to rape a woman because then by extension you rape and hurt her entire family, because she is a daughter, sister, mother etc.
An anti-rape poster that went up recently has received a lot of flak from the public and rightly so. The poster states that it’s wrong to rape a woman because then by extension you rape and hurt her entire family, because she is a daughter, sister, mother etc.
Though the intention may have been well-meaning, the message in itself is wrong and patriarchal.
A woman is a human being first and has her unique identity. She is a person with her own likes and dislikes, intellect, expertise and dislikes. Yes, she plays many roles and may handle them all beautifully, but she is not limited to them. Unfortunately, in our country, a woman’s first responsibility is to bear the collective pride of her family, popularly called ‘khaandan ki izzat’. Hence, any step she takes, she has to do so ensuring that she does not cross the invisible line that is always drawn ahead of her.
Being raped is way beyond that line. The poster at least recognises that no woman invites this crime upon herself, but then proceeds to say that ‘do not commit this heinous crime because she is a bearer of the familial pride which will be hurt’.
Rape is a crime and a vicious one. It causes physical, mental and emotional trauma that sometimes last for years and causes irreparable damage to the survivor. It is not simply sex without consent; it is a violent act in which the person committing the crime revels in the power he has over the other human being. It is forced and hurtful and a violation of the worst kind.
The message we need to start giving out is that rape is a crime against a woman’s autonomy. No person deserves to undergo the ordeal that it causes. It is an offence which will lead to strict and rigorous punishment as there are strong laws against this act.
Let’s give out a message that every women deserves respect, period and every man is duty bound to give her that respect – not that a woman deserves respect because she is someone’s daughter or sister or wife.
Image via Canva
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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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