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A young woman, looking back at her life, and the way she has been shamed, and labelled, and the wounds and scars of all that - do read further to find out more.
A young woman, looking back at her life, and the way she has been shamed, and labelled, and the wounds and scars of all that – do read further to find out more.
One more instance of someone telling me how to live my life
How can I be calm when I’ve been dictated all my life?
And this isn’t only about that
It’s about shame. Another reckless accusation
To instill shame
It is this that wakes the devil in me
Boils my blood till it seeps through the skin
Reminds me of the internal bleeding
Of when my mother shamed me
And called me a slut, I lost speech
She ripped me apart so carelessly
It took so long to tear myself from there
But today I realize that it still lies bare
Sore, septic from unhealing
It took just a pinch to unleash the all-consuming pain
Now I have rage,
Not for her but every single slave of the society
Who shame rule breakers, who demean outlaws
Who try to tie me down
Who think they can tell me what to wear,
Where to go, when to come or to leave
How to speak, how to please, what to want and what to need
When to hold my tongue and choke breathless
They have the audacity to tell me how to live
Not anymore they can’t
For too long I’ve borne these shackles
For too I’ve been silenced
For too long have I lent my life to others
So long that I forgot it was mine
They started knowing it theirs
It’s time now to take the reins back
To the ones like me
The outcasts of society
The shamed and condemned
Remember your claim
For the rule breakers are who bring social change
Reformers of tomorrow are the Rebels of today
Image source: a still from Naam Shabana
Writer, poet, feminist, mental health survivor and advocate, law student 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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