Dear Kangana, Being A Feminist Is Not As Simple As Just Saying It In Your Social Media Bio!

Self proclaimed feminists don’t realise that just putting down the word ‘feminist’ in social media bios doesn’t make them one.

Former United States Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright once said, “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women” but I still wonder what is the place for women who slut-shame the other women based on her culture and clothes.

A farmers’ protest is going on in India since 4-5 months and we are witnessing many things, but here I am not talking about the protest or the laws.

Today, in this article, I want to talk about the same decades-old issue ‘Feminism’. I know that nowadays we hear this word often. People write in their social media bios that they are ‘Feminist’.

It annoys some because they think that ‘feminism’ is such an idiotic term and that women just want to come into the limelight by using it. We are also constantly reading amazing articles, books on feminism, and we think we are feminist, but we don’t realise how often we discriminate between women and men, how often we shame women for expressing an opinion.

Self proclaimed feminists

If we talk about the recent shaming of women, then we need not go very far. International pop star Rihanna expressed her opinion on the ongoing Farmers’ Protest in India.

In her reply a well known and a ‘well-spoken’ Bollywood actor, Kangana Ranaut expressed her disagreement with Rihanna on that matter.

In her tweet, she slut-shamed Rihanna on wearing western clothes; isn’t it ridiculous?

The irony is Kangana calls herself a feminist. The actor many times has worn the same clothes as Rihanna is wearing in the picture. But, this time, Kangana herself slut-shamed the pop star, and it is not the first time when she shamed a woman because of her work or clothes. Last month, she had called another Bollywood actress a porn star.

Foot soldiers of patriarchy?

It is weird that a lady who’s opinion doesn’t match with the other women starts behaving like a patriarchal man.

Our society is so sick that whenever a lady puts out her opinion, everybody judges her based on the length of her clothes. The biggest problem is not only men, but even women also judge other women based on their clothes. It is not about who’s right or who’s wrong; it is not about who follows which ideology.

Does Kangana realise the contradiction that comes across?

Here we are talking about Kangana, so let’s just stick to her.

Kangana puts out her opinions on almost everything, having arguments with different people on her social media account, but she never calls a man a porn star or a porn singer. No, I’m not saying that she should do that, but I’m just trying to establish the difference and the hidden patriarchy.

While arguing with women some people easily forget that a women’s clothes and work cannot decide her opinions, and if any woman shows her disagreement with other women and drags her clothes and lifestyle in the argument, then we have to say, this is where the patriarchal conditioning lies.

Kangana never shies away from splashing out her opinions. A few days back, she had uploaded her own bikini pictures and when some trollers trolled her, she had given fiery replies to them but now the same lady is judging pop star Rihanna, because of her clothes.

Rihanna doesn’t wear a saree, that’s not in her culture, but that doesn’t make Rihanna an unaware and unopinionated women. Rihanna’s bodysuit does NOT deny the fact that she’s a powerful lady.

Stop judging others!

We need to change this thinking; we need to stop judging women based on their clothes. If anyone (men/women) disagrees on any statement, then they should argue based on their ideologies and thoughts only. Feminism is not a word which you can pick conveniently. Being a feminist in real is not as easy as writing it down in social media bios.

The basic rule of feminism is to not discriminate and judge another woman because of her clothes, lifestyle and choices. True feminism is far different from today’s “trending feminism”.

Manya Srivastava

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