If you are a professional in an emerging industry, like gaming, data science, cloud computing, digital marketing etc., that has promising career opportunities, this is your chance to be featured in #CareerKiPaathshaala. Fill up this form today!
Manika Batra and Mirabai Chanu have made India proud at Tokyo Olympics, but trolls are using their success to ridicule other women.
Star weightlifter, Mirabai Chanu, became the first Indian to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympic games. By winning silver, she ended India’s 21-year long wait to win a medal in the weightlifting event at the Olympics.
Along the same lines, India’s star table-tennis player Manika Batra, won her second round match of the women’s singles event. While a lot of us were giddy with pride over these accomplishments, the trolls wasted no time in creating memes of these accomplishments in order to further their hate-mongering. Why must one woman be praised only at the expense of another?
Female athletes have made India proud at the Tokyo Olympics. However, a certain section of society has been trying hard to spoil this celebratory atmosphere. They have resorted to making memes in order to use the victory of these women to ridicule other women.
I recently came across a meme in which someone tagged Kangana Ranaut to a photo of Mirabai Chanu, showing Kangana what a real lioness looks like. Little does the meme-maker realise that such acts reflect poorly on their own way of thinking. In some cases, these trolls were seen using Mirabai Chanu as an example to all Indian women– especially actors, as to what an “ideal woman” should be like.
In another meme, a troll has congratulated Manika Batra for being better- looking and more talented than Swara Bhaskar and Taapsee Pannu. Could Manika Batra not have been praised without humiliating Taapsee Pannu and Swara Bhaskar? Why must one woman be praised only at the expense of another?
Actors like Taapsee Pannu and Swara Bhaskar are often trolled on social media. They tend to become the target for trolls even in matters completely unrelated to them. The reason for this is their movies which are known for calling out the misogynistic aspects of society.
Fearlessly voicing their opinions on social media also makes them the target for trolls. But the women of today are neither afraid, nor do they remain silent.
Why are Manika Batra and Mirabai Chanu’s clothes, physical beauty and their comparison with other women trending more on social media than their incredible performances at the Tokyo Olympics?
Are their looks the only thing about them that is important? Can they never expect the same kind of adulation their their male counterparts receive? Every woman player has the right to be judged solely on the basis of their performance.
When the world looks at the India of today, they do not expect to see such misogyny. Every woman athlete is working just as hard, if not harder, as the male athletes to bring glory to the nation in the Tokyo Olympics.
Let us all please try to focus on and write about only their skills and performances. This is not some out-of-the-ordinary demand but a basic expectation that every hard-working athlete has.
Ashlesha Thakur started her foray into the world of media at the age of 7 as a child artist on All India Radio. After finishing her education she joined a Television News channel as a read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
Did the creators of Masaba Masaba just wake up one morning, go to the sets and decide to create something absolutely random without putting any thought into it?
Anyone who knows about Neena Gupta’s backstory would say that she is a boss lady, a badass woman, and the very definition of a feminist. I would agree with them all.
However, after all these decades of her working in the Indian film industry, is her boldness and bravery the only things worth appreciating?
The second season of Masaba Masaba (2020-2022) made me feel as if both Neena Gupta and her daughter Masaba have gotten typecast when it comes to the roles they play on screen. What’s more is that the directors who cast them have stopped putting in any effort to challenge the actors, or to make them deliver their dialogues differently.
People have relationships without marriages. People cheat. People break up all the time. Just because two people followed some rituals does not make them more adept at tolerating each other for life.
Why is that our society defines a woman’s success by her marital status? Is it an achievement to get married or remain married? Is it anybody’s business? Are people’s lives so hollow that they need someone’s broken marriage to feel good about themselves?
A couple of months ago, I came across an article titled, “Shweta Tiwari married for the third time.” When I read through it, the article went on to clarify that the picture making news was one her one of her shows, in which she is all set to marry her co-star. She is not getting married in real life.
Fair enough. But why did the publication use such a clickbait title that was so misleading? I guess the thought of a woman marrying thrice made an exciting news for them and their potential readers who might click through.