Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
Why do we accept anything and everything from men, while expecting such high standards from women all the time? Why do we have different bars of acceptable behaviour?
The moment a woman slaps someone, or throws her old in-laws out of home, it becomes trending news. The trolls begin on pseudo-feminism, justice, modern evil, non-sanskari females, etc.
But when it is other way round, it takes a 5-year-old to be brutally raped, or a woman gang raped in a moving bus with such gory details, that you may end up puking your guts out. Only after this scale of 9/10 is scaled, such news where men are perpetrators, becomes trending.
A man slapping, breaking bones of a woman, whistling at her publicly, or groping her breasts is kind of ‘accepted’. In fact, it is even normalized through punchlines like ‘boys will be boys,’ and ‘Akeli ladki Khuli tijori.’
Why can’t we have same bar for everyone? Why can’t we show same frustration and outburst when anyone irrespective of their gender shows their rage in an unjustified manner?
Act of one person (read female) is used as a stick to beat up many more women who had taken a lifetime of courage to take one step towards equality and freedom.
A woman is not supposed to err, she is supposed to be revered, and conscious of her reverence. And the moment she strays from this set path, she is used as an example, rather justification, to silence the other voices.
Take for example the case where a girl was killed for wearing jeans by her family. Do you think this all happened overnight? No, this is all because of that rotten mindset that is displayed in the name of so-called chivalry and cultural heritage on the social media through trolls, and sexiest comments about women – even a Minister has the audacity to share his undemocratic sentiments when he laments how the sight of a woman in ripped jeans troubled him.
We have set different bars for crimes depending upon what is the gender of the criminal? We don’t hate the crime; we hate who has committed it. What we forget is that a crime is a crime.
Image source: a still from the film Ishqzaade
Vartika Sharma Lekhak is a published author based in India who enjoys writing on social issues, travel tales and short stories. She is an alumnus of JNU and currently studying law at Symbiosis Law School, 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!
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.
Please enter your email address