From Ira Khan To Prof Fired For ‘Unsanskaari’ Pic On Insta, We LOVE Body Shaming Women!

It’s that time of the year when a strange news article appears and leaves you gobsmacked, wondering what stage of evolution our society is in. It’s the kind of thinking that even a T-rex, while chewing on his lunch would find regressive during his time.

St Xavier’s University and firing of a professor

Did you recently read about the asst. professor who was fired for sharing photographs of herself in a bikini on her personal social media account. Some parent managed to get a hold of it and went running to the university management after discovering that it was being circulated amongst the students. The teacher claimed that she had no idea how these images were leaked but lose her job she did, for besmirching the reputation of the institution.

Of course this is her account of the events and I’ve given up journalism years ago, but what this incident surely reeks of is the age old disease of deification of women in various roles, as mothers, sisters, doctors, teachers, who don’t fit the bill unless they fit into the squeaky clean adarsh nari template.

The professor in question insists it was a mistake but stands her ground on the fact that being a teacher does not mean she can’t have a personal life. What would you do in her shoes? Wear a salwar kameez for a swim to be inducted into the hall of fame of morally upright teachers?

I really wonder how our collective common sense deserts us in so many matters especially pertaining to women. If there was a misconduct or even a complaint, of course there should have been an investigation, but a fair one, where she could have had her say, where the leak was reported, where she wasn’t looked upon as some sexually deviant person preying on her students.

But she clearly isn’t the only one who has faced these double standards

When Aamir Khan’s daughter wore a bikini for her birthday pool party, she was trolled mercilessly.

A few years ago, Mithali Raj, someone who has a biopic released in her name recently, was asked to pull down a picture and shamed for wearing a low neck tank top. Talk about double standards. For how can a player with breasts and wardrobe choices ever prove her mettle on the cricket ground. What will the world think of our women cricketers! Haw!

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Safa Baig, Irfan Pathan’s wife was trolled and abused for wearing bright nail polish. Go figure.

The sad part is women are as complicit as men

One of the most disappointing comments I read recently on one such post, shaming a model wearing a top with a plunging neckline was from a woman who said, ‘What is this!? Please go wear a sari.’ If only she had an iota of the grace and magnanimity of a sari that accepts all kinds and shapes and sizes.

An apparel is just a packaging. It’s the mindset within that matters. Even a Kerala court recently decided that a woman could not file a molestation case because she was wearing a sexually provocative dress. See? I rest my case.

Cricketers, teachers, actresses, politicians, no one is spared. Women professionals wanting to have a personal life, opinions and individual choices is still frowned upon to a large extent in many pockets of society. It isn’t ‘right’, read convenient. Conformity is comforting. Whoever choses to look beyond, live beyond,  should prepare to be judged, labelled and ostracised.

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