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WhatsApp jokes and forwards. I'm sick of the stereotypes about women that are an integral part of these, that not only men, but also clueless women propagate.
WhatsApp jokes and forwards. I’m sick of the stereotypes about women that are an integral part of these, that not only men, but also clueless women propagate.
Q. What is the first thing I do after waking up in the morning?
A. I check my Whatsapp.
(I check my Whatsapp not because I have been expecting an urgent message from Narendra Modi, I check it because it is my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Checking smartphone throughout the day is symptomatic of my progressive OCD).
Q. What messages await me?
A. Series of ‘good morning’ wishes with fussy and often ugly flower bouquets and inspirational quotes from family, friends, colleagues, neighbours, schoolmates, college mates, ex-colleagues, fellow mothers from son’s school, and even ex-boyfriends. With so many wishes my day should not only be ‘good’ but ‘best’. However, on most days the wishes fail to work and my day turns out boring and often challenging.
As the day follows, these flowers and images are replaced by forwarded stereotypical jokes and memes. In most of the jokes, women are at the receiving end. These jokes are enjoyed and appreciated not only by men but even women.
Apparently, people find them very funny. I am part of a few women-only groups, and even those groups are not spared of these forwards. I guess, more than the flowers, teddy bears and motivational messages these jokes get on my nerves. I hate any kinds of stereotypes and these jokes just re-establish the age-old stereotypes that have been used against women. Let me give you a Myth Vs Facts from these stereotypical jokes.
What are these stereotypes?
Really? All women? I don’t! And I know millions who would echo me. Don’t men love shopping? If not, then why do we have billions of products, clothes, accessories catering to men? Whenever we go shopping, it is the better half who spends hours inside the store while I grumpily await the shopping extravaganza to get over.
Probably, Sonam Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan do but they do not represent all women.
That means Mother Teresa, PT Usha, Kiran Bedi, Mamta Banerjee and yours truly are not women. Millions of underprivileged women all across the world are so busy struggling to get two meals a day that they cannot even afford to think of make-up. Lines of poverty on their face are the only makeup they have. Make-up is a choice, not a necessity for most women.
Yellow Journalism was started by men. Tabloids all over the world have predominantly male journalists. Paparazzi are not jobs exclusively reserved for women.
Probably they do. Many wake up in the morning and stare at the mirror to examine the scar or the bruise or the blue marks they got the previous night. They keep staring while wondering do I deserve this. He had said he loved me. Is this love?
Yes, they do spy, only when they get time after finishing their cooking, cleaning, vacuuming, ironing, bathing the kids, putting the clothes in the washing machine, feeding the kids, dusting, helping the child with homework and school projects… my hand is aching. I cannot type the exhaustive list.
If they are offered love, respect, and peace in exchange, how many would still want gold? I know many, and literally many, who would rush to a bookstore instead of a jewellery store. There are many who would exchange their gold and hop on a flight to go overseas.
So do men.
This is the most hilarious stereotype. In a country where we had to impose special laws to protect married women from getting killed, isn’t this the most ridiculous stereotype.
Well, I agree women are dumb. We are dumb because we laugh at these jokes and send ROFL, LOL, LMAO and all those smiling smileys. Had we not been dumb we wouldn’t have allowed these jokes and memes to circulate all over the internet. Instead of smiles, we should be sending guns to whoever forwards these jokes.
These jokes are forwarded within our closed groups. The men who forward these jokes are often our father, brother, husband, friend and son. Even women are guilty of forwarding. As conscious human beings, our first step should be to raise voice against these misogynist and sexist jokes. What appears like casual light-hearted humour is, in reality, the root of a greater misogyny. Stop stereotyping women and thus stop circulating these jokes and memes.
Published here earlier.
Image source: pixabay
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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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