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Women often become victims of sexual harassment on streets, workplaces and even in their own homes. Now finally with #MeToo when they are speaking about their pain, many men are not ready to believe them.
Dear Men who doubt #MeToo , Are trivializing it, jesting about it. You don’t know what it feels like.
Having men talk to your chest instead of your face. Walking around in the dark constantly looking behind to ensure you aren’t being followed. Having a man decide the rules for your body. Having a man reduce you to just a body. Men deciding how you said something but meant it’s exact opposite. Being called by everything but your name- cutie, hot, pataakha, sexy. Men touching you, groping you at every opportunity. Rubbing themselves against you. To have spaces where you can exist, easily shrink. Every step you take, everything you say is a political step that either helps women go forward or all women go back. The enormity of every action. Having someone tell you, you don’t have a sense of humour. Having always been told it’s your fault. Everytime. Having men abuse you fearlessly and publicly on social media platforms because you have an opinion. Feeling scared to open a messages folder from an unknown man, wondering if you’ve been sent photos of his genitalia. Choose your wardrobe dependent on the number of attacks possible and critical to ward off. To keep a hand on a nozzle of pepper spray you carry. To think before articulating your discomfort.
You don’t understand how it feels. So listen. Absorb. Feel. We are telling you what we desire.
Best, A survivor. #MeTooIndia
Image Source – Pixabay
Saumya Baijal, is a writer in both English and Hindi. Her stories, poems and articles have been published on Jankipul.com, India Cultural Forum, The Silhouette Magazine, Feminism in India, Drunk Monkeys, Writer’s Asylum, read more...
This post has published with none or minimal editorial intervention. 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.
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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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