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Sexism is well and alive in every political party in India, including the AAP which promised to be different
Ages ago, my maternal aunt had almost keeled over when I had announced my intention of marrying a Malayalee, and the only words she could utter were, “She must be black, no?”
Now so many years later, the in-house ignoramus cum clown of the Aam Aadmi Party, Kumar Vishwas has been heard saying that “earlier men were comfortable with nurses because they came only from Kerala. They were dark so the men were happy to call them ‘sister’ and no more. Many of these girls wouldn’t even put up their profile photos. Now there are north Indian nurses, absolutely glamorous.”
According to this man, dark women can only be sisters, and not wives or girlfriends, and that only North Indian women are “glamorous”. Even if I allow for the fact that this man was a roadside clown in his earlier avatar, it does not condone such blatant racist and sexist jibes. His website adds insult to injury by proclaiming that this seemingly semi-literate man is “overall, an iconic blend of a Performing Poet, an Author, a Social Communicator and a Motivator.” The website also tells us that he is a youth icon, and, hold your breath, a professor! He is supposed to possess an MA and a PhD, and I for one would definitely like to know from where he obtained these degrees.
Kumar Vishwas does have his apologists in the AAP, who say that this offending video is two years old, and that as a performer he was only playing to the gallery. To me, playing to the gallery by passing such racist and sexist comments is a crime in itself, and this man should now have the grace to stand up and apologize. I know I am asking for too much, and for all I know soon the AAP might hold a rally to protest against what I am saying.
Sadly, he is not the only ignoramus in the AAP. Many of us watched in horror the antics of the other man- Somnath Bharti- Delhi’s law minister-calling Ugandan women prostitutes and drug peddlers. This man is supposedly a lawyer, and I am sure the courts where he practised law must be delighted that he is not seen there anymore.
Since Kumar Vishwas and Somnath Bharti have knowingly stooped to the gutters and pointed fingers at other people’s skin colour, looks and motives, may I ask them to look in the mirror themselves? And once they are at it, they could also take a peek inside their minds- however miniscule those might be- to figure out what makes them so sexist, racist and sickening.
Pic credit: The Dark Is Beautiful campaign
I am a former bureaucrat, and have worked a lot on gender issues, disaster management and good governance. I am also the proud father of two lovely daughters. read more...
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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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