4 Ways Our Culture Has Shamed Women Nonsensically

We live in a modern society and we want to be a part of the bigger world, of the Western world and we want to be what is internationally described as modern and updated.
We want to be advanced in our doings, in our thinking. And yet, there are some of us (people largely known as the society) who are still old-school, who still believe that the way women dress is how they show their morals, who still believe that sex and breasts and periods and condoms are world’s biggest taboos, who still believe that Indians don’t know the concept of any of these.

Here are a few things that show us how our culture has shamed women nonsensically:

1. Cloth-Shaming:

Remember all those times actresses have been disgraced for wearing dresses that showed their legs, or displayed their breasts or even sometimes their shoulders? Well, how could we not disgrace them after all, Indian women don’t have legs, the Indians are alien to the concept of breasts and definitely not the idea of beach wear. I mean, if you look at it from our society’s point of view, then I guess you will agree with me that women can’t wear beach wear on the beach. Do you know why? Because that wear is made specifically for women to be worn on the beach.
Being a part of this society, a women must always remember to never wear dresses that make her feel good about herself, nor should she ever wear a party dress in a party and she must never, ever, ever post her pictures online because isn’t that against our culture? To wear dresses and then show off to the world?

2. Fat-Shaming:

We live in a society where fat girls are regarded as ugly. One’s beauty must always, always be described on the basis of her waist size. After all, how can a fat girl be beautiful right? Be it for whatever reason!
“When I was 15, I was stuck with thyroid. This led to the fattening of my body at a remarkable rate. I used to be one of those skinny girls of the class, but when I got stuck with thyroid, all of that faded away,” says Divya, a 17-year-old high school student, who is suffering from thyroid. “But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was how I was constantly pointed out by people how fat I was. I didn’t have the strength to go and explain each one what my trouble was and even after I did, they wouldn’t stop pointing it out to me every time I was around. It was so hard for me back then.”
So obviously, girls can’t be fat. Such a trait is simply unacceptable in our culture.

3. Fart-Shaming:

Wait, did I hear it right? Did you, being a female, just fart in a roomful of people? And did you just accept that? How unrespectful can you be to our society? Because after all, women never fart, do they? If you fart, then you’re not a woman anymore. You are, in fact, a human. But how could you be a human when you are a woman? No, no, that is wrong. Learn some sanskars, girl! You can never, ever, ever fart because that is not something that women do, am I understood?

4. Slut-shaming:

Dear Indian girls (Especially the teenagers), always remember, if you ever as much as go on and talk to the wrong boy, he’ll get the idea that you are interested in him. Worse, he might even get the idea that you both are dating. So never, ever talk to boys okay? You never know which one might turn out to be the best one and spread rumors about you dating him. Not to forget, whenever you go out for a party, never wear anything that you like because people might call you a slut for wearing a short dress, or an off shoulder dress.

Sincerely, the society.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: This article is written by Ritika Chhabra, our intern.