I was going over a piece of news online on Facebook, when I saw an actress talk about how her friends always mocked her for not getting married. The actress was Sandhya Mridul, someone who tried to change society’s views on issues that have been huge taboos.
As her response, she beautifully recited a poem in which she replied to the mockery she had faced. She said that at least she didn’t marry her mistakes. The poem was wonderful and the message was strong. But still, most people were unable to grasp the meaning of her poem.
Talking about sex and one night stands are still a taboo in our country. But why? As the society is growing and adjusting to modernisation, sex, periods, pads, tampons, etc. have become hideous topics to talk about. Coming back to Sandhya’s poem – it did make an impact and exposed society’s toxicity.
It actually baffled me to see comments that were slut shaming her. The absurdity reached a point where a particular individual even marked a criteria for being a slut. According to him, if a girl has slept with three men, it’s okay to call her a slut. What’s sad is that a majority of educated adults support this theory.
But how can you label someone as a slut? Is it just based on some stereotypical trend to use this word for a woman? We talk about India being a democracy, but where is the democracy when men and women don’t have equal rights?
If the same poem had been recited by a man, the response would probably have been different. Many people would have probably even called him a ‘dude’. Though many people would claim it to be wrong even then, but we all know how hypocritical society is.
In the end, we are hypocritical society, who may speak about equality, but when the time comes for rationality, we hide behind the toxic mentality of telling the difference of how men and women should be living their lives.