Trigger warning: mentions of slut-shaming
In her 10th standard, there was a boy who spread a rumor about her. He slut-shamed her by telling others that he touched her wherever he wanted to. She confronted him in front of everyone and asked him why he was doing so.
But, she couldn’t get any answer from him because everyone supported that boy. She used to cry all day long. Everyone trusted that boy and thought of her as a liar.
She had no one with whom she could share her feelings. She lost herself, her respect, confidence, friends, focus on life and above all, her trust on everyone else.
Everyone, to date, believes that the girl had some kind of a sexual relation with the boy. Everyone she knew looked at her as if she was a bad person, but no one knew the truth, because they all privileged the guy’s opinion. They believed him till the end. It’s the harsh reality of our society.
That girl, even today, hasn’t been able to regain her trust. She fought for herself then and she is fighting for herself today. She doesn’t use social media because she believes someone might find her and point out what happened back then.
Our society really needs to understand that it’s not always the girls who are wrong, it can be a boy too. Merely providing an equal education is not enough. Mindsets need to be changed.
Today, it might look like girls are getting to access everything, but many of them aren’t brave enough to speak up and stand up for themselves.