Sampada A. Khatiwada

Few weeks ago, a picture of a woman sitting on the pillion of a government-plated motorcycle took over the social media. Many ‘educated’ men holding prestigious positions were found sharing the picture, gloriously abashing the female on the motorcycle.
Memes, trolls and negative comments started to float all over social media sits then. The only ‘mistake’ that the lady did was she ‘revealed’ her back by wearing a backless top. The humiliation that she had to go through is unimaginable.
While everyone was busy sharing the picture, slut shaming her and trolling the bike rider, nobody raised a single question on the person who clicked the picture of the lady. Who gave him/her the authority to click picture of an unknown person, did s/he took the lady and the bike rider’s consent while clicking their picture, did s/he consensually upload the picture on the internet, did s/he asked the lady while slut shaming her? Well, nobody bothered to question.
Clicking picture of someone without consent and uploading it on the internet is not only illegal, it is immoral and rubbish. Sad to say, no action was taken against the photographer. The government office the lady works at rather asked for her ‘clarification’ for sporting a backless top while being away from office. This reflects our society’s support for the rape culture because according to the misogynists, it was the lady’s mistake to wear a revealing top and not the mistake of photographer to click her picture without her consent.
With smartphones in everyone’s hand, it is easy to take out phone from pocket and snap someone’s picture. But this comes with severe consequences if the photo is being clicked without permission.
Moreover, the people who troll and slut-shame women on the internet for dressing up a certain way are the ones who boast on the social media platforms about mental health issues and suicide prevention awareness. Little do they know that trolling and leaving filthy comments on someone’s appearance have a greater chance of triggering mental health issues on the one who is on the receiving end of those comments. But this will continue and women will have to think a 100 times before choosing their outfit till people enjoy impunity while verbally and virtually abusing others. This will continue till women are objectified in the internet in the name of ‘content’.
Being a woman, we are expected to look a certain way, dress a certain way, walk a certain way and talk a certain way. If we do not live up to the standards set by the society regarding our appearance, we are slut-shamed, we are called names such as bimbo, classless and what not!
If we talk about our freedom of choice, right to privacy and right to equality, we are given various tags such as ‘feminist’ and ‘anarchist’. Nobody bothers to know about our career goals, vision, thoughts and political views.
Beyond the physical appearance and dress up of a woman lie her ambition, goals and vision. It is high time we promoted these attribute of a woman instead of devaluing her for her physical appearance. After all, men and women complement each other and they’re meant to co-exist.