Esha Gupta's response to trolls who slutshamed her for posing nude is classic
India is home to many things. Respect for women is not one of them. Indian men (and sometimes women), in seven decades of freedom, have not been able to grasp the fundamental concept that is one’s bodily freedom. You wear clothes that cover your body, you are called behenji, you wear clothes that don't, and you are called a slut. Actress Esha Gupta was the latest victim of the latter.
The Baadshaho star recently did a nude shoot that she posted on Instagram. As expected, all hell broke loose, as Indian men, true to form started making distasteful remarks about her. Gupta was called several names including “pornstar”, “randi” (a derogatory Hindi word for prostitute) and “cheap trash”. The run-of-the-mill slut-shaming, which is more predictable than Mawsynram's weather, did not discourage Gupta. Quite the contrary, she shut down the sexist trolls.
Not only did she block all comments from her photos – the best way to deal with anonymous trolls is to not provide them a pulpit – but also proceeded to share more of her nude shoot photos. If that’s not the best response to sexism that aims to marginalise women by taking away their agency and their control over their own bodies, nothing is.
In an interview to Times of India, Gupta opened up on her photo shoot, and how the trolls occupy none of her mind space. "In our country, women are eternally blamed. They are accused when a girl child is born; they are even accused when they are raped. So, somewhere I knew that I will also have to face a lot of heat. After all, it's easy for some faceless and redundant people to pull a celebrity down at the first opportunity,” said Gupta.
"I've done shoots like this one when I was a model. I've gone topless and naked, too. No one ever asked me about that. And who are these people who have 'issues' with my pictures? It's my body and it's been shot aesthetically. There's a thin line, which if you cross, you look vulgar. No one can say my pictures are vulgar. I got more love than hate, but it's better to be hated than to be forgotten. And right now, I'm in my best shape. Although we knew where this could lead, we thought, 'If not now, then when?'" she added.
Gupta’s nude shoot is an empowering move. And she too feels it was a liberating experience. After all, in a country that is part-time sanskaari and full-time regressive, doing something as bold as a nude shoot can be quite the boost in confidence one needs.
According to Gupta, "Men tend to have a problem if a woman goes bold. Their manhood is challenged. They are prudes; they must have even saved these pictures on their phone. And here we are in the country of Ajanta and Ellora, and Kamasutra, objecting to a woman's photo-shoot, which she has done on her own will. So, my attitude is, 'Screw them', and that's the point I wanted to make. The pictures turned out so beautiful that I didn't want to hold them back. The thing is that I've been comfortable and confident about my body all along.”
Gupta isn’t the only one who has had to deal with blatant sexism and misogyny and has managed to own it. Sunny Leone, the pornstar-turned Bollywood actress, has been unapologetic about her previous profession. That did not stop Indians from slut-shaming her on several occasions. In fact, our fellow citizens are such an incorrigible lot they went so far as implying that her profession would not allow her to be a good mother, when she recently adopted a child.
Gupat's way is the best way to shut down sexism. Turn a deaf ear to it, and continue to do what you love.