dailyO
Variety

Feminists on Twitter school Mira Rajput over her silly 'feminazi' remark

Advertisement
DailyBite
DailyBiteMar 10, 2017 | 21:48

Feminists on Twitter school Mira Rajput over her silly 'feminazi' remark

Feminism is the ideology that believes that men and women should be treated equally. It is pretty simple a definition. But achieving this rather straight-forward goal is tricky and complicated, for a multitude of reasons – the most important one being that most people don’t understand this simple concept.

Equality doesn’t and cannot be imposed in one day. Correcting centuries of oppression and adjusting to it, understanding how patriarchy works (and working towards dismantling it), and acknowledging one’s privilege is an essential part of trying to alleviate this gap.

Advertisement

Bollywood and people belonging to that entire nepotistic, privileged and mostly snooty industry are the last people one should look towards, when looking for wisdom on feminism. Seriously. And yet, thanks to their fame and mass appeal, when public figures like them make half-witted statements about feminism, people listen to them and imbibe that nugget of “wisdom”.

The latest, in a long series of Bollywood (and affiliated to someone in Bollywood) celebrities to make a foot-in-the-mouth comment about women’s rights and feminism is Mira Rajput, who we sadly know as the wife of Shahid Kapoor (patriarchal identities FTW).

rajput_031017090053.jpg
Photo: Indiatoday.in

Mira Rajput, in a recent interview said, “Empowerment means you have the right to choose. So it’s my choice if I want to be at home. And it’s someone else’s choice if they want to be a working mother. But both are equally valid and neither of them should be shamed.”

“Feminism isn’t woman Vs man. It’s about equality. A new wave of feminism has come that is aggressive... I feel it’s destructive. There’s a new term called ‘feminazi’, which is the female equivalent of a chauvinist. I think there should be harmony between the two sexes and equilibrium,” she added.

Advertisement

While it is completely valid on her part to point out that it is her right and choice to remain a homemaker. In fact, anyone who shames a “house wife”, a role taken up through their own choice or not, is completely and utterly wrong (and kind of an a-hole); she perceiving angry militant feminism as misandry and calling angry militant feminists “feminazis” (a portmanteau of the words feminist and nazi) is just ignorant.

What Rajput misses is the fact that it's feminism that really lets her have the choice to pick between homemaking and professional work. Without the brave women who belaboured for equal rights, Rajput wouldn't even have had the language to frame her stance as a "choice". 

Moreover, feminists world over have every reason to be angry.

In this day and age, wage gap still exists. Independent women get rape threats for airing opinions. Women are slut-shamed, sexually harassed, and consequently victim-blamed.

In parts of India, female infanticide is still a thing. A woman’s agency is often lost in the widespread Indian custom of arranged marriages. And women have to constantly justify their want for (and lack of) equality to idiots on the internet and in real life every day. Obviously they are angry.

Advertisement

Yes, she’s young, and her world view needs a lot of changes and growth. But she has to be held accountable for her words. And people on Twitter did.

 

Hopefully some day, Mira Rajput shall understand feminism better. After all, people can always learn more and change.

Last updated: March 10, 2017 | 21:48
IN THIS STORY
Please log in
I agree with DailyO's privacy policy