Kerala Women Launch Bare Chest Campaign On Facebook To Protest Professor’s ‘Melon’ Remark On Female Breast
At least two women from Kerala have gone topless on Facebook launching a campaign against a professor’s remark that girls display their chest like water melons.
According to Malayalam news portals, it all began after a man called Vishnu shared his partner Arathy SA’s topless picture on Facebook in protest against the professor’s remark. Later, Thiruvananthapuram-based Diya Sana posted on Facebook pictures of a topless woman holding watermelons. She said the photos belonged to her friend Rehana Fathima, a social activist and model, who had become the first woman to play Pulikkali, a traditional dance form where the artists wear tiger costumes.
Since then, the Facebook has removed their pictures and blocked their accounts. However, the women are now getting both bouquets and brickbats.
The professor’s
remark had invited widespread fury on social media. An Assistant Professor at Farook College in Kozhikode, he had said in a public speech that girl students of his college do not cover their chests with hijab but display them like the slice of water melon.
"I am teacher of a college where 80 per cent of the students are girls and of that, majority are Muslims. These girls are not wearing dress as per the religious tradition. They are not covering their chests with hijab. But showing part of it is like slice of red water melon being displayed," he has been heard saying in the clip, as translated by The Deccan Chronicle newspaper.
He had also slammed girls wearing leggings, saying the girl students hold purdah deliberately up to show off the leggings. He also warns them that this kind of immoral dress style will lead them to losing both physical and spiritual worlds.
Protesting against this, Sana
told Manorama, “It's all your choice. Women should have the liberty to wear what they like,” adding, “I wonder when would our society stop objectifying women?”
“What is wrong in uncovering your physique before people? The same social spaces which celebrate male bodies frown at female bodies and shame it. 'Nudity' becomes a taboo when a woman reveals her body. I have slammed this patriarchal attitude many a times," said Rehana, as quoted by Manorama.
Earlier, Kerala had witnessed a similar campaign against social taboo on breastfeeding in the open. A man posted his partner’s breastfeeding picture on social media. Later, Grihalakshmi magazine, carried a breastfeeding female model on its cover, with a caption, “Women Tell Kerala, Don’t Stare, We Need To Breastfeed”.
Later, speaking to Outlook, the model, Gilu Joseph had
said, “All that abuse that’s being directed my way doesn’t bother me one bit. I modelled for the cover because I strongly support the cause
https://www.outlookindia.com/websit...-facebook-to-protest-professors-melon-/309697
Men’s nipples are ‘normal’ but women’s nipples are a ‘sexual organ’? The double standards in the way women’s bodies are sexualised has led to several protests across the world, and a few women in Kerala are doing the same with a protest of their own. At least two women have posted bare chested pictures on Facebook in recent weeks – and both of their photos were taken down by the social media platform.
The idea for the campaign was floated by a woman named Arathy. Titled 'Maaru thurakkal samaram', which loosely translates to ‘protest to bare the breasts.'
While there isn’t widespread support for the campaign, an activist joined in on Monday after a Kerala professor made derogatory comments about women’s bodies, comparing students breasts to ‘sliced melons’.
Activist and model Rehana Fathima joined the campaign on Monday, with her friend and activist Diya Sana sharing two of Rehana’s photographs on Facebook. One photo showed Rehana holding two watermelons in front of her breasts. The other showed her bare chested, hiding her face with a melon.
"Women, too, should ideally have the same freedom that a man enjoys with regard to his body," Diya wrote on Facebook when she shared the photos. Along with Rehana’s pictures, Diya also posted a picture of herself holding half a watermelon in each hand.
Rehana has been vocal about women’s rights, and has participated in discussions against sexualising the female body. Speaking to TNM, Rehana says that she posted photos to show support to Arathy, who started the ‘Maaru thurakkal samaram’ campaign.
"The message is that there is nothing vulgar about a woman's body. I shared the images to assert that my body is my right, and no one can dictate what is right and wrong. When Arathy began a conversation about this, I was happy to join her. Since I have already been quite vocal about these issues in the past, I asked my friend Diya to share the images. What we should discuss is not the photos per se, but why such a movement is needed," Rehana says.
She adds, "There is no vulgarity in a man's body, but when it comes to women, the standards change. A woman's body is seen as a sex tool and such a public mindset must change. Women's breasts, their sexuality, all of this is only normal. I want this campaign to be a step towards having healthy discussions on the subject."
Taking to Facebook on Monday, Arathy wrote that when she posted her photograph a few days ago, she did not intend to start a protest of any sort. "Now that it has become a movement, let's see where it takes us," Arathy wrote.
Facebook takes down pics
However, hours after Diya posted the pictures of Rehana, the photos were taken down by Facebook. Diya has also been penalised by Facebook – she was not allowed to use her own account for 24 hours.
"In the first hour itself, the post received several comments. While most people supported the campaign, there were also people who abused us mercilessly. They painted us in a bad light,” she says.
The photos were in response to the comments of a male teacher of Farooq college, who said in a speech that Muslim women students of his college did not wear their hijab properly, and exposed parts of their chest “like how we slice a small part of a melon to see if it’s ripe.”
Speaking about the campaign, Diya says that it was not just the Farook college teacher issue that provoked them to join the campaign.
"That incident merely added to it. We have been discussing this for a while now. About how a woman's body is sexualised, while a man's body is not. Why does our society behave in a certain way when they see a woman's breasts? Why are women's breasts sexualised, even when they’re feeding their babies? When people look at a woman's body in such a manner, of course they see only vulgarity. Why sexualise a woman's body? My body is mine!" Diya asserts.
Reacting to Facebook removing the post, Rehana calls it a double-standard on the part of the company.
"Facebook promoted Malayalam magazine Grihalakshmi’s photo of a woman breastfeeding a baby. The same Facebook has a problem when we post photographs of our breasts. Why do people have to term our bodies as vulgar?" Rehana asks.
Criticism for the protest
The photos have created quite a stir on social media, with several people abusing the women – especially Rehana – for posting the bare chested photo. Several commenters criticised both Arathy and Rehana for posting their topless photos, and going against cultural norms.
Critics and feminists have also questioned why Rehana’s photo was not posted on her own account, but on Diya’s – while Diya herself did not participate in the campaign. The fact that Rehana is a model, and that the way her photograph has been taken reinforces the way women’s bodies are sexualised in the media, has also been criticised.
(Edited by Ragamalika Karthikeyan)
https://www.thenewsminute.com/artic...omen-post-bare-chested-pics-fb-kick-row-78237
. Pics or you are uglier than a baboon's butt like 99% pakistanis
