Part 3

“In a field like journalism, especially broadcast, there are so many factors that affect you and your state of mind. Ever since I started doing interviews, especially on YouTube, I’ve had to deal with silly trollers who only want to say harsh things. It’s anonymously said and nobody knows who the real face is. But they say things about my body, looks and face… it affects me. But I’ve learnt to be thick-skinned. There’s no way out of it. When you’re working in a profession like this, people are going to say random things.. maybe it’s their frustration that they want to let out. But you become their target and there’s not much in your control. I usually ignore these comments, but if it gets too much, I know what to do. I make sure they stand accountable for their nonsense and never dare to do it again.

“It’s not just body shaming. They talk about women and feminism, as if they know what it means. It’s sad how people have a vague concept of feminism in their minds and think that is real. Feminism is equality. At no point do we, feminists, say we want to be more than another gender. It’s about respecting women and understanding that we have a choice too. Even during the metoo movement, people blamed victims for opening up now. But is that the point? Why are we getting deviated? Whether we said it when it happened or 10 years later, the incident is horrific and we need to talk about that.

Back in our days, nobody spoke about good and bad touch. Only when we grew up, we realised how something that happened when we were children something happened to us and that is ‘abuse’. Internet has it’s pros and cons… I was one of the only women reporters in the regional TV channel, when I started off. It’s a proud thing for me to say. I fought against all kinds of body shaming and gender biased statements that people made. Even today, I never give in to what people want me to be. I wear semi-traditional clothes because I’m comfortable in them. We expect a viewer to watch the interview and not what I wore. It’s never easy, to deal with anonymous people being rude, but it’s about what you want and how you want to achieve it.

There’s a few lines of Robert Frost that I often recollect during difficult times: ‘The woods are lovely dark and deep but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep’. ”

#Feminism #NomeansNo #Bodyshaming #Journalist #Hyderabad #HumansOfHyderabad