Why can’t we let women exist freely on the internet without slut shaming them?

Mahnoor Jalal

Mahnoor Jalal

Sub-Editor

There is nothing new about the fact that if you’re a woman breathing in Pakistan, 3/4 of your life will be spent fighting against ridiculous beauty standards and slut shaming comments from strangers who will preach to you how embracing your own skin and valuing your independence is wrong. In fact the cyber bullying is even more worse when you are a public figure, and there is always a risk of strangers consistently flooding your inbox with hateful memes or messages, or even threatening your loved ones.

Actress Mehar bano was the latest celebrity to be targeted by trolls with slut shaming and abusive comments for simply enjoying her life on the internet. She uploaded a cute video yesterday of herself making a tiktok while dancing on Instagram, and as usual, Pakistani men flooded the comments section with hateful things because when did they ever give women the permission to exist and enjoy themselves?

 

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A post shared by Mehar Bano (@meharbano)

And like this holier than thou person decided she knew better than anyone else on how to judge a person, and declared that she was unfollowing the actress for acting in such a “haram” manner. Like does your judging and criticism of a person living her own life make you somewhat better?

But Mehar Bano was quick to remind this Debbie Downer that she is not some object for you to throw your opinions on, she is an independent human being who gets to decide what she wears and how she dances. She responded by saying:

“Jatay jatay aap ko sharafat aur pakeezgi ka certificate bhi chahiye jo bata ke unfollow karna par gaya?”

Other women like actress Anoushey Ashraf and body also stepped in to boost Mehar bano’s stellar dancing skills and to keep reminding her that haters are gonna keep hating, so she should just keep shaking it off!

So please let’s keep encouraging Pakistani women to embrace their weirdness and keep dressing the way they want and dancing however they feel like. No man get’s to decide how you should live your life, and its clearly time our moral policing Pakistani awaam stops clutching their pearls every time a woman expresses her individuality.