Stop and think a little, before you 'share'

Photo from Facebook



I take the social media very seriously. For those who post sexist, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, racist, classist memes, jokes, "opinions" on their walls are only exposing themselves as ignorant air heads. It is "not just Facebook", it is also a reflection of who you are, what you think, and how you perceive the world and its people around you.
Sexism and misogyny have found a stable place to function more productively- in memes. Memes or sexist "humour", as many would call it these days. But calling these memes "humour" only goes on to normalize and trivialize it even more. As if there is dearth of it in our lives already!
For those who don't understand Bengali- the picture below reads "you worship Maa Kali who is dark, yet you look for fair skinned girls when it is time to marry", to which someone comments "you worship Shiva who is an alcoholic, Krishna who is a Casanova, yet look for a man who will remain sober and will only be interested in his wife". Of course the guy with the bladder in his brains received accolades for such a remarkable comeback, and the picture along with the comment got shared at lightning speed. In a country like India, where people still discriminate women on the basis of skin colour, where hundreds of women are killed, commit suicide because of their dark complexion, haven't we failed enough already for not educating ourselves and the people around us? Do we really need memes like these to establish the fact that we have failed as human beings? It takes some nerves to think that being dark skinned is a "disorder" which can be matched alongside alcoholism and licentiousness of the two greatest fictional characters of all times. Not that it would have been okay if they really existed! The need for such a "joke" in the first place is proof of nothing but receding intelligence. Let's not even get to the marriage bit. Everything comes down to our society's obsession with marriage, especially the importance of marriage and a family in a woman's life. Because we need more of those wife jokes, remember?
Women as manipulators, women as gold diggers, Feminists as man haters, independent women as selfish, and not to mention the rape "jokes" are recurring themes in these oh-so-popular memes among men. And women. Of course. Why not? It's just a joke! "Harmless". No wonder there are millions of followers of pages like 'Men's Association Against Women', 'I Hate Feminism', 'Feminism is a Hate Crime', ' We Don't need Feminism' on Facebook.
Circulating these memes as jokes drag us steps back. It's not just a joke. It never was. It never is. It never will be.
I strongly believe our social media accounts are extensions of ourselves. And our sexist, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, racist, classist selves are just more prominent and visible virtually because of its immediateness. If we can't correct and educate ourselves in reality, let us start from the virtual. Let us please be a bit more responsible of what we post and 'share'. When we see memes, jokes, "opinions" like these getting circulated for all the wrong reasons, let us stop and think why we shouldn't be a part of the herd. Maybe that would change the way we think. Maybe that would change how YOU think of women. Maybe, just maybe you might realize why we STILL need Feminism. Baby steps. But you will get there. We are all in this together