We live in a country where a shirtless man is ‘dabbang‘, but a woman in skimpy clothes is ‘badnaam munni’ or ‘chikni chameli‘. So, it doesn’t come as a shock when the very country lauds a male running nude on a beach while filing an FIR against a woman who poses semi-nude on the beach. Confused? Let me explain:
Scene 1: Yesterday (4th November) model, sportsman Milind Soman enjoys his 55th birthday by running a marathon naked on a Goa beach. He also posts a picture of the same. Netizens applaud Milind for being so fit at 55. Many marveled at how the actor has aged like fine wine.
Happy birthday to me 😀
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55 and running ! 📷 @5Earthy pic.twitter.com/TGoLFQxmui— Milind Usha Soman (@milindrunning) November 4, 2020
Scene 2: Today (5th November) model, actress Poonam Pandey visits a Goa beach to shoot a video. She dons revealing clothes (not fully naked). Poonam gets booked by Calangute police for trespassing on the government property, ‘obscene gestures’, and ‘distributing an indecent video.’ A complaint was also made by the “women’s wing” of Goa Forward Party accusing Poonam of shooting an obscene video that is an “assault on Goan women”. A report by The News Minute also suggests that on Thursday, several residents of Canacona (where Poonam shot the video) called for a shutdown. They expressed their afflictions against police officials who allegedly protected Poonam for the shoot.
Read more about it here.
The law penalizes its citizens for getting nude in a public spot irrespective of gender. The population of our country, however, ends up discriminating against a woman for the exact actions that a man is admired for.
While the popular opinion reeked of sexism, numerous people on social media brought up the hypocrisy in our approach towards gender. Twitterati condemned the sentiment of inequality that runs so deep in our collective consciousness.
https://twitter.com/Tum_hi_Hoe/status/1323929813690642434
#PoonamPandey & #MilindSoman both stripped down to their birthday suits in #Goa recently. Pandey partly, Soman completely. Pandey is in legal trouble–for obscenity. Soman is being lauded for his fit body at age 55. I guess we are kinder to our nude men than to our nude women. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/qQ9UFQIYXJ
— Apurva (@Apurvasrani) November 4, 2020
One day we shall celebrate female nudity the way we celebrate Milind Soman running naked on the beach! One day, someday…!
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.@milindrunning
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.#MilindSoman #happybirthday https://t.co/Y6Dj2nNkSQ— Bidisha Ghosal (@BeeGhosal) November 4, 2020
He looks fabulous as ever & may he live a long and fit life. But as a woman it gave me serious pause to look at the comments. Not so long ago Sona Mahapatra was shamed for posting a photo in a bikini on a beach. Tell me had a woman posted this, what would comments look like? https://t.co/wMIM6t6PSS
— Rituparna Chatterjee (@MasalaBai) November 4, 2020
Thus, not all hope was lost.
