‘Dress What You are Wearing is Shameful’ -Auto Driver tells Lady Journo
A few days ago, an auto-driver in Mumbai body-shamed a girl and asked her to get out of his auto because she was ‘too fat’. On April 24, a Bengaluru-based journalist Aishwarya Subramanian claimed that an auto driver slut-shamed her and advised her to not wear the kind of short clothes she was wearing. By the way, the Auto-driver should mind his own business- who is he to tell his passengers, what to wear, and what not to wear?
Mangaluru: In a Facebook post that has gone viral, Subramanian narrated the entire incident and posted pictures of the auto-driver. She’d even tweeted about it. As soon as she got out of the auto, she wrote, “The fare metre was 40 but I asked him to keep 50 as it was hot outside. And then he looks at me for a second and says – ‘please don’t mind me but what you are wearing is inappropriate’. I stand there shocked.”
Subramanian, who claimed to be on the verge of crying, told him it wasn’t his business. A few men gathered taking note of the hullabaloo and even agreed with the driver’s view. “Apparently a girl who lives in a society like mine should be dressed more modestly and like a woman,” they believe. But then, two men from a store Subramanian often visits stood in her support, and “told the auto driver and the moral police” that she could wear what she wanted and when she wanted.
“You want to know why we fight for our dignity? Because even the clothes we wear makes us sluts. What is the point in being a girl in this country anymore? I feel so embarrassed,” wrote Subramanian. Soon, she posted the auto diver’s pictures on Facebook, after he gave his consent with the logic that he believed the public would agree with him.
Her Facebook posting read like this:
This man’s name is Srikanth. About five minutes ago I got out of his auto. The fare metre was 40 but I asked him to keep 50 as it was hot outside. And then he looks at me for a second and says – “please don’t mind me but what you are wearing is inappropriate”. I stand there shocked. And then I tell him clearly that as long as I am paying he has no right to tell me what I can or cannot wear. Then he gets out of the auto to tell me why I shouldn’t be dressed like a slut (I am wearing a white summer dress that reaches my knee). A few men gather as I take pictures. One man who has gathered tells me that the auto driver is right. Apparently a girl who lives in a society like mine should be dressed more modestly and like a woman. I am about to start crying at this point.
This is the first time I have been so publicly slut shamed. Thankfully two men who came from a junk food store I frequent and told the auto driver and the moral police that I get to wear what I want when I want. I walk away feeling shell shocked and ashamed. You want to know why we fight for our dignity? Because even the clothes we wear makes us sluts. What is the point in being a girl in this country anymore? I feel so embarrassed. My building’s guard was standing right there as these men called me a slut for wearing the clothes I wore. This is who I am. These are the clothes I wear. Everyone else can fuck off. Anyone can share this post. I am done feeling ashamed for being me.
Edit: Since there are those who think I posted this without this man’s consent (thereby insinuating that I am the one who’s publicly shaming someone). Here’s the real deal: I actually asked his permission before taking his picture and posting it on social media! He said that he wanted “his message” out because the country will agree with him and not me. I gave him far more respect than he did me. Please please don’t think these pictures exist here without consent. I have it! And given how skewered the Indian mentality sometimes can be, I actually think he has a point when he says that there will be people agreeing with what he had to say.
Inputs from YahooNews
looks like she is craving for cheap publicity…there are whole lot of people commenting such nonsense everyday…
The auto-driver should mind his own business. His job is to transport his passengers and collect the fare. There are many Indians who have a village mentality, blinkered outlook and try to thrust their views on others, rather than realising that they are illiterate or semi-literate and have not travelled around and seen the lives of people of different cultures, denominations and religions. They fail to realize that the world has changed a lot. From the photograph, she appears to have dressed appropriately and the only people who can question her are her boss, if her dress does not blend… Read more »
This unknown lady is a perfect example and explanation for the substandard journalism in our country. You know that the journalism is dead when these attention-seeking ‘journalists’ forget the golden rules of journalism and end up making themselves the center of story!! Looking at her over-the-top response (“what is the point in being a girl in this country anymore?”) to an isolated incident involving a random auto-driver shows how she is unfit to be a journalist. By her own admission, this is the first time it has ever happened to her. Still, she takes this single incident and turns it… Read more »
Hey Rampa, the next time you wear your RSS dhogla chaddi and some cab-driver asks you to dress ‘decently’, please don’t blame him and say that he doesn’t know a.. about Murudeshwara statues.
Pai, do you not have the same attitude towards western outfits. How many times have you said it is aping masters. Before asking a muslim girl to wear some summer dress, ask someone in your own community.
@. . Joker Pinto – I’m glad to see that my ‘murudeshwara’ comments a few years ago have left lasting impression!!! This is the only way to educate illiterates like you!! smiles… @. . Aruna – Read my post again. I didn’t say anything against her dress. As a libertarian, I really don’t care how you dress as long as you are not causing any health or security concerns to others. My earlier comments on ‘aping masters’ is more directed towards self-hating, confused illiterates who try to bad mouth native traditions while blindly following western culture. These are the people… Read more »
Pai you say- These are the people who think every white person they see on the street is somehow hundred times better than a true intellectual in their own town.
Are you admitting your own guilt? you are the one who has left India to be with the whites so whom are you blaming? You jeer at Praveen, a person from your own town, for not having the intellectual capacity to enter a whiteman’s land. Your Guilt is glaring at you Mr Pai.
Arun
Duplicate is just telling from his experience to this journalist to just run away as he did with his dhoogla chaddi.
“You jeer at Praveen, a person from your own town, for not having the intellectual capacity to enter a whiteman’s land” – Mr. Arun to Rampa Well, Mr. Arun, For starters, you should know by now that our Original Yumreeki Rampa is renowned for spreading canards 50% of the time, speaking half-truths during 25% of the time and then – JOKING (like the buffoon that he is) during the last 25% of the time. Hence, just imagine the JOKE of the century – this stand-up comedian bursts in on the scene on not-so-fine-a-day and trumpets his salary (a 6-figure one… Read more »
@. . Aruna – How many times do I have to explain the difference between ‘aping’ and ‘informed choices’? Why are you acting dumb? Did you eat too much Beef yesterday? I mock Praveena Pinto for being stupid and dishonest in almost every topic. It has nothing to do with me living USA or Japan. @. . Joker Praveena Pinto – Why do you get defensive when I remind you of your rejected US visa? In fact, only a bitter experience of rejected visa can explain your desperate attempts to compare USA to KSA. No person in right mind would… Read more »