Dear Men,
Lawyer Ankur Sharma needs your help.
Bechara made the rookie mistake of dismissing a lady officer by rhetorically asking how intelligent she could be, as she is a ‘girl’.
I mean, really? Aajkal when there are such innovative ways of putting women down, this guy is still using a thaka hua line?
The Back-Handed Compliment And Other Useful Tricks
For starters, there’s always that, “You are too good looking to be smart,” line to flatter and insult her at the same time. And it’s such a smooth back-handed compliment!
Also, trust Bhupendra Chaubey to show you how you can always bring up a woman’s past anytime (his Sunny Leone interview is a prime example).
Or her clothes, how they are always fair game (from Sania Mirza’s tennis skirts, to Priyanka Chopra’s unsanskari skirts, to a colleague’s bikini pictures on Instagram – just take your pick). Or her earlier profession (employed by male politicians to attack Smriti Irani or Jaya Bachchan, by calling them nachnewalis).
And when all else fails, there’s always her resilience to go after. You can use, “Such a nasty woman”. It is highly effective, and has been coined by Shri Shri Misogyny Trump himself.
But I can understand that Mr Sharma is a beginner and hence has made the mistake of attacking half the planet by calling them dimwits.
Now now, let’s not start singling this gentleman out for saying what he did. Such sawaals on women’s intelligence have always been a big hit among insecure men.
Apart from sharing pictures of nude women on their ‘non-veg’, ‘men’s-only’ WhatsApp groups, this breed has an equal fascination for jokes about dumb blondes, or as they are referred to in Delhi, ‘South Delhi girls’.
While it’s heartening that men’s fascination for women’s assets has gone beyond b**bs and a** — and has begun to accommodate their brains as well — it’s funny that they still think of themselves as Gordon Ramsays, or Kamaal R Khans when it comes to critiquing these assets. Too big or too small, there’s no pleasing these self-appointed critics.
But here’s the thing – women don’t need these opinions on their assets, thank you very much!
And yeah, coming back to Mr Sharma’s question of how intelligent a girl can be, well, although it may be alien to his fragile male ego, intelligence doesn’t grow in inches. Too bad.
Also, intelligence isn’t like a free pass to pee in public – available only for men. Though many of us with tiny bladders could seriously consider trading intelligence for it while under severe pressure!
Here’s a parting thought: A ‘girl’ can be intelligent enough to take you down you in court, Mr Sharma. You better buckle up!
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)