In this age of endless Internet trolls and misconstrued arguments – you know that when a movie like Dangal makes an appearance, things can very quickly go south.
While debates over feminism, gender roles, parental responsibilities and consent continue to rock viewers’ opinion of the film, here’s our two-rupee contribution to the same – a list of eight things that people need to STOP saying to the Phogat girls.
To simply write off the Phogat girls by saying they had no consent in the matter would be erroneous. To say that by the time they were old enough to exercise consent, they had already been ideologically indoctrinated would be worse since the argument then deprives them of agency.
Not only did they open avenues for girls in Haryana, despite their socio-economic situation, to enter the foray of women wrestling – they also left behind a story of hope in the wake of their Olympic success.
Additionally, who is to say Mahavir Phogat would not have used the exact same method of upbringing had his daughters been sons?
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)