A bunch of globally well-known and powerful women took to Twitter to voice their support for the protesting farmers, creating a frenzy not just in India but across the world.
Be it pop star Rihanna or media personality Mia Khalifa, author and American Vice President Kamala Harris’ niece Meena Harris, or climate activist Greta Thunberg — no one was spared by the right wing trolls.
Over the past one week, these women have been subjected to slut-shaming and mockery. Their mentions were filled with death threats, abuse, and violent consequences — reiterating, yet again, how internet trolls and misogyny go hand-in-hand.
So much so that United Hindu Front on 4 February, took to streets in the national capital, holding portraits of these women and burning them down in ‘protest’ against these celebrities’ comments in support of farmers. All it took was one tweet. One tweet to rattle men.
Won’t Be Silenced: Meena Harris Hits Back
Retweeting journalist Rana Aayub who said that she has never seen ‘hate, misogyny, and threats’ as she had in the last two days, Harris said that she ‘won’t be intimidated and silenced.’
An accomplished author and lawyer, 32-year-old Harris has been vocal in her support for the farmers since an international media report on the protests.
“Do men on the internet get some sort of alert when women talk about something so they can rush in to dispute it? Do men get some sort of alert when women talk about something,” she wrote in another tweet.
‘Mia Khalifa Regains Consciousness’ Poster Gaffe
Lebanese-American actor Mia Khalifa, who has worked in the porn industry, has been subjected to sleazy comments, ever since she tweeted in support of farmers.
Because porn stars are banned from having opinions, right?
Here’s what happened when the Hindu United Front used Google Translate to print posters of ‘Mia Khalifa Hosh Mein Aao’ (‘Mia Khalifa, come to your senses.’)
Like Harris, an unrattled Khalifa tweeted that she would still stand with the farmers.
Virtual Attack Nothing Short of Condemnable
Be it singer-songwriter Chris Brown being ‘praised’ and ‘respected’ for physically attacking and abusing Rihanna in 2009 or Greta Thunberg being reduced to ‘racist colonial stooge,’ the unhinged misogyny unleashed by these nameless and faceless trolls is nothing but condemnable.
However, this is not the first time women personalities from outside India are being subjected to troll-led abuse.
This tweet resurfaced again now, after women from other countries faced abuse for speaking in support of farmers.
Women More Likely to Be Attacked Online Than Men
It does not matter if you are the singer-entrepreneur who owns an empire, it does not matter if you are a successful model, lawyer or simply anything — trolls are omnipresent and go after women who speak.
All accomplishments come second to the fact that they are women and those with contrarian views.
And as multiple studies show, women are far likely to be attacked for their physical appearance, sexualised, issued threats like it’s just another day in office, on social media platforms — actions that are rarely witnessed by men.
Studies also show that online trolls tend to be predominantly male and ‘enjoy’ the chaos they cause through the tweets – which are often large-scale hate campaigns.
To hope for social media platforms like Twitter to take action is one thing. But the more pertinent question would be – why do opinionated women rattle men?
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