We Have A Male Feminist At BCCI. Thank God!

You may not know Priya Gupta. Or may be you do. For those who are asking, she was the person who penned a wonderful, deeply sexist article about Deepika Padukone in 2014 when the actress had complained about The Times Of India tweeting a video with pictures of her cleavage and the caption: “OMG! Deepika Padukone’s cleavage show”.

To which, Deepika had responded with: “YES! I am a Woman. I have breasts AND a cleavage! You got a problem!!??”

Gupta, then employed with Bombay Times, took to the front page of the newspaper ‘calling out’ Deepika for her hypocrisy because clearly why should you exercise any agency over your body when you are in Bollywood. The lines from the article — which should warm the cockles of your heart — said, ‘Deepika, just for the record, we do not zoom into a woman’s vagina or show her nipples… What about all the times, and there have been many, when you have flaunted your body off screen — while dancing on stage, posing for magazine covers, or doing photo ops at movie promotional functions? What ‘role’ do you play there? So why the hypocrisy?’

Obviously, people were very impressed by Gupta’s school of feminism. The one that shames women, completely dismisses any sort of consent over how they appear in popular media, and supports arguments in a top publication with bold pictures of the actress. So subtle. 

Recently, karma came calling.

Priya Gupta abandoned her role as the resident chauvinist and was in the process of being appointed GM-marketing, communications, and digital for BCCI. With a fat pay check and everything. But BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary played spoilsport, citing that apart from not being experienced for the job, a simple search would reveal Gupta’s role in ‘slut shaming Deepika Padukone.’ He goes on to say that a background check would have revealed this, and it should be a matter of concern for the company. He, of course, has refused to sign Gupta’s appointment letter.

*wipes away tears*

Can we just take a moment to appreciate this man and what he has done? 

In a country where it looks like women won’t stand up for women, he did and we applaud him for that.