Fatima Shaikh Is Dealing With Sexual Harassment In Silence And We Think That’s Okay
The#MeToo movement, still coming in waves, was an eye opener for most of us. To realise how many of the women were, and possibly still are, dealing with sexual harassment was as saddening as it was empowering. But amidst all of this, we might have misconstrued the meaning of courage.
Courage is not just when we choose to stand against the wrong but also when we choose to deal with it in silence. All of us are fighting our own battles and are entitled to do it the way that suits us best. While a lot of women stepped up to bring forward the names of the perpetrators, there are women who decided against it and chose to not let it define them. Because let’s face it, slut shaming is national past time that we indulge in quite rabidly and with glee.
Fatima Sana Shaikh, the Dangal star, recently talked about this in a recent interview and said, “I don’t want to expose that side of my life I’m dealing with it, speaking to people I’m close to. Just like I won’t judge those who want to share their horror stories, I expect not to be judged for not sharing mine.”
She further added how she applauds the #MeToo movement for it began the change we see now, but talks about how it used to be an entirely different story a while back by commenting, “Now sexual predators are scared of being shamed in public and shunned by the industry. For so many years we had normalised assault to such an extent that women had come to accept abuse as something that was normal.”
While it is disheartening to know that the notion of ‘shame’ sometimes overpowers everything in its wake, even the need for justice, we applaud Fatima for weathering through this storm, in silence but with the resilience of a soldier.
