Swastika Mukherjee Got A Fabulous Haircut. The Internet Decided That The Look Was That Of A Cancer Patient. This Is Extremely Insensitive
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”, “All that glitters is not gold”, “Things are never what they appear to be on the surface”, all these idioms and sayings have been an integral part of not just our curriculum while growing up, but also sound advices to hold on to when it comes to living life. And while everything that we are taught in school and by our parents suggests a more in-depth and thorough perspective towards life, we are seldom ever able to look past the superficiality of things.
A short skirt? Provocative slut. Loud mouth? Arrogant and unmannerly. Smokes and drinks? Disgraceful and un-womanly. Feminist? Rebellious. Tattoos? Spoiled. You see, we are all too quick to jump down to conclusions, sticking to stereotypes that typecast people (especially women) into certain categories and adjectives on the basis of their looks. What is supposed to be a personal choice, one’s appearance, has now become a matter of public concern that the society uses to judge people on. And the recent one being, short hair, that apparently makes one a cancer patient. It’s appalling that we seem to have fallen to this level of insensitivity.
This after the Dil Bechara actress, Swastika Mukherjee was recently called out for being either a cancer patient or a drug addict, soon after she got herself a chic haircut, one that gave her an undercut with long hair on one end and buzzed short on the other. I thought it was kickass. But not so much the internet. Apparently, this is a sign that means that you have a disease, because only then is a woman entitled to having her hair cut up short.
No I don’t have cancer ( I pray I don’t have it ever), No I don’t do drugs, I don’t smoke weed/hash, No I have never visited a rehabilitation Center. It’s my head and my hair so I can and will do whatever the hell I want with it.
All questions answered ?! Now chill 😅😊🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/G1EG71rFTH— Swastika Mukherjee (@swastika24) August 19, 2020
Also Read : Padma Laxmi Talked About A Non-Indian Guy Who Took An Objection At His Son Eating Indian Food Because He Thought It Would Be “Too Spicy”. Seriously, What Are These Stereotypes?
Soon after the actress posted a picture of herself, rocking her new look, she was swamped with the news of false rumours talking about her health and/or addiction. Taking to Twitter to put all of them to rest, and making a point while at it, Swastika wrote, “No I don’t have cancer ( I pray I don’t have it ever), No I don’t do drugs, I don’t smoke weed/hash, No I have never visited a rehabilitation Center. It’s my head and my hair so I can and will do whatever the hell I want with it. All questions answered ?! Now chill.”
And that is exactly what people were lacking – chill. Allowing themselves the liberty to jump down to absurd, offensive and insensitive judgements, people this time took their stereotyping one step too far and Swastika wasn’t having any of it. Several other people from the industry also came to her support, like Bengali actor Rukmini Maitra and wrote, “KICK-ASS. By every possible means” on her reply.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDhYqTdBYZO/
Meanwhile, Author Kiran Manral wrote, “Arey. You are looking fierce. That’s a rad cut.” Another Twitter user wrote, “Isn’t it amazing? Change something about your appearance = people lose their minds.” It wasn’t the first time that celebrities, or even people like us were held up to unbelievable clichés where no matter how saintly you may be, if you have a piercing on your eyebrow, you will have to be a badass spoilt brat.
A while back, Swastika had a fan comment on her photo, “Looking so bad”, to which she replied like a boss and wrote, “Bad is in. Cheers to looking bad.” While she may have handled the criticism in the best way possible, it is imperative for the public to realise that nothing gives them the right to pigeonhole someone or reduce them to just their looks. What you may see on the outside, could not be what is on the inside, and more importantly it is not your place to judge people on the basis of what they put on their backs.
