When Women Decided To Go Bare Breasts To Protest A Professor's Sexist Remark

Wednesday, March 21, 2018, 15:54

There are so many bizarre instances where people tend to choose to make a change in the most unique and quirky way possible.

Most of the protests that people do these days involve a quirky edge to it, as straight-forward protests are always unheard of and doing something out of the box is what gains all the attention.

All About Watermelon Protest Controversy

And the recent watermelon controversy is a perfect example of this!

Here, we bring to you the details of this controversy of "Maaru thurakkal samaram", which means a protest to bare the breasts. It was done on purpose to stop sexualizing women's bodies.

Learn more about this, here.

How Did It All Start?

A demeaning and an outrageous remark made by a Kerala professor has caused an uproar on social media. The professor apparently told that women in his college were not wearing the hijab properly and deliberately were exposing their chests like "sliced watermelon."

It Is From A Video Which Is 3 Months Old!

The video in which the professor is seen making the deteriorating remark about women's breast is a 3-month-old video, which had surfaced recently and women decided to protest against it.

The Remark

The professor said, "I am a teacher of a college where 80% of students are girls and a majority of them are Muslims. Though they wear the hijab, they expose some part of their chest defeating the very purpose of wearing them. They expose, you know like how we cut a slice of melon to see whether it is ripe or not."

A Campaign Began

A campaign began after the video went viral. The campaign having a hashtag 'Maaruthurakkal samaram', which means 'stir to bare the breasts', was started. Women started posting pictures of their bare breasts and posed with watermelons on their social media page.

When The Activists Decided To Make A Difference

A Thiruvananthapuram-based social activist Diya Sana posted two nude pictures of her friend, holding watermelons. In her protest, she asked the world: "Women should have the liberty to wear what they want. When will our society stop objectifying women?"

The Pictures Were Taken Down By

It just took a few hours for Diya's post to go viral and the photos were taken down by Facebook. She was also penalized by Facebook, as she was not allowed to use her own account for 24 hours!

But Why All The Craze?

When the pictures were taken down, there was a mixed reaction seen for the bizarre protest and the outcome to it was that some women abused these women for sharing such pictures on social media.

What is your take on this? Do you think it was necessary to take this step ahead or, with things gaining social media attention in no time, is it another move which will vanish in thin air? Let us know your thoughts on the same in the comment section.