How fish fries can make someone feminist?
In India, from birth onwards, girls are subjected to several unwritten rules. It is applicable in Kerala too even if the intensity of these rules is less. Typically in a Kerala household girls and boys are treated differently. There are chores that only girls can do or are supposed to do! Most household chores are the responsibility of girls. She might be responsible for washing the unclean utensils of her brother and other household members. There are even some unwritten rules in serving food at a dining table. Rima Kallingal, the recipient of the Kerala state award for best actress in 2013, in a TEDx talk shared how she became a feminist because of three fish fries. Her story is the best example to showcase the discrimination girls face at their dining tables.
When Kallingal was 12 years old, her family was having dinner. She, her grandmother, her father, and her brother was seated while her mother was serving the food. Even though the mother can sit down if everyone serves their meals that never happened. There were three fish fries which Kallingal’s mother serves to the males and her mother-in-law. The youngest girl starts weeping thinking why she does not deserve to have the fish fry. Her mother considers this as an overreaction. I think little Rima Kallingal might have received the fish fry if the maternal grandmother was seated instead of the paternal grandmother. Kallingal’s mother who refuses to give fish fry to her daughter is probably doing it because she might not have probably got fish fries her entire life.
Upon publishing Kallingal’s TEDx talk she received massive criticism and online trolling from social media platforms. She was brutally bullied online. Some bullies said that Rima Kallingal must be given three fish fries immediately to shut her up. She was trolled and criticized by the patriarchal elements of society. Her troll videos were in trend in video streaming websites. One of the major criticisms Kallingal faced was that she is being silly and should move on from the fish fry. I agree it is silly for all those privileged males who were served fish fries even before asking for it. This is not only the incident where Kallingal was cyberbullied.
I surveyed eighteen Keralite women, nine mothers in their 40s and early fifties, and their daughters who were between the ages of 18 and 21. Every three mother-daughter pairs were Christians, Hindus, and Muslims. This was to examine how religion affects their views. Considering these eighteen women, I found out that religion did not play many roles. Mother-daughter pairs were from different parts of Kerala. When asked except one 20 years old, all were never bullied online. It was later revealed that it’s because they limit what they post online. More than 76 percent agreed that they think twice before posting something online. That is the main reason why they were not bullied. Women have less freedom of expressing opinions in public.
Table of Contents
- Kerala a South Indian State
- Cyber Harassment Cases in Kerala and Culture
- How fish fries can make someone feminist?
- Parvathy Thiruvothu- A Fearless Woman
- Bhagyalakshmi and group
- Ethically Right Or Wrong?
- A Positive Change
- References