As the whole nation is under a 21-day lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus, Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan recently posted a video on his official Facebook page where he is seen having a tough time at home doing domestic chores. The clip titled 'Reality hits hard', which also has his wife in it, was posted on March 24 and has received over 475K reactions so far. While it is meant to be 'hilarious', here are certain things that aren't okay about it.
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#1 PROMOTES PATRIARCHY: So what is wrong with doing your laundry? From an international icon to regular government staff, men expect their wives, mothers, sisters or daughters to deal with their dirty clothes. Because washing, like cooking, cleaning and babysitting are feminine chores that women are expected to carry out.
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We all have been socially engineered to follow this age-old sexist concept and our opinion leaders are in no mood to break these conventions. But what if it is her clothes? It doesn't make a difference. Women have been cleaning their men's clothes for generations and there is nothing wrong in returning the favour.
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#2 THE WRONG MESSAGE: 'Men going out to hunt while women staying in and guarding the house is a law of nature.' This has been the alibi for women having to drop their careers and dreams post-marriage to settle down as devoted 'homemakers.' But hey, it is a national lockdown and all women and men are equally jobless. So with no hunting to do, men can try some homemaking which includes disinfecting the toilets. Wedlock means you share stuff and not just the good stuff. To crib about cleaning the washroom while your wife takes some time off is just following the same chauvinistic thinking that blames women for rape.
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#3 NAIVE GENERALISATION: So while the man of the family toils with domestic chores, the woman gets busy before the mirror. Evidently, with no options of outdoor fun during the lockdown, she isn't getting ready to go anywhere. So the idea is what women love to do during their leisure time is applying lipsticks and eyeliners. People read, dance, play video games to kill time... But when it comes to portraying women, it needs to be the cliche of 'beautiful me'. But even then, it is fine because if men set up an entire gym in the house or have a beard of their choice, it's okay to have a few bottles and boxes before the mirror.
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#4 THE SONG SUCKS: The score he has chosen for the clip (or was it the clip for the song!) is just brilliant for the mood but is highly misogynistic. Here is a man, who has taken scary bouncers to the ribs, fractured his thumb and hurt his shoulder among many other injuries during his time on the field without a problem. Having dealt with all that in the line of duty, now he wants to say that his marriage has been more painful than all of them and that he has been shedding tears since day one?
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#5 POLITICAL CORRECTNESS MATTERS: Last but not the least, to those who feel sorry for us because we take 'every little thing seriously.' Many people like to call citizens of Northeast states chinkis or coronavirus and men with beard Taliban. Why, because it is 'funny.' The term 'Nigger' keeps coming out during conversations because that is 'funny' too. Ridiculing a person's belly, caste, speaking difficulties or even eyesight can look 'funny' until you are at the receiving end. If body shaming, racism and casteism are things of past, then misogyny has to go too.
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Of all things the earth lacks, from ozone cover to groundwater, good jokes are not one. Just visit the Facebook pages of English international Jofra Archer or Dhawan's senior teammate Irfan Pathan. In fact, the stylish opener himself has been part of some really hilarious posts on social media.
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