Kabir Singh Wannabe Blackmails Women Using Nudes, But It’s Their Fault?

Inspired by Kabir Singh, Delhi man posed as surgeon and extorted money from women after threatening to release their nudes. Why do women still fear this?

It hasn’t even been a year since the controversial ‘Kabir Singh’ was released.  The movie was in the news for all the wrong reasons, including its glorification of toxic masculinity. On one hand, it raised the questions of artist freedom, at the same time, cinema is notoriously famous for inspiring people to act like the characters. 

Recently, a Delhi man was inspired by one of the most unexpected things from the movie. The 31-year-old pretended to be an orthopaedic surgeon on dating apps to con women, NDTV reported. All this because Kabir Singh, somehow, made orthopaedic surgeons look sexy. So this man thought attracting girls would be easy if he posed as a surgeon.

Kumar’s ploy raises the question of why it is so easy for men to blackmail women by threatening them with the leaking of their nudes? Well because it is the man who is committing the crime but the onus of that also lies on the woman, thanks to patriarchy!

Blame the culprit not the woman

Women’s nudes being leaked is not a new thing at all, whether they are real or morphed, several women have had their private pictures leaked. Right from celebrities like Demi Lovato and Jennifer Lawrence to 15-year-old girls whose pictures were morphed in the #boislockerroom incident.

Many women go through this, and sadly, it is always the women who are questioned. We are asked why we shared our nudes in the first place, or why did we trust people! And why did we upload those pictures and like why do we even use the internet?

But the men are not asked anything because they are always decent right?

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We need to get one thing clear- if someone has sent their private pictures to you, they trust you. And they haven’t consented to you sharing those pictures!

Sending nudes is not a crime!

Society has made the leaking of nudes a crime committed by the woman. And this is now, ingrained in our systems! 

In school, I remember talking to a boy from my school on Facebook. At some point, the conversation got uncomfortable and I stopped talking to him. That’s when he said if I didn’t continue talking to him, he would morph my pictures and release them. 

I was a kid and I was scared. Deep down, I thought it’s all my fault for talking to a boy, having a social media account, and posting pictures online. Thus, to me, it was all my fault.

This very thought made me succumb to his requests of talking to him despite being uncomfortable. Things were sorted when I told my parents but till date, the incident haunts me. All because, for a very long time I thought that it’s all my fault. And that I am the one who should have taken care of.

Our society blames the woman when her nudes are leaked. And that is the very reason why women give in to blackmailing. All this to prevent the slut-shaming that will come their way when their nudes are leaked.

What should we do?

As a society, we need to make a more comfortable environment for women. We need to understand that women whose nude photos been leaked online have nothing to be ashamed about. Ever.

Our society has no right to slut-shame a woman or question her character over leaked nude. After all, what does it prove about her character? That she trusted someone whose intention was bad, was her fault? What should she be ashamed of, that she has a body under her clothes?

Neither having a body nor trusting people is an objectionable trait. What’s objectionable is the mentality of the perpetrator and the society who blame the woman.

Picture credits: Still from movie Kabir Singh and Picsart

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