The #ProudToBeR movement, though intended to reclaim a slur and promote empowerment, risks turning into a reckless spectacle that distorts genuine advocacy for women’s dignity, respect, and social awareness.
Divija Bhasin, a social media influencer, @awkwardgoat3 on Instagram, who is popularly known for challenging social themes, recently attempted to reclaim the slur usually pejoratively denoting sex workers, but not limited to that demographic, in response to the massive amount of hate comments that she receives where people called her a r**di.
Following this, several of her followers began using the hashtag, displaying the same on their Instagram profile bios. This also includes women who are pre-teens and underage—those who might not be fully aware of the semantic, social, and historical weight of the word.
The word, originally used to denote female sex workers and prostitutes, has now evolved into a derogatory insult which has been often used to easily target women who engage in any social behaviours that are deemed ‘unfavourable’ to society at large, but mostly men. Usage of this word is an ‘attempt’ to hammer a dent in a woman’s character. There has been an unfortunate normalisation of usage of the word, where it is used in daily conversations, flicked casually at the slightest inconvenience or irritation. Almost every woman at some age, at some place and in some situation has been subjected to the use of this word. And I’m no stranger to such experiences—I was labelled that in the 8th grade, at a time when I didn’t even know what the word meant. When I complained, my teacher dismissed it as nothing more than a “minor clash”.
The criticism for the same exists in a spectrum, varying in people’s reactions. Some argue that we can’t reclaim a word that has no neutral counterpart, which means that it is just plainly existing as a derogatory word without any terminology that could be a more respectful version of the same. An analogy of this could be derived from disparaging terms used for the African Americans and members of the LGBTQIA+ communities. While for the latter groups, it is clear who can reclaim the slurs used against them since the contours of membership are clearly defined, the former can claim no such clear delineation.
Some question why Divija has chosen to reclaim a word that was never hers to begin with. As a woman, it’s one of the most unhealthy manifestations of chauvinism and a projection of the toxic male ego onto them. It is simply more effective to call out the problematic nature of a deeply insulting word than to reclaim it with pride because the onus then lies on the person propagating it to visualise the political correctness of using this word with pride.
The third argument that we make here is how just the act of attempting to reclaim this word reeks of the privilege of being from an elite upper-class background. It is essential to call out the lack of sensitivity and understanding of the realities of living in vulnerable conditions, like sex workers who are deeply exploited in a country like India and have to fight tough battles every day, not just because of their work but because of the fact that it’s never stripped from their identity, which ultimately never gains them acceptance as being a ‘normal’ person with feelings and expectations.
I believe that confronting hateful and demeaning remarks with conviction is a strong and necessary response. Yet, urging followers to inundate platforms with hashtags they scarcely grasp reflects a troubling lapse in responsibility—particularly from someone whose reach and words hold the power to frame narratives and shape perception.
Through the course of writing this piece, my social media algorithm revealed a deeply unsettling trend. The incident seems to have emboldened certain voices to dismiss genuine advocacy for women’s dignity and the urgent need to instil basic respect and appropriate conduct toward women in Indian society. This, in turn, has fuelled a dangerous narrative — one that misleads people, especially teenage and young adult men, into believing that calls for respect are exaggerated, performative, or undeserving of serious attention. Under the overbearing weight of memes that celebrate and cherish this propaganda, let’s not forget the duty we carry as members of a society where women, with each passing minute, are shamed, raped, hit, acid-attacked and burnt because of the grave power asymmetry between the genders and their roles.
As a deeply divided society, we must confront a difficult question: where do we draw the line between advocacy and mockery? Both, when taken to their extremes, risk devolving into radicalisation and perversion on one end and bullying on the other. While this movement may have been met with resistance from the majoritarian perspective, it should instead ignite meaningful discourse. It stands as a stark reminder that it is long overdue for us to grant women the verbal justice they deserve—and to stop normalising their vilification simply for daring to rationally speak up, just because our deeply entrenched, insecure and patriarchal mindset can’t handle it.
Read Also: Patchwork Feminism: Are Women Truly Capable With Just Education Alone?
Image Credits- UN Women
Divyanshi Dusad
