My body is not anyone else’s to comment on: Sitar player Anoushka Shankar slams body-shaming trolls
NEW DELHI: Sitar player Anoushka Shankar on Friday slammed body-shaming trolls which had made unsolicited sexist comments on her photos and stories on Instagram, saying her body “is not anyone else’s to comment on.”
The musician, daughter of Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, posted a series of her pictures with corresponding sexist statements about her clothes and body by “male strangers”.This, here, is a body. In one sense, JUST a body (everyone has one!) and therefore nothing special. In another sense (like EVERY body!) it is also a miracle. When I think of what my body has carried me through I’m filled with awe and gratitude,” she wrote on Instagram.This body has birthed two children, survived child sexual abuse and several dangerous situations with men, healed through four major surgeries, suffered through polycystic ovarian syndrome with heavy period pain and migraines from the age of eleven, made it through addiction, held me through battles with undiagnosed neurodivergence (and all its accompanying confusion, stress and exhaustion), fought and come to terms with an autoimmune disorder,” she said.The “Breathing Under Water” artist added that she hasn’t got to this point “only to accept any banal, pathetic comments (male) strangers need to bring into my orbit”.
“For the people in the back: My body is not anyone else’s to comment on. My choices -all of them- are mine to make. To anyone else who receives these kinds of comments, either in public or in private, I see you, and I’m with you. It’s not your shame to carry, it’s theirs,” Shankar added.
Shankar shared more rude comments that were left on a carousel and stories of photos of a holiday with her children.
The 44-year-old added that her body has been a “complete, badass warrior” on her behalf.
While one commented, “Indian classical music is sacred music. But the attire worn is not matching”, another wrote, “You are blessed but no need to show cleavage”.