Things didn’t go as planned for three women who simply decided to make a TikTok.
Social media personality Saumiya, decided to make a video with her friends, while being dressed in an Indian attire, like hundreds of people do. Saumiya’s video attacked the Bollywood representation of women in movies during a regular dance number. Claiming that when they do it, it is supposed to be fine, but as soon as normal girls in the same attire start dancing or twerking, their character is questioned. Her point was unfortunately proven right, when she and her father received several disgusting messages, from strangers and relatives, questioning the now-viral TikTok.
Saumiya took to Instagram to post about her ordeal. “Apparently I’m prostituting myself under a bridge in Oslo because I publicly choose to dress & dance differently than you? I understand why most Brown girls are living double lives. Our people will go to great lengths to try to shame you,” she captioned her post.
Saumiya expressed that her relative suggested to prostitute herself under a bridge, while others leaked her father’s number and sent him unnecessarily disgusting texts. One comparatively cleaner text read, “You should rather beg for money on the street, than tolerating this. That’s a more honourable and respectful life, you street rat.”
Saumiya did not take down the video and instead called out her relatives and the misogynistic men attacking her and her family. She soon posted a message dedicated to South-Asian women on her story. It read: “I want all the South Asian out there to know that I refuse to let any man, cousin or auntie silence me. I will not stop being myself to please a culture that’s trying to control woman by shaming and degrading us.”