It’s horrifying to witness how the state of victim blaming and misogyny is deeply steeped within the minds of Pakistani men, that even little children aren’t spared from the mercy of trolls. Women aren’t born as products to fulfill the needs of the patriarchy, and its not the fault of a literal child, if a grown man cannot seem to see her as anything but a sexual object.
Armeena Khan was quick to school trolls who shamed her for simply uploading a video of her husband giving her baby a shower. Any other person would find this endearing on how fathers are adapting to taking care of children, but Pakistani men, for whom witnessing love and affection is odd and out of form, made a completly different interpretation of what was going on.
Soon after this video was posted, Khan shared this post where the user was shaming a literal infant for not adorning pardah before her father. The actress was quick to remind the trolls that her daughter wasn’t supposed to feel insecure and terrified around her father, and called out the dirty mind who peddle this misogynist mindset.
“Baby is literally a few days old, wtf is wrong with you disgusting people! He’s her FATHER! Dirty thoughts dirty people!”
This is the sad result of championing misgoynist beliefs in a country like Pakistan, that even a father taking responsibility of his child is considered odd, or even could spark hateful comments. Fathers are not baby sitters, or even temporary care takers, it is their responsibility to take their of their own children. As this user reccounted to Armeena that her own husband helps their daughter around the house when she’s not around, the actress reminded the woman that this is how fathers are supposed to be.
“He’s supposed to my love, he’s your fathers first Mehram. This is what happens when people conflate religion with culture. This culture is dirty and needs to change hoenstly.”
It is no surprise that Pakistan landed on the fourth spot in the list of most dangerous countries for women in 2021, because even an infant that is three days old isn’t spared from moral policing and sexual objectification from trolls. This entire spectacle has really taught us how difficult it is for women to exist freely on the internet, because we need to keep fighting back against attempts to shame or sexually objectify us. But its wonderful to see Armeena Khan setting an example, and reminding the mediocre minds of Pakistani men that women do not exist for their pleasure solely.
