Being judgemental and moral policing has been deeply ingrained in our society so much that girls are no strangers to people making disgusting remarks on their dresses, their choice to drink, and even object to women admitting that they enjoy sex. The most unfortunate thing is that until recently, women ignored these remarks and continued living their life. But times have changed and women no longer take derogatory remarks lying down.
Something similar happened when a college professor from Farook Training College, Kerala, said that the girl students “show off” their breasts like watermelons on display while addressing a gathering of Muslim families.
The assistant professor Jouhar Munavvir teaches social science at the Institute made some very disgusting remarks about the dresses of Muslim girls in the college calling it “un-Islamic”. As reported by Times Of India, he said,
“Instead of properly covering their head with scarf, these days girls wrap a shawl over their head and thereby exhibit some parts of their chest to give an indication like how a slice of a watermelon is put on display to reveal its ripeness. This is un-Islamic.”
He also had the audacity to smile in the video where he is talking about the exposed leggings of the girl students.
As reported by New Indian Express, he did not stop there in his speech. He further added how the breasts should be covered.
“I am a teacher of a college where 80 per cent of the students are girls of which a majority are Muslims. These girls wear leggings beneath the purdah and they hold the purdah deliberately up to show off the legging.
Don’t even talk about muftah. They tie it in such a way that their chest is not covered. A woman’s bosom is one of the body parts that attracts a man. And so it should be covered.“
The video of his speech where he made such horrible sexist remarks, has gone viral and has outraged students of the college. A huge number of girl students under the banner of SFI have taken out ‘watermelon march’, holding watermelon slices in their hands and demanding action against the professor.
As reported by The News Minute, CA Jawahar, the principal of Farook Training college has denied receiving any complaints about the incident and said that the speech was delivered at a counselling session. He said,
“The speech is from 3 months ago that the teacher made elsewhere and not in our campus. So we have no responsibility in that. He regularly holds talks and motivational speeches for families on holidays. No student has raised a complaint against him, so we are not in a position to take any action against him.”
As reported by Manorama, a social activist, Diya Sana, posted two pictures of a woman holding watermelons, one covering her face and the other covering her breasts in response to the sexist remarks.
She also used the #’Maaruthurakkal Samaram’ (stir to bare the breasts) which soon went viral on social media. However, following reports of nudity, the picture was taken down and she blocked from accessing her account.
A small group of girls have staged a protest against the protests by the student organisation stating that they are trying to malign the college and spread Islamophobia.
How disgusting is it that people who are supposed to be bringing a change in society and shaping young minds to work towards a better future resign to filthy comments and slut-shame the future of the country.