'My body, my cleavage': Sona Mohapatra hits out at troll; recalls facing sexual misconduct in college

Popular singer Sona Mohapatra is one who has never shied away from confrontations, making revelations or speaking her mind. And this time, the talented 44-year-old, is calling out trolls for victim-blaming and shaming after she shared an incident from her college days where she was a victim of eve-teasing and harassment. 

On Monday, while sharing her experience of 'victim-blaming' with followers on social media, a part of #INeverAskForIt, a movement initiated by Blank Noise -- "a community of ‘Action Sheroes, Theyroes and Heroes’, individuals and citizens united to eradicate gender-based and sexual violence" --  that has been launched to protest against victim-blaming, especially in the case of sexual assault survivors, who are frequently asked what they wore at the time of a sexual assault, Sona elaborated one such incident and wrote, "During my BTech Engg, walking to the microprocessor lab in a loose khadi green kurta with a salwar. Seniors whistling, speculating loudly about my bra size. One 'well-wisher' walked up and asked why I wasn`t wearing my dupatta `properly`, fully covering my b***s." 

In a separate tweet, the singer urged everyone to share their ordeal with victim-blaming. She tagged Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor, singer Chinmayi Sripaada and a few others in her tweet. She wrote, "Tweet what you remember wearing when you experienced sexual violence, threat or intimidation. Draw attention to victim blame."

Reacting to Sona's tweet, a section of netizens trolled her saying she wrote such things because she was hungry for publicity. 

One user wrote, "iska rona chalu hogaya, attention & sympathy seeker. if you are so much worried, why you do hot photoshoots showing full cleavage. instead of doing all this drama, singing pe dhyan diya hota, you would be better singer. in all your pics you see to it cleavage is seen properly (sic)."

To this Sona gave a fitting reply and wrote, "Cus it’s my body, my cleavage Mr. Jay whoever. I do as I please with it (sic)."

Cus it’s my body, my cleavage Mr. Jay whoever. I do as I please with it. https://t.co/hfNrKvwJad

— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) November 23, 2020

While this was just one of the many hate and negative comments on Sona's Twitter timeline, there were a few others who could relate to what the singer said and shared their opinions and experiences on the same.

"Being an ex-cetian, I second that. 1st yr and you are supposed to be totally covered up. Seniors ogling at you. Male classmates having endless night discussions on your size and beauty. Some girls enjoyed the attention. Some like me always wondered why? #INeverAskForIt," commented a user.

"College campuses are abs the worst. They should have an orientation program or better, schools should have sex-ed classes on how to handle puberty and how harassment is not manliness," suggested another user.

Meanwhile, some social media users including journalists, celebrities and politicians also shared their stories of sexual abuse with photos of the clothes they were wearing at the time, to support the campaign.