The internet can be an awful space on some days. The power associated with social media gives people a sense of voice in a lot of good ways, but with it, also comes the other spectrum of things. Trolling is just one of those – where people use this power as a means to feed off of it. In a recent instance, the UP class 10 board topper was trolled for looking a certain way – and somehow, we have hit a new low.
After being declared the UP topper, Prachi Nigam was interviewed by a number of news outlets. With the videos accessible to people, for some reason, they felt the need to share opinions on how the student looked. Someone on Twitter (or X) went as far as to comment on how the student should “focus on her grooming”. It didn’t sit well with people that a girl has facial hair.
When these negative comments started surfacing on the internet, a number of other people pointed that these comments were wrong because the student could be dealing with health issues that we don’t know of. This is one of the reasons, but it’s not good enough. We find the constant need to comment on people’s looks and our opinions of what ‘perfection’ looks like. And that’s problematic because it is, and not just because we have to have a reason to stop.
The accessibility that comes with social media should be a good thing, and if we somehow ruin that, then it says so much about people. Clearly, machines are not the bigger problem. In this case, especially, if people can stoop as low as to turn a good thing (a win, of sorts) into a conversation about a minor’s looks, then we know where we are.
There will always be unrealistic standards that come with being a woman. This is not even about just that, though. It’s about how deeply flawed we are when we get a kick out of the power that comes with being able to troll.
