Andleeb Zaidi
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Victim of body shaming/ 2016
Priyanka Bhatt, 'Life of a Muslim girl turned model', Jul 14, 2016: The Times of India
The phrase 'Log kya kahenge' has definitely killed more dreams than anything else in the world. This is the 21st century, but wearing a bikini is still considered taboo in some parts of our society.
We thought our mindset is changing, until we saw this post by our fbb Femina Miss India 2016 Bangalore and Campus Princess 2016, season 1 finalist, Andleeb Zaidi. In a Facebook post, Andleeb went on to share the shame she had to go through after her relatives saw her bikini pictures that were clicked as a part of the pageant. Is this what she deserves? Does she deserve to be shamed just because she wore a bikini?
Read the full letter here -
"Life of a Muslim girl turned model.. No journey is easy and especially when you belong to a Muslim family things become even worse. Most of you know about my Miss India journey and also about my modelling career but what you all need to know is about the shaming and the boycott I have to face along with my parents. After the Miss India pageant my bikini picture went viral and the 'oh-so-not-literate' relatives found the best opportunity there to pass a judgement for me. They called themselves my 'well-wishers' but hoped for the worst for me. Ever since my parents had to listen to comments like "your daughter is shameless", " she won't find place even in hell", and the most important one "She has brought disgrace to the family". Till this day I kept quiet, did not talk back to them because I respected them but it has to end now. I am one educated person who is legally eligible to decide her fate. It is my decision to be or not to be a model. To wear or not to wear whatever I want. I do not give anybody the right to correct me except for my parents. Nobody has the right to judge me for what I wore in a beauty pageant. This is my open letter to all those who think that I've committed the greatest sin of the time. It's my life. I can not be you and you definitely can not be me. And seriously, even if I was you, I'd wanna be me too."
- Andleeb Zaidi
Can we just let the girl fly and stop being so judgemental? You go girl! We loved the way you opened up about this and didn't succumb to the pressure. You are more than a piece of cloth you wear. Keep going. We're proud of you.
