New Delhi: Pakistani actor, director and poet Yasra Rizvi caused a stir on social media, posting pictures of herself in shackles to symbolise forced marriages. Her posts on Instagram received mixed response, with some praising her “powerful” campaign against divorce shaming while others mocking it as a representation of BDSM.
Many publications, including Dawn and BOL News, called the images part of a “powerful” campaign to highlight the rights of women in forced marriages and the need to end divorce shaming.
“Forced marriages and divorce shaming are not ways to respect tradition. These are blatant attacks on basic human rights and sadly the most common and accepted ones around us,” Rizvi wrote in a caption for one of the pictures, in which she can be seen lying on the ground in a red bridal sari, shackled with smudged make-up.
Rizvi, 38, has played the female lead in a number of Pakistani television serials, like Mann Ke Moti, Woh Dobara, Thoda Sa Aasman and Ustani Jee, and most recently, Churails — a feminist detective show that was banned last year for its bold depiction of women.
In the other two pictures, posted by Rizvi two days ago, she can be seen with chains around her neck, like a leash. In the caption of one of the pictures, she raised calls to end domestic violence.
“Stand up for your daughters and sisters and friends and female relatives and abused neighbours or that random woman being beaten up by her husband in a restaurant while he says ‘yeh hamara aapas ka maamla hai‘ (it’s our affair/it’s our business) before you get to carry one of your own to the graveyard just because you were too busy being polite!”
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
Club 432, a performance, learning and production center for the creative arts in Karachi, and photographer Murtaza Kaiser Ali Khan collaborated with Rizvi for the photo shoot.
‘You’ve won hearts through this’
On Instagram, Rizvi’s three posts kicked up a storm, attracting over 1,500 comments within a span of a few days. Several users praised the actress for speaking out on sensitive issues like abusive marriages and subjugation of women in certain relationships.
“What a strong post. The way you portrayed it is amazing!!! Goosebumps,” wrote a user by the name of saniyamazher.
“You’ve won hearts through this,” wrote another.
Hashtags like #saynotoforcedmarriage and #stopdivorceshaming flooded comments section on Instagram, with some users pointing out that “mostly men” would be triggered by such images.
“Mostly men are triggered by these images because they feel attacked as they should! This is how every abused women feel everyday, she may not look like in chains but she is in her mind 24/7,” wrote a user by the name Aqsaa2014.
‘Looks like BDSM in desi style’
While most of the response towards Rizvi’s pictures on social media appeared to be positive, many on Twitter used it as an opportunity to mock her poetry.
Yasra rizvi after listening her own poetry. https://t.co/dPgYZlixJW
— N. (@littlefingor) October 3, 2021
That's how poetry feels at the hands of Ms. Rizvi https://t.co/dfSgpK1ltx
— اسد (@asad_________) October 3, 2021
Rizvi often uploads short clips of herself, reciting her poetry on Instagram. In October 2019, she performed at Mushaira, an Urdu poetic symposium held in Dubai, in the presence of renowned poets like Tahir Faraz, Shabeena Adeeb, Sampat Saral and Iqbal Ashhar.
Some Twitter users also mocked her pictures by associating them with BDSM, an acronym for a variety of sexual practices involving bondage, discipline, dominance, submission etc.
At the first sight, I thought first Pakistani BDSM movie is going to release ? https://t.co/D0oVIBrykg
— Nimra Ali (@iNimraAli) October 3, 2021
looks some BDSM stuff in desi style https://t.co/fn55BA4GCk
— hercules shadow (@doncorl3on3) October 3, 2021
The posts also resurrected previous criticisms against Rizvi for being married to a man ten years younger to her. In the past, the actor has clapped back at critics questioning the age difference between her and her husband.
In 2017, shortly after she married Abdul Hadi, who was then reportedly a college student, Rizvi had posted a video message on Facebook, saying that it was no one’s concern as to what transpires in her personal life and her settlement and age difference are both in accordance with Islam.
My take on the debate about age difference between me and my husband and my mehr.
Yasra Rizvi द्वारा इस दिन पोस्ट की गई रविवार, 1 जनवरी 2017