There are a lot of dumb posters floating around on Facebook, so one more does not surprise me, but the people who share them never cease to amaze me. What were they thinking while they hit the ‘like’ button and shared it? Were they agreeing with what’s expressed therein, that is, assuming they understood what it means, or was it a case of a casual moment of looks-good-so-let-me-not-miss-the-opportunity-to-share-too?

Look at the above example. Apart from the apostrophe being where it has no business to be, the message itself is nothing but hokum-bunkum. A daughter never was tension and never is. It is society’s notions of a daughter, which people have not had the gumption to question, that is the reason for the so-called ‘tension’. So it does not merit attention.

Next we come to the undisguised flattery aimed at women in general, all women being daughters (just as all men are sons). It is exactly such empty flattery down the ages that has landed us women into the undesirable position we are in. So we are Goddesses, epitomes of sacrifice, patient like Mother Earth (but even she grumbles and rumbles and destroys), and more such blah-blah, the latest being that they are equal to ten sons (Okay, I am aware they wanted something that rhymes with ‘tension’ and hence ‘ten sons’!)

Like, really?!

How special it must make you feel, to proclaim how you as a daughter are equal to ten sons?! Ahh the feeling of warm glow! Guess what, it is a false glow that you don’t actually deserve. Why, when you have been warned all your life against falling for flattery, do you slip and fall flat on your face for these honeyed words, meaningless to the core, only meant to make addicts out of women with their saccharine sweetness? By the number of Facebook ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ such nonsense gets, it is amply evident how easily conned women are.

As for me, I have only this to say: No, I don’t believe a daughter is equal to 10 sons, in today’s world or any other world. Daughters are daughters, and sons are sons, humans with their inherent frailties and strengths. However there may be a particular daughter or son who is equal to ten other CHILDREN. Name the individuals, praise them. No problems. But don’t sell me (or anyone for that matter) this feel-good gibberish that being a daughter automatically confers some sort of special status on me, that with the territory comes some special powers that make me superior.

Stop believing and reveling in such fake and stupid sentiments (thankfully there are many sensible beings who don’t). Gender does NOT confer superiority, not on the men, not on women. And oh, while at it, please stop saying ‘my daughter is like a son to me’. No it is NOT a compliment at all, and is totally unacceptable. (Thank you, Prerna).