Prachi Nigam, a teen from Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, has secured the top rank in the state’s Class 10 board exams with an outstanding score of 98.5%. However, her achievement was overshadowed by a wave of online trolling targeting her physical appearance.
Snide remarks, mockery and misogynistic judgement were aimed at Prachi for having facial hair, with some trolls resorting to manipulating her photo to conform to stereotypical beauty standards.
However, after noticing the online trolling, netizens also came forward to defend Prachi, while celebrating her excellent achievements.
The trollers don’t even think twice what they’re trolling and who they’re trolling. It’s pathetic. I wish she didn’t read those comments ever, it may harm her confidence forever.
Hormonal imbalance can occur to anyone anytime. We must refrain from mocking it. #PrachiNigam https://t.co/INsZnS32Jb— Adesh Goyal ???????? (@adeshgoyal26) April 21, 2024
I congratulate #PrachiNigam for topping the UP Board High School exams
It’s sad to learn that people are trolling her. #PCOS is a debilitating condition, not only physically, but socially and mentally.
Very proud that she has achieved this success despite her health issues pic.twitter.com/B0lw68NrzJ
— Priyanka Matanhelia (Ph.D) (@SavvyPriya) April 21, 2024
It’s distasteful to mock this young girl Prachi Nigam over her facial hair which may be due to hormonal imbalance, after she emerged as Class 12 UP board topper.
More power to such bright females — the hope of our country.
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— Rohan Dua (@rohanduaT02) April 20, 2024
Indian chess grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand has likewise extended support to Prachi and asked her to remain focused on her academic goals.
Other users shared similar experiences. “When I got a 90 percent in my ICSE some building aunties went to my school to crosscheck that my family and I weren’t lying because they thought I was ‘too well-groomed to be intelligent’. There is no way for women to win — you’re always too fat, too thin, too pretty, too ugly. So, you do you, because authenticity is always greater than sh**-takes,” wrote author and journalist Meghna Pant.
On Wednesday, Prachi herself came forward to confront the misogynistic trolling aimed at her direction.
“Trollers can live with their mindset, I am happy that my success is now my identity,” she said, emphasizing how her attention was focused on her studies. “My family, my teachers, my friends never criticized me for my appearance and I never bothered about it either. It was only when my photograph was published after the results that people started trolling me and then my attention was drawn to the problem. My aim is to become an engineer and what will ultimately matter are my marks and not the hair on my face.”
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