In a society that is constantly obsessed with fair skin, sanskaar and virginity, for a woman like Sunny Leone  to gain acceptance isn't easy. Predictably, she has always been a fodder for trolls who spin countless memes about her on the internet. They are almost always on the lookout to attack her on her public posts, especially on Instagram and Facebook. The main reason why she is a target for trolls is that Leone was once a porn star in America. Later she moved to India and made a career switch. She is still primarily perceived as a sex symbol and is mostly offered item songs and sex siren roles. Of course, to respect her choices is NOT something that comes naturally to most of us.

We are a society that is scared of the three-letter word, the crux of our existence - Sex. It is a hush-hush word, not meant to be talked about in the open. Topics related to sexuality are still a taboo. We even do not have proper sex education in schools till date. Our inhibitions regarding talking about sexuality is a primary reason why we are easily offended at the mention of it and even at things that does not conform to our moral standards, like homosexuality, nudity and PDA.

On the occasion of Father's Day, Sunny Leone's husband Daniel Weber shared  semi-nude pictures with his children and wife. Leone and Weber became parents to twin boys Asher and Noah recently. In 2017 they also adopted a girl from Maharashtra and named her Nisha.

Weber shared a picture with Leone and daughter Nisha on Father's Day.

Life !!! By @tomasmoucka !!!!

A post shared by Daniel "Dirrty" Weber (@dirrty99) on

Weber shared a picture with sons Asher and Noah on Father's Day.

But people particularly had a problem with how both parents were in a semi-nude state in the picture. And they went on to say the most horrible things about the couple.

This was not the first time that Leone's daughter Nisha was on the target of trolls. When the first picture of the actress and her daughter were out, a lot of social media trolls took note of the child's wheatish skin colour and commented on it. They had all kinds of absurd theories about why Nisha had a darker skin tone. Some of them also blamed it on Leone's stint as a porn star.

Leone has been always judged for her choices and seen as a destructive agent in the maintaining the morality of our society. This has been made evident at several occasions. For instance, in 2017 her new year performance was cancelled in Bengaluru, following protests against her presence due to her pornographic past. After the protesters threatened mass suicide, she was eventually denied permission to perform. FIRs were lodged against her and her website for threatening Indian morality.

Also, Leone has been indirectly attacked on national television too. In an infamous interview on a popular news channel in 2016, which has been termed as sexist and misogynist by many, she was asked questions like -"Do you believe that your body will ultimately take you everywhere?" and "Am I being morally corrupted because I’m interviewing you? " Leone however gracefully responded to all the questions.

Though, on the brighter side, there were also a lot of people who did write good things about the picture and appreciated the family.

 

Having stated it all, here are some arguments why we shouldn't be so harsh on the actress. Firstly, what Leone posted didn't need to be sexualised. Her past life choices cannot be a ground to judge her present and practically everything she does. It was a harmless picture. And every parent has the right to raise their kids their own way, of course, unless there is any exploitation or abuse involved. Secondly, we can, instead of criticising her for the past, take a moment and appreciate the fact that she opted for adoption to become a parent. Not a lot of us have the heart to do so. Moreover, to be a porn star was her conscious choice and she has no qualms about it.  Lastly, don't we all grow and change with time and none of us likes to be judged for something we did ten years ago?

And finally, here's a question to leave you with to ponder upon - Are the values and culture that we were raised with, so fragile that a picture from a particular celebrity can destroy them all?

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 18, 2018 04:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).