Mithali Raj has an answer to shut down trolls once and for all

Being a woman sportsperson is more difficult than it appears, owing to the social stigma that unfortunately supersedes talent more often than not. With the advent of social media, people have become increasingly reckless and have resorted to trolling female sports stars on ridiculous topics that have nothing to do with the sport itself, on more than one occasion. Mithali Raj is no stranger to such ludicrous shaming as she’s been trolled in the past for choice of apparel and even the natural act of sweating!

As a cricketer, Mithali’s feats are plenty. Not only has she led India to two World Cup finals, but she’s also become the first woman cricketer to score 6000 ODI runs. In an interview to India Today, the exceptionally talented lady revealed how she sees such baseless trolling.

Mithali hits out at trolls

Expressing her views on the matter of trolls, she said, “Sometimes I feel people have way too much time in their lives that they do this (troll) and they only try to figure out the negativity in the people and post it. For all those strong people who have come out in support of me I would like to thank them and also tell women should not be discouraged by these trolls as it is definitely not worth our time. Social media is a medium in which people can reach out to anybody. Everybody has the rights to express their feelings but people also need to understand that when they have their rights then even we also have the rights to put up whatever we want and if you don’t like it then do not follow it as simple as that.”

Stressing on individual freedom to practice what they like, the Indian skipper said, “People need to understand that sportspeople do have other lives and it is just not limited to sports. If I am a sportsperson then I do not need to be in a sports attire. People do have lives other than sports and everybody wants to live a normal life and people should accept that.”

Mithali feels trolls affect parents of the involved

When asked if she feels people tend to misuse the power they’ve been trusted with when it comes to being able to contact their favourite celebrities, Raj opined, “I think so because when you are on a public platform then you need to think that whatever they post should not affect the family members of the people you are attacking. For me it does not matter because I have seen lot bigger challenges than just being trolled for something so frivolous and I just laughed it out.”

“Probably it will not be same for my parents who come from a humble background, it was something different and a shock to them. People need to consider that but you cannot stop anybody from expressing themselves as it is an open medium but yea if people can be educated enough to understand that they cannot be hurtful to somebody,” she concluded.