Sapna Pabbi Supports Tanushree Dutta, Narrates How She Was Forced to Wear an Underwired Bra Despite Her Complaints of Chest Pain

Sapna Pabbi talks about women harassing other women out of insecurity at a workplace. She reveals an incident when she was forced to wear an underwired bra on a film's set

If there’s one thing Tanushree Dutta has done by speaking about being allegedly harassed at the hands of Nana Patekar, is that she has encouraged other women to speak up. India was vying to have its own #MeToo movement and Tanushree, quite righteously, brought it back home. Now, after women in media and in other fields are using social media to talk about being sexually harassed at the hands of popular and influential men from their industries, another actress has come forward to share her experience. In her Instagram post, which was also shared by Shahid Kapoor’s wife Mira Rajput, actress Sapna Pabbi has written about an incident that happened to her on the sets of a film.

Sapna has narrated how the producer of her film didn’t care for her feeling uncomfortable wearing an underwired bra. Her post also highlights how women sometimes also play an important role in making other women feel harassed. She mentioned that even her female stylist on the sets declared her behaviour ‘difficult’ when she said the bra caused her chest pain.

Sapna’s post read, “I believe Tanushree – I feel like there’s something we are missing here. A point that we fail to acknowledge and own up to. Where were all the women when this was happening?

WOMEN. As an actress, I often experience what Tanushree has experienced on almost a daily basis. My voice silenced my words manipulated, twisted and used for the wrong reasons. I have had the opportunity to work with some incredibly talented females in all kinds of respective roles within the business. Sadly, I have been disappointed with the way some of these women (and others within my working environment) have remained absent during such traumatic and difficult situations and were merely witnessing if not taking advantage themselves.

We are pointing fingers towards men and not in anyway am I trying to undermine the part they’ve played, but I have been heartbroken by the lack of women coming and holding my hand whenever I’ve felt the most vulnerable under the power of a man’s sexist behaviour towards me. If we do not support our girls then how can we expect our male colleagues to do so? I’ve witnessed women from several professional industries (I’ve worked in a few) bully other women in order to secure their own position and accelerate their image in the eyes of their male peers. What happens when he starts to bully her? Do I too become oblivious, turn a blind eye and watch her suffer because she’s a woman? I do see more women bullying women than woman bullying men – have we succumb to shitting on each other now girls, to get ahead?

I can recall several instances where I’ve turned to another woman on a shooting set looking for comfort and support – only to find that she is standing behind the man laughing along with him and his sexism towards me. I remember one in particular where I had to wear a bikini for a song and dance sequence. During my trials, I had informed my stylist (female) that jumping around in this underwired bikini for more than 7 hours would eventually cause me severe chest pains and if we could just remove the underwire I would feel more comfortable and pain-free. I was forced to wear this bikini as is, as my male director insisted it stay this way. I went ahead and did as I was told in the feal of being dropped/ blacklisted from this production house. I woke up in the middle of my sleep due to these agonising chest pains. I will never forget how I resorted to screaming into my pillow.”

She added:

Speak up because #timesup!