In today’s smash the patriarchy saga: I spoke to my friend’s younger sister(my sister by default) yesterday. She is an intelligent, kind woman, also a dentist with a Master’s in Public Health.
Her family is from a conservative North Indian town, where if your daughter isn’t married by 25, neighbours & relatives start asking -> What’s wrong with her?
[Sorry it's India, we don't have concept of boundaries.]
It doesn’t matter if the girl wants to study, work or build a life of her own.
So my little sister Dr. A met a prospective groom Mr
X with both families present earlier this week. X's mother asked Dr A to walk across the room to check whether her legs were okay because they looked off in her photograph. She then pressed Dr. A’s legs to make sure her precious son wasnt getting a woman with leg issues.
After recounting this & other humiliating rituals, she simply told me Di, I don’t ever want to get married.
Her elder sister who is PhD in Geographical Sciences faced the same