On July 11, 2025, a brutal killing took place near Mitford Hospital in Dhaka. A man was allegedly murdered for refusing to pay extortion money to local BNP leaders, while dozens of bystanders and members of the Ansar stood by and recorded the incident without intervening.
In response, as an act of public protest, a group of demonstrators “gifted” sarees and churi (bangles) to the Ansar the following night, intending to shame them for their inaction.
But this form of protest, though born of rage and grief, reinforces a dangerous and patriarchal trope.
For centuries, cowardice has been associated with femininity. In Bangla, to insult a man’s courage is to say he has “worn a saree and churi and stayed home.” These phrases are not innocent. They are steeped in misogyny, linking womanhood with weakness, domesticity with passivity, and feminine symbols with shame.
History tells us otherwise.
Women have always stood at the forefront of resistance in this region. From Begum Rokeya and Pritilata Waddedar to the freedom fighters and frontline workers of the 1971 Liberation War, and most recently, during the July Uprising of 2024, women have defied repression, both in public squares and within their own homes. Sarees and churi were never symbols of fear, they were worn by those who hid freedom fighters, marched in protests, provided shelter, and stood their ground.
To weaponize these symbols now to mock state violence is not only patriarchal but deeply ahistorical. It erases the bravery and sacrifices of the women whose presence shaped this nation.
The myth that femininity equals weakness must end.
Bangladesh Feminist Archives strongly condemns the use of sarees and churi as symbols of cowardice. In our collective grief and outrage, we must be mindful not to reproduce the same patriarchal frameworks we seek to dismantle. Our resistance must honor the histories of those who fought before us, regardless of what they wore.
Bangladesh Feminist Archives 