New Delhi: "Macho myths and modern men," the title of the most recent episode of Navya Naveli Nanda's vodcast 'What The Hell Navya 2', was released on Thursday. Navya spoke about men and toxicity with her mother Shweta Bachchan, brother Agastya, and grandma Jaya Bachchan. Jaya said that women were "stupid" for wanting to pay for the food on dates when Navya brought up the subject of women feeling autonomous.
Jaya Bachchan on women not letting men pay
According to Navya, many women now desire independence "after feminism and women feeling more empowered.” She said, "For example, today, if you take a girl out on a date and you offer to pay, some people get offended by that. Because women now feel they’re equally…” But Jaya Bachchan interrupted her, saying, “How stupid of those women. You should let the men pay.”
Navya continued “No, but I’m saying these are things that happen. That ‘Oh we can open the door for ourselves. You don’t need to open it for us.’ So, where do you draw that line? Are you opening doors for people? Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve been chivalrous but a woman has said, I can do that myself?” Jaya Bachchan chipped in again saying, “Basically what they’re trying to say is – don’t be chivalrous. How stupid is that?”
Agastya Nanda differentiating between toxicity and chivalry
However, Agastya saw things quite differently, exploring the reasons behind women's feelins and defining the distinction between toxicity and chivalry. He said, ““As long as you’re doing it to be polite, and not show ‘I’m the man,’ you can’t go wrong. If you’re opening the door not to be like, ‘i’m the one opening the door’ instead you’re doing it because ‘I want to help you,’ it’s never gonna come across the wrong way.”
“If you want to say, I’d love to pay for this meal, it’s not going to come across, the wrong way because you’re doing it to do something kind. Not like ‘I’m the provider, so I’ll pay.’ It’s the intent.” He further added during the vodcast.