A woman was excited to share her proposal video on TikTok — until online haters tore her apart.
Sukhmin Garcha, 27, flipped the script when she asked her partner Shiraz Brar, 27, to marry her in July.
The bride-to-be was excited to share the video of the special moment online and announce the news of her engagement, but she wasn’t prepared for the sexist backlash she received.
“I was always open to proposing. I was pretty nervous about it at first. I wanted to find the right moment to do it,” Garcha told Caters News Agency.
She said that her boyfriend had “the biggest smile on his face” and that her friends and family were “really supportive and happy” about her decision to propose — but women online didn’t join in on the excitement.
“I received plenty of negative comments [on TikTok],” she recounted. “A lot of them were ‘I would rather die’ or ‘she has no self-respect,’ ‘He doesn’t look happy’ and the list goes on.”
“A lot of the hate came from females which was very surprising. It was interesting to see how men supported woman proposing,” she said.
Despite strangers’ judgments, Garcha encourages other women to get down on one knee if they feel ready to take their relationship to the next level.
“Honestly, I would say just do it! If the both of you are on the same level of investment in the relationship, it’s a no-brainer,” she said.
“Just because not a lot of people haven’t done it, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. These are just outdated gender roles made by the society,” Garcha explained. “We’re the new generation, and we can definitely build a new society where gender roles don’t exist.”
After the video went viral, Garcha took a moment to explain that the couple had already decided to get engaged with Brar having planned his proposal months ago, but that she “just wanted to make a nice gesture.”
Brar loved the gesture and commented that he has the “most amazing woman ever.” “Get you a strong woman that knows how to break barriers,” he replied to the video.
While many women took the time to express their hate for the role reversal, others shared their support. Many men said they would love to be proposed to.
“In our society, we always want equality, but because of cultural bias, there is always resistance,” Garcha said.
“I genuinely believe we need to break through these norms and live life to its full potential. In a world where there is so much negativity, we should opt to spread kindness and love.”