My body, my choice -- My take!

Recently a #VogueEmpower video featuring a top Bollywood celebrity, Deepika Padukone, went viral on the internet. Many of my friends loved it, some were indifferent and few abhorred it. As you can see from my other posts, I don’t normally take a high level view on burning issues  but I will make an exception this time on a friend’s request. I have tried to break down this video to analyze it from both the perspectives. Have kept it snappy for those who don’t have the patience to read beyond 140 characters :P

What I liked about the video:

1.      If you don’t delve deeper into it, the broad message is that women have or should have a choice. A choice to do whatever they want. And that choice will help empower them. 

2.      Aesthetically appealing – the use of camera, the gorgeous Deepika, the black-and-white effect, women silently screaming into the camera – all that makes for a great video.

3.      It has stirred yet another (and much-needed) debate about women rights and gender balance in India. See these hilarious, at times mindless spoofs 

What I didn’t like:

1.      Weak script: The exploitation of the word “choice”. They probably wanted to say that the society should not judge you for what you do but that message doesn’t come across as succinctly. Instead, it creates a portrayal of a pugnacious woman who thinks she can get away with crime.

2.       Hypocrisy: Deepika has acted in one of the most regressive movies we know – Cocktail -- which told us that a plain-Jane country bumpkin stands a better chance to fish a mate for herself in an alien country than a rich, spoilt brat of a girl who exercises her “choice”. Let’s assume, that movie was a mistake, one of those wrong “choices” you make in life, but then how do you explain the regressive ads she features in? What about appearing in songs that objectify women in every possible way? See this, for example: 

 Now, moving on to Vogue – We all know it’s a fashion magazine that sells stereotypes. The reason most women are insecure of their bodies, their cup C figures or that pimple on their cheeks is because of these magazines. These publications tell us how we should look, what we should wear and how much flab on our bodies is good, how much is not. They tell us - you’re not hot enough if you wear ‘salwar-kameez’, that if you want to win friends or grab a great job you should be fair, beautiful and fashionable. They are not really an ideal place to learn about "women empowerment", I reckon.

3.      Male-bashing: The video really doesn’t address the gender problem in India. Unfortunately, the gender debate in India is really all about male bashing. You want to be a feminist? Just keep some cuss words ready for the men and hurray you are a successful, self-proclaimed feminist now. People just fail to understand that “feminism” is not just about women, it’s about our men too. If you want sanity to prevail in the society, we should be talking about gender balance. We should learn to take a middle path, instead of going to one extreme and claiming “it’s my choice.” Some helpful links here - 

Feminists, stop raping Indian men 

India's men's rights group

4.      Why come up with this video? What are you trying to do? Who are you catering to?
So to answer these questions, I am making a very broad assumption here -- The women who watch or have watched this video probably already exercise their rights or choice. So this video is perhaps pointless to them. Whereas those who don’t or haven’t watched it till now will most likely miss it altogether, possibly because they don’t have access to the internet or do not understand English at all. Now, for the sake of fairness, let’s assume a woman who cannot for her life exercise her “choice” and is constantly judged by the society actually ends up watching this video. So, what does it do to her or to the people around her? My answer: nothing at all. I just don’t get the point of spreading an ambiguous message to a nameless target audience.  

5.      Unbalanced and biased: Now, the underlying tone is that women do not have their “choice” because of their husbands (or fathers) who dominate her life. What about women who are oppressed by other women? There are far too many, and I am not just talking about oppression by mother-in-laws here.

6.      Complex issue handled carelessly. This needs no explanation!

Now, to those thinking if this is not women empowerment then what is?

1.      Start by acknowledging strong women in our society? You’ll find hundreds of example of strong, powerful woman around you who did not buckle under the pressures of the society. We just need to identify them. The key is really to keep these stories 2 or 3 minutes long, given the low attention span of our internet generation.  

2.      How about shining a spotlight on those men who help or push their wives to greater achievements? I liked those “MARD” campaigns that Farhan Akhtar led to highlight that not all men are rapists. I think we need more of those.

3.      Finally, let’s stop over-reacting and contain that fake outrage. Be sensible, not everything that says “woman empowerment” actually means to do so.