“My Choice – To love temporarily, or lust forever". Imagine
the outrage if a Playboy or Maxim featured a man thumping his chest and voicing
this line.
Deepika Padukone has risen to become the undisputable face
of Feminism in India. She bashed the Times of India, deservedly so, for their
naughty cleavage act, and the whole of India saluted her (Why so?) for her
bravado and standing for what she believes in. She then spoke up on her issues
with depression, which was indeed a sign of a strong human being. And now, we
have the Vogue Empower video with her voice booming in the background, claiming
quite a few things to be “My Choice”. And we have jumped on the bandwagon
again, spamming Social Media feeds with the salutes and “take a bow”s.
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| The Pretty Face of "Feminism" |
Here’s where we should probably take a moment and actually
hear out what the video is trying to put forth. Quite frankly, there is
absolutely nothing new that the video teaches us. As the video bellows “My
Body, My Mind, My Choice” right at the beginning, it gives the feeling of something evocative coming your way. But as we dwell deeper, it is not dissimilar to the pseudo-feminism propaganda that floods our Facebook and
Twitter feeds almost daily, only neatly wrapped, packaged, and camouflaged as a
“powerful” video.
The video talks majorly about a woman’s physical appearance,
choice of clothes, and her sexual priorities. So, are these the sole choices that matter for a woman to feel
empowered? I know quite a few women who’d disagree.
How about equal
opportunities in senior management roles in a corporate? What about a woman
wanting to represent the nation in a sport, but not being afforded equal
opportunities? What about a single mother striving hard for financial freedom
in absence of the “sole breadwinner”? What about a daily wage earner who
carries bricks on her head in the scathing sun to be able to afford one square
meal? Or, what about a woman subject to domestic abuse but without access to
the resources or confidence to lodge a complaint with the authorities? Pretty
sure their choices would be related to education, financial refuge, psychological
empowerment, and the power to upkeep a family.
Yes, women have been shown the short end of the stick for a
long time. Yes, Women Empowerment is an important concern and needs to be
spoken about in our country and across the globe. But, Feminism doesn't equate
male bashing or proclaiming female superiority with brazen arrogance. Feminism
stands for equality, and not superiority.
This video though has it covered all
wrong. The people who conceived, conceptualized, and embraced the video are in
many ways similar to an all-female, contemporary and literate form of the Khap
Panchayat. Deepika’s booming voiceover gives one a false sense of the video
having a profoundness about it, but it turns out to be nothing more than a
poorly thought of, hastily scripted bunch of one-liners.
Kudos to Vogue for touching upon a sensitive issue, and
having a major celebrity endorse it. You have managed to reach out to a wider
audience, have succeeded in getting the desired reach, and probably have spiked
your magazine sales for the next few months. Yes, it is absolutely your freedom
of expression, but, does the video have a meaningful impact on viewers? No.
Does the video actually address the issue of woman empowerment? No. Does the
video promote Gender Equality? Umm, No.
As a fellow blogger writes, the video is probably aimed at
the select few urban elitists (probably only the Vogue subscribers?), for whom
financial security, Education, and such issues are available on a platter. The
video has an extremely caved in focus, which doesn’t have any realistic impact
on the actual issue of Gender Equality. It doesn’t touch on the sensitivities of
millions of women for whom their sexual priorities or freedom of clothes may
come much lower in their priority list. It doesn’t touch on the sensitivities
of the less privileged. And No Vogue, It just doesn’t seem to hit the right
chords.
