On 8th September, a session on Media Literacy took place in Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School in New Kondli, MayurVihar. About 40 girls were present that day and it was an interactive session in presence of Prof. T.K Thoma, ex. Chairman of Vivekananda College, IP University.

The students of Maharaja Agrasen College work under the organisation named “The Peace Gong” which is a platform to connect children for a non-violent planet. The college students perform street plays and conduct workshops in schools to increase awareness about Media Literacy.

The session started from 9:00AM onwards where students were briefed about media literacy and its benefits that one can adopt. The points discussed were related to education for women, benefits of communication and issues written by these students which are printed in the organisation’s publication.

In the workshop the school students are given topics to write over so that they can get knowledge of the real world. Every workshop begins with a simulation workshop, which keeps the children engaged and interested.

The students are prompted during the discussion and gently nudged towards the right direction of thought. The Peace Gong believes that ‘it is only through communication that exchange of ideas takes place, which in turn helps in creating an environment conducive to discussions and deliberations, thereby helping resolve conflicts before they turn into something grave. Communication also helps in forging friendships, economic relationships, cultural ties and address social changes.’

“One girl was from Bihar. She told us that government provides them money for their school uniform and other things. But the school authorities were not providing all the money to the students. The girl tried to make efforts to get her parents to look in to this matter but they had given up all hope. That didn’t stop the girl. When the higher officers visited their school she directly complained to them. But this led to an inappropriate situation between the two entities- the girl and the school. Now they’ve been told that instead of giving a verbal complaint in the presence of everyone, she simply can send a letter to higher officials to look in to the matter without disclosing her name,” says AbhishekRanjan who is one of the students organizing the workshops.

Shaina Ahluwalia

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The Planning Forum, in collaboration with The Gender Studies Cell, St. Stephen’s College, organised a talk, followed by a discussion, on ‘Breaking the Stereotype: The Truth about Feminism,’with stand-up comedian, writer and feminist, Radhika Vaz.

Having attended sleep-inducing lectures, Radhika Vaz’s talk came as a breather to an audience of close to a 100 students. Ms.Vaz kept the audience informed and entertained for over an hour, the audience swung from knowing smirks to roaring laughter. Inducing smiles and applause from the word go, she took the serious issue of feminism by the horns, albeit with generous dollops of effortless humour and sexual innuendos, leaving the audience hooked on to every dramatic gesture and witty quip.

Ms.Vaz emphasised on the view that feminism means standing for equality of the genders.

Indian society treats its girls like they are incapable of making sound judgements. “If you treat me like I’m weak, I’ll become weak and I’ll need to be treated like I’m weak because then, I’m fucking weak,” she quipped. In India, there is a pressure on the girls to be virginal and pure, but on boys, there is pressure in the opposite direction-they are expected to have sexual experience. “Who are they then going to have this experience with?” she questioned the hypocrisy. “Porn!They tried to ban it. Did anyone notice?” she joked.

According to Ms. Vaz, we will not have equality of the genders unless all genders accept that there is constant inequality that is part of the system. You don’t have to be a woman to be a feminist. Rather, men are a major part of the feminist movement and must stand up for the women. On the question of men and women being of unequal physical strength, she says that you don’t need strength to make better jokes than a man.

Brinda Kumar, a student at the discussion says, “It was her spontaneity and witty remarks that kept the talk going. She could grasp the sensibilities of the students and mould the conversation accordingly. However, certain ideas on feminism catered only to an urban, English speaking audience.” Radhika Vaz rolled comedy and feminism into a thought provoking, meaningful discussion on the issue, leaving the audience wanting more at the end.

Photo Credits: Prerna Subramanian

Abhinaya Harigovind

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