misogyny Archives - Page 2 of 2 - DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

Different films have been loved and hated over the years for different reason,s and by different people. What remains standing over the years is the debate over Movies versus Morality.

Movies are called a basic source of entertainment; couples watch Romantic-comedies for their movie dates, families enjoy Dramatic-comedies for their family outings, and a group of friends go out to watch their favourite fantasy franchise films that come out. An average middle-class family spends 200 bucks per ticket for plain and pure entertainment purpose, so in this scenario does morality even play a part?

How does it affect a cinemagoer that the film they are watching is regressive, politically or socially incorrect, and offensive to a section of people, misogynistic or plain problematic? The bitter truth is that it doesn’t. We go watch a comedy movie which uses derogatory slangs, laugh at these “jokes”, have a gala time and come back unaffected. Some films fat shame, some are insensitive towards the LGBTQ+ community, while some just do not evoke a sense of diversity, but they are still loved and famous. Old classics like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham or Pretty Woman are good examples of such films.

Even recent Bollywood Rom-coms or Dramedies like Lukka Chuppi or De De Pyaar De use derogatory slurs to invoke humour. Many found them funny, they did well on the box-office and the question remained the same, should these films be given the benefit of the doubt for the sake of humour?

The obvious answer is no, some might say otherwise, that comedy requires one to be free of judgement and in doing so, they perpetuate societal stigmas. But anything that does not respect one’s identity is not funny, it is just problematic. I was six when my family went to watch Partner in the multiplex. It came out in 2007 and the experience was fun: the over-priced pop corn, large screen, the whole family together watching a funny movie. At the age of six I laughed at a grown male pretending to be a transgender to enter into a wedding as a wedding planner and this stereotypical representation engrained in my brain. The process of unlearning began early for me to understand that this representation is problematic but, for many this remains funny forever.

Unlike the popular notions, films like The Big Sick, Always Be My Maybe and Bareilly Ki Barfi prove that simpler narratives can also remain funny and distinct without depicting anything blatantly wrong. The former two get representation of diverse American population right, while the latter uses societal norms to critique the basics of our upbringing while remaining funny.

Many critics comment that not all films can have a moral base, the target audience matters along with the budgeting and production. All that remaining, I wonder why many cannot even try to put an effort to get the basics right. Yes, every film cannot be a Raazi, Piku or a Pink but the basics of being funny without hurting any sentiments, that is not a lot to achieve, specially when many shows, movies, and short films already have.

Feature Image Credits: IMDB

Sakshi Arora

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DUB Speak

Sexism and the City

By Shaurya Thapa May 1, 2019

TRIGGER WARNING- A certain video is discussed in this article which might be disturbing for some.

On 30^th April, a video showing just another instance of judgemental remarks based on sexism and misogyny went viral. The video was shared by Shivani Gupta, on her Instagram, showing an elderly lady saying that she (Gupta) will get raped if she continues wearing short skirts. When Shivani’s two friends arrived at the scene to their friend’s rescue, the lady went on to say that these two also might get raped just for being rebellious.

These are the parts that the woke and conscious side of the internet shared mostly. However, towards the end, we also see the young women yelling at this lady, asking her ‘Have you been raped?’.

A few hours later, Instagram took this video down and this is what went down amongst people.

One school of thought feels that sharing this video online was the right move, and this would embarrass the ‘bullying’ woman, and set an example for people. Yes, misogyny is ingrained in Indian society but now it’s high time we get done with it.

On the other hand, there are also people who feel this was an extreme move and they are troubled with the latter parts of the video. They say ‘Bullying the bully isn’t the right thing to do’.

Yes, I do condemn that messaging mean texts to that elderly lady and commenting remarks like “You yourself should get raped.” However, staying silent and having the normalised attitude isn’t going to help anyone.

This instance isn’t in solitude. It can be attached to tons of other incidents where women in India have been subjected to mean public remarks. Yes, the video might be nothing new as such casual sexism is common. Still, does that mean we should just see this incident as nothing and turn a blind eye towards it?

Today, I, being in the capital city, being a student at the University of Delhi, can have opinions on anything and everything in our country. I can even talk on problems that rural women face but I can hardly do much, from my privileged safe space in this city. However, I can still be vocal about the indecent behaviour that the inhabitants of my city are facing. Sometimes, being calm just does not help.

If people are sharing this video, they aren’t just sharing it for the sake of it. They are sharing it to show that this is a part of the bigger picture and we all need to collectively condemn this negative picture. It irks me when I see friends and peers pass comments like “The girl is just an attention seeker” and “yeh toh hota rehta hai” (Such things keep on happening) when such cases are brought in the mainstream. Unfortunately, I cannot even call them out right now as that will be categorised as unethical journalism.

There have been viewers of the video, who are somewhere on the middle ground, too. “I agree, the aggression and the boldness are required so that no one can come to a woman and tell her that she should get raped. At the same time, we need to think twice before we reveal someone’s identity, body shame them and potentially ruin their life,” says Shania Mohapatra, a student from Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC).

While yes, hatred should not be propagated, but people should also understand that we can’t stay silent with our thoughts bottled up like we’re living in an Orwellian society. After some stubbornness, even I agree that the lady’s face could have been blurred before uploading the video. In the video itself, one can hear the girls saying that the ‘problematic aunty’ deserves to be raped in those kapde (clothes) itself, which again is equally rude and problematic.

One day later, mainstream publications shared the video obviously as it’s news now. And it does sicken me when people are posting comments like “Yes, these girls deserve to be taught a lesson. If we don’t check, they’ll dress in bras in public.” At the same time, I finally gave up my stubbornness and had a gloomy look as I read comments from the other side, comments like “Someone should attack the aunty just for that double chin and eye bags.”

“The one thing that is bothering me about the video and the subsequent criticism it received is that the blame of cyberbullying of the “aunty” is being put on the girl who shared the video. Saying that the girl is responsible for the mental harassment of the lady, sounds like victim-blaming,” Niharika Dabral, another CIC student took a different stand. “Besides, in this case, the girls and the aunty had the same power equation,” she adds, “…as they both spoke English and looked like they belonged to the same class, so it’s not as though some powerful person is going after a smaller one.”

Whatever be your viewpoint, this instance can’t be ignored just because it’s normal, as a few are doing. Following the same mentality, we shouldn’t even talk about the innumerable individual cases of creeps staring at women in the metro like it’s their birthright. Why? Because this keeps on happening, right? This isn’t a call for being an extreme vigilante but this is just a call for being vocal.

Whether you feel Instagram made the right decision by removing that video or whether you feel sharing this video with some sense of rebellion was needed, you need to be vocal about it. Yes, almost every social discussion ends up having multiple views but we need to be vocal in discussing these views to come to a solution – if there’s a solution.

Image Credits: sunkissedshitzu

Shaurya Singh Thapa

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Hindu College

Hindu College Under Fire for Sexist Poster

By DU Beat October 7, 2017

On the morning of 4th October, an image was posted by Pinjra Tod – a collective against the sexist and discriminatory practices in higher educational institutions – on its Facebook page. The image was of a poster from Hindu College, which said “Hindu mein Maal aur Maal dono milta hai”. In Hindi, the word “maal” is a slang term that is used to either refer to women in an objectifying manner, or to refer to narcotic substances.

An excerpt from Pinjra Tod’s caption sums up the view of those aghast at the language used in the poster thusly: “The many ways in which patriarchy reinforces itself every day in our campuses to convey the message that we may be studying in a university, we may be sitting in classes together, but women are to be primarily seen as sexual objects of exchange amongst men.” The poster almost seems to be bragging about the presence of women in the college, who are apparently not to be treated as equals or as peers of same intellectual calibre, but primarily as objects for men to lust over. Women are used here in the same breath as addictive substances, indicating that both are objects for pleasure. What adds to the whole issue is the fact that the poster was used during a Freshers’ party, and was probably one of the first messages that the new students picked up from their seniors regarding women’s place and perception in the institute. Universities are meant to widen horizons regarding thinking openly, but the regressive poster seems to be contributing towards promoting the opposite.

The Prime Minister of the college’s student union, Brijesh Tiwari, issued a statement that condemned the incident on Facebook. An excerpt from it said, “The Hindu College Parliament unanimously condemns the usage of such shamelessly gendered and misogynist phrases on campus or anywhere else. We at the Parliament consider it our utmost endeavour to arrive at a stage of gender equality, withering of misogynist practices and tendencies, and an overall climate of equal opportunities for all genders. We recognise how such phrases and their usage become an impediment in trying to achieve all of the above. The Parliament ensures that it will do its best to nip all such practices in the bud and to ensure that the student-driven crusade against misogyny must never be weakened.” Further, administrative lapses on part of the organisers and “deeply entrenched” misogyny that is “not a new innovation” were blamed.

This is, however, not the first instance of discrimination and sexism in Hindu College. Back in August, women students protested the administration over the differences in the hostel fees for men and women. The newly opened women’s hostel, in the college’s 118-year history, charged its residents more than double the fees charged from the men.

Image Credits: Pinjra Tod

Rishika Singh
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