Women And Their Depiction In The Indian Media

It won’t be shocking, when you come across women with barely any clothes on them, dancing about in a music video. What was considered to be disgraceful once upon a time has become a part of the popular culture. It doesn’t strike people as odd when they see scantily clad ladies on screen. Not just the clothes, but when in a movie, the hero whistles and comments on the heroines looks, she blushes and may not even think twice before being friends with him. But what they don’t comprehend is that, this is not real. And hence, they think it is ok for them to actually do this on the streets. They do not realize that what they are doing, although, what the majority thinks to be harmless, is sheer molestation. Who is to blame? Saying that the media is to blame, is just taking a short cut. That doesn’t mean, what the media showcases is justified. But what it does definitely adds fuel to the fire, and has a deep impact on people, and should be stopped at least for the sake of those out there, who become victims to such activities. And by saying ‘such activities’ I do not only mean eve teasing. It includes everything. Literally.

According to the Indian Media, there only two sets of women out there: One’s who are bold - which are classified by wearing western outfits, being bitchy and ambitious (read: not interested in taking care of the family), and the other half being meek – the ones who dress in Indian attires (complete ‘pallu’ over the head), having no opinion of their own or no say in things, and their only motive to be alive is to cook and take care of their husband and children and in-laws and chachas and chachis and bua’s and god knows who else, but definitely everybody except themselves. Only this woman can be a true Indian woman. And what characteristic should she have to be a true Indian woman? Being selfless. And therefore a woman, who thinks about what is good for her, is automatically selfish. What the media lacks is a balance.  And especially when it comes to a country like ours, a country where the mindset of  most of the people is not compatible with where the world is going today, almost all that the media is doing today is leading us downwards. According to an article I came across on ‘The Hoot’, states that, Media paints women in White and Black. There is no ‘in between’. In a particular Hindi soap opera, a woman working in some huge corporate office, has been shown to lure one married man into falling in love with her. It leads to him leaving his wife, who’s a ‘homemaker’ and hence a very demure and a sensitive woman. On the other hand, the woman who works is seen to be dressed in formal skirts and is very ambitious. People start depicting these images and use them to narrow down everything around them. A housewife can never be bold; if you are ambitious, you tend to become selfish and almost cruel; if you want to look modest you have to dress in an Indian attire; if you are a good wife and mother then you have to sit at home and keep cooking and cleaning; and so on and so forth. What gets translated as culture is not always correct, you know? Another example for this can be of the movie ‘Corporate’. Bipasha is portrayed negatively because she sleeps with men, to get her job done, and hence she is a characterless woman. What people don’t understand is that, the men are sleeping with her too, o why are the men not characterless?!

Some people might say that the media doesn’t lie. But does it even show us the complete truth? Almost all the daily soaps show such women, only the stories are different. The men go out to work, the women work at home. But if you go to see, which household do you see where such a scenario exists? If you want to keep up with the increasing prices, both the husband and the wife need to work. The women simply cannot afford to sit at home. But then again, this is limited to metros or other major cities. What about the viewers who reside in smaller areas of the country? At this rate their mindset will never change.

Not just the daily soaps, but every other movie these days, has to have an item song. The situation is such that, even women nowadays do not understand when it is actually insulting to their character, because these things have become so common, they don’t bother. The lyrics are almost all the time downright lewd, and I don’t think I should even get started on the choreography. We can actually file cases against these songs under ‘Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act,1986’. Songs by Rapper Honey Singh, are absolutely offensive to women. He goes down to say that he is not asking people to go rape women. But what he doesn’t realize is that his songs encourage them to do so.

There are innumerable other examples, of medias’ portrayal of women, is plain disgraceful. The media is expected to draw lines. The media might be trying to changes this, but not hard enough. May be if we stop accepting this, it will have an impact on the media, but isn’t the media supposed to have an impact on the masses? Ironically it is having an impact, but not a very positive one.