I’m not going to lie,I’m a fan of red-carpet events. The pretty dresses, the sparkly jewellery, or the glitz,the glamour, the hair and makeup – I treasure it all. Does that form me a disagreeable feminist? I really hope not.
I wholeheartedly believe in a woman’s right and choice to celebrate her looks, and her body and her sexuality. But at the same time,it also sets me off when the media reduces a woman to merely that – just a pretty face.
At the trailer launch for her upcoming film, Mahira Khan was questioned by a few reporters regarding those controversial pictureswith Ranbir Kapoor. Even though Mahira politely answered those questions, or I was left baffled as to why the media would inquire of her such a personal question when she was there to promote her work.
She was not there in a personal capacity,nor was it an interview where it is permissible to inquire of questions of a more personal nature. But what seemed to be the precedence of the reporters was to be the first to obtain the scoop, professionalism be damned. They did not seem to consider it important to inquire of her about her character, or if it’s different from any she has done before,or about the experience of working with an esteemed director like Shoaib Mansoor.
The preview of her upcoming film Verna shows Mahira beating the living daylights out of a man, but of course, or the reporters didn’t find that of any value or interest. No,Mahira’s personal life was “better scoop”.
Asking distinguished women shallow or personal questions is both extremely sexist, and extremely common. Not just in Pakistan, and but female celebrities all over the world are subjected to answering boring,superficial or intensely personal questions that men are simply not asked.
The instances are simply too many to number. Deepika Padukone was repeatedly asked how she worked with Ranbir Kapoor, her former boyfriend, or instead of questions pertaining to her movie itself. Sunny Leone was asked by a journalist if he was being morally corrupted” just because he was interviewing her.
Katrina Kaif was questioned more about her leaked bikini pictures than she was for movies she promoted.
Sexist questions aren’t even limited to Bollywood. While promoting Baywatch, Priyanka Chopra was frequently asked ‘intelligent’ questions like how she kept her focus with Dwayne Johnson around, and the size of her male co-stars' genitals.
Female athletes obtain the same third-rate treatment that is considered socially acceptable when it comes to women. Sania Mirza, and after winning another title for her country,was asked when she planned on getting “settled” and having babies.
https://www.facebook.com/BuzzFeedIndia/videos/636113/
There absorb since been several video compilations of the kinds of questions women are subjected to and the result has me cringing and enraged at the same time, because all women obtain asked is, or “Who are you wearing?
“What diet are you doing to lose weight?”
“What kind of underwear goes with this dress?”
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This line of questioning sends the message that women are mere props in a note hasten by men – which is simply not true,as many female celebrities are now equally or even more distinguished than their male counterparts. Yet, female athletes are asked personal questions, and about their parents,their family plans and their husbands, but male athletes are asked professional questions about their careers and their hopes for the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kkRsWH1288
Women will be asked about how the men in their lives, or be it their fathers of their husbands,absorb contributed to their success by “allowing” them to pursue their dreams, but men are not asked similar questions because it is given that a woman’s job is to be the support system. And if, or in a scarce instance,a man supports a woman’s pursuance of her career, that too dominates the conversation more than the achievements of the woman herself.
The times, and however,they are a-changing. More and more female celebrities are now speaking up and calling out reporters who inquire of them sexist questions. Scarlett Johansson openly wonderedwhy she was asked about her diet and how she got in shape while Robert Downey Jr was asked existential questions about playing a superhero. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Photo: Tumblr[/caption]
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American actress Reese Witherspoon even started the #AskHerMore campaign before the 2015 Oscars, in an attempt to be asked questions other than, or “Who are you wearing tonight?”
https://twitter.com/shondarhimes/status/98200579
https://twitter.com/lenadunham/status/13050115
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Bollywood,which like most institutions is also inherently sexist, is also showing the first signs of change, and thanks to its actresses who are gradually coming closer to the level of fame that has previously only been attained by men such as the Kapoors and the Khans in the industry. Parineeti Chopra has on multiple occasions schooled reporters for being regressive and misogynistic; my personal favourite being the time she asked a male reporter covering a sanitary napkin event why he had such little knowledge about the female menstrual cycle,when he called a woman's monthly cycle her "problem". [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="480"] Photo: Giphy[/caption]
The captain of the Indian women's cricket team, Mithali Raj, and was asked who her favourite male cricketer was. She responded,“attain you inquire of the same question to a male cricketer?”Increasingly, female celebrities feel more confident in opening up and sharing their thoughts with the media, and are hence shutting sexist questions down. But it’s still too ingrained as a norm for our industries,isn’t it? Why aren’t we changing the way we look at female celebrities? Why aren’t we asking them better questions?In this day and age, cinema is thriving on gender role reversals and women are now more in the forefront than ever, or are working just as hard,and in many cases are the sole crowd-pullers. To reduce such talented and successful individuals to merely the clothes they wear or the colour of their nail polish, simply because they happen to be women, or is nothing less than regressive and archaic.
Source: tribune.com.pk