Recent video on "my choice" has been received well from many supporters and not so well by a few. Some of the critics have labeled it as being feminist, that too, belonging to the "bra burning" clans.
I was definitely not so moved by the video when I first watched it ; however, the ravelling criticism tempted me to take another look at it. Critics have found it surreal, elitist etc.
I find that many of the criticism comes from the fact that the protagonist and the maker are from the glamour industry, where their having sex before marriage, walking naked and all that the video talks about, is seen as a natural consequence of job, to make it to the top, mostly by their choice, and some times by compulsion.
What if a famous male actor would have made this video? Some one questioned!
Well, sleeping outside marriage, walking naked, and choosing their sexual preference by menfolk may not have raised much brows! How many lesbian actresses do we know of? how many have come out of their closet? We do know of a few gay bollywood male celebs though. I do not contest that it is any easy to be one in a society where where sexual preference is not to be chosen by an individual but decided by the society! What I submit is that it is more difficult to accept a gay woman than a gay man, in our rudimentary society. Gender inequality exists even their!
How many times do woman actually have a say in planning a child? Have we heard often of woman abandoning a man for he gives his "X" and not a "Y" and gets a baby girl? We must have heard many abandonment by men!
How many times a woman is walked over, and her marriages is ended, when she falls weak on the gush of her adrenaline ? How many times do they live with a cheating husbands!
In our society, virtue is expected of woman alone! A woman smoking in public is quickly judged as an "easy" and "approachable" than a man smoking. There is undoubtedly double standards for both.
I feel that the criticism are coming mostly from those elitist class, where woman do have an equal voice. Though on the hindsight, even in that glamorous world, a woman judged twice as quickly as a a man! Likes of Salman walking with a bare chest is less likely to raise any brows than that of Deepikas whose dress goes down their cleavage!
When we talk of woman equality, we need to understand they are treated unequally not just in villages but even in that elitist society, where a man coming back drunk is just another thing, but a woman doing same is quick to be labelled as an easy virtue!
To me, what the video suggests is not that woman ought to be lesbian, or naked, or childless, or promiscuous! What it suggests is if at all she chooses to be one, don't judge her any harsher than you would judge a man!
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