On one side most of us so-called liberal thinkers advocate "Women Empowerment" but when it comes to actually practicing what one preaches, many from the above mentioned segment conveniently bury their faces in the sand of obsolete mentality. Remember the old-but-still-relevant controversy involving actress Khushboo and her thoughts on premarital sex. Even in this day-n-age, there is so much hypocrisy and double standards surrounding topics such as Sex, Physical Intimacy – it’s actually quite frustrating. Wonder why our society’s philosophy on empowerment starts at providing women with decent education and then abruptly ends when she starts expressing her individuality.
It’s so ironic na? Women who lose their virgin status before marriage are labeled as whores ,sluts and all sorts of other abusive terms one could think off. Her character depends on abstaining from sex. Whereas for the men, it’s more of a counting numbers game; the more they get in bed, the higher they climb the masculinity ladder. Just as women are under a great deal of stress to keep their pants on, men are under a lot of tension to take theirs off.
Just couple of days back, the Telegraph (UK) had a nice write-up on one of our Mumbai based blogger, eM who runs a popular blog called "Compulsive Confessor". Frankly speaking her writings are not for everyone and especially those who score a zilch in the humor factor. As an individual, I do not endorse many of her views (since I firmly believe matters of the bed should remain in the bed) but that doesn’t give me the right to be judgmental about her (personal) acts or her (personal) beliefs. I believe the world is large enough to accommodate all kinds – the introverts, the extroverts and the ones who fall in between and therefore we certainly do need the eM types.
Also the fact that we have become so cynical in life that we hardly ever take anything at its face value – We are always trying to look for that hidden agenda, that ulterior motive so much so that we don’t even mind making one up. Similarly, many think eM writes solely to attract attention and gain that temporary hype (and therefore she ended up getting a book deal) because it’s difficult for them to comprehend the fact that an Indian woman can also think, write, discuss and not be apprehensive about her intimate thoughts on a public platform. On the other hand if her writings were preaching the sati-savitri qualities in desi-women, the joys of motherhood, the precious value of an intact hymen – she would be applauded for her thoughts, no matter how farce they maybe in actuality.
So answering Sepia Mutiny’s question – Nope, I don’t think eM is anything like (the hypocrite) Shobha De nor (the worthless agony aunt) Amy Sohn. She is a good writer with a tacky sense of humor and above all a very gutsy spirit, so let’s just for once give her the benefit of doubt and accept her individuality without questioning it.
Ps…Dear eM, you so totally rock babes and I wish you the very best.
The New Face of Indian Feminism…
The new face of Indian feminism, and whole lot of crabs:
Ah, the prude me! If only I had the guts to substitute the word face with something with more, umm, oomph factor, I guess I’d have made the cut (into the real liberal league, or the RLL for…
Trackback by A Fine Imbalance — October 10, 2007 at 1:10 pm | #