Gender Representation

“Broken Vows: The Tragic Consequences of Section 498A Misuse on Indian Men”

Marriage is supposed to be a union of two individuals who love and support each other through thick and thin. However, for some, marriage can become a living nightmare due to the misuse of laws meant to protect either of the partner in the marriage. The documentary “Martyrs of Marriage” shines a light on the injustices perpetrated by the misuse of Section 498A, a law meant to protect married women from cruelty and harassment by their husbands and in-laws.

Heart of the ‘Matrimonial’ Matter

The film, directed by Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj, delves into the problem using first-person accounts of those who have suffered. It highlights how men can also be victims in a marriage and how the misuse of Section 498A can ruin their lives. The film was born out of the director’s personal experience with the misuse of the law and the aim of spreading awareness about the issue.

Struggles Behind-The-Scenes

Making the film was not easy. Many feared frivolous litigation and there was a trust gap that took time to bridge. From a storytelling point of view, the director faced the challenge of selecting case studies, as people whose cases resulted in acquittals had adjusted to the pain and those still going through harassment couldn’t speak due to legal complications.

Human Rights or ‘Woman’s Right’?

Women’s rights activists argue that the number of men persecuted by abuse of women-friendly laws is minuscule compared to the large number of women who face violence and attacks by men. Bhardwaj’s take on this is that it doesn’t have to be men vs women war. It’s about justice and equality, irrespective of gender. The irony is that the same women’s rights activists, who call themselves feminists and stand for gender equality, dismiss the conversation about men’s victimization citing numbers.

No Relief for the Real Victims

What is a way to bring about more equality in law without making it unpleasant and frictional for both sides? Bhardwaj suggests that the government should constitute an unbiased authority to look into the efficacy of the laws being used as weapons today and explore if misuse is greater than use. A female family court judge even suggested that Section 498A should be scrapped, but she can’t say it publicly due to the backlash she would face.

When Facts and Figures Failed Us

Lastly, the documentary gives us some pretty grave figures of 2,25,648 arrests under 498A in 2014, before releasing in 2016. Seeing the statistics from the past two decades might make us wonder that there ought to be some progress about this issue. Fast forward almost a decade later, here is the data reflecting some recent ‘developments’ since then:

  • As of now, 498A is still a cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable offence.

1,36,234 Accused vs 838 Convicts – What about the other 1,35,396 people – only in 2021?

Minting the ‘Dowry’ Money

Also, what does all this mean for the country’s public and the Judicial system on a larger basis? Simple mathematics reveals that in 2021, the number of cases registered under 498A were 162 times the number of convicts, grossly hindering the efficacy of the Indian Legal System and actively harming itself, in terms of unjust capitalization of the law by the fake victims and their lawyers, along with other corrupt public officials.

Wouldn’t proactiveness be the best remedy for the Judicial System itself, let alone the public?

Accounting for the Actual ‘Abuse’

The scope of this issue increases exponentially when we consider the physical, verbal, economical, sexual, mental, emotional, and financial abuse that men face due to the scrutiny of alleged harassment. The horror the falsely accused face then becomes unimaginable when we consider a host of laws with similar discrepancies, which have little to no provision against fake accusations or for abuse of other genders, like:

That is more than 30 laws in the Indian Constitution.

Should we arrive at a ‘Quick Conclusion’?

The misuse of Section 498A, is a severe issue that needs to be addressed. The film “Martyrs of Marriage” brings to light the injustices faced by men and women due to the abuse of the law. It’s time for the government to take action and ensure that laws meant to protect individuals are not used as weapons for extortion and revenge. Misuse of Section 498A should be punished stringently, and victims of domestic violence, irrespective of gender, should have recourse for protection under the law.

Go watch the documentary “Martyrs of Marriage” by Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj at: https://youtu.be/vKRAkw5RUdw

Explore her latest “India’s Sons – Tales of False Rape Case Survivors” at: https://www.indiassons.com/

Get involved with her noble pursuit at: https://www.instagram.com/deepikanarayanbhardwaj/

Written by: Hemant Sharma (BJMC-1, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda)

Real Feminism VS Pseudo Feminism on Social Media

  • Mohit Bhoite & Tanvi Vishwakarma

Hello readers, today we are going to talk about Real feminism Vs Pseudo feminism on social media, we all know that today social media is the best platform to spread something, anything can go viral in seconds doesn’t matter if its positive or negative information. Feminism and feminists are adapting according to trend and they made their way to social media and spreading the word for Equality but as bad comes with good there are some pseudo feminists also who just want clout by posting negative content.

NAREEVADI- THE HOT DESI TADKA

Nareevadi kya hai?

If we talk about feminism in Indian context, there are several meanings to it. In simple terms, it means women demanding rights equally to men.

‘The Hot Desi Tadka’

This is used sarcastically because stereotypically women are objectified as a sexual object and believed that they belong to kitchen, so let’s taste the new desi tadka.

Let us talk about some famous Instagram pages that are made in india, we have a lot of tea to spill.

  1. Shethepeopletv

This is exactly what the page looks like.  The page aims every single issue associated with misogyny and gender stereotype. From addressing the former to giving out their opinion, the page has everything to deal with.

  • Bebadass

Modern Nareevadi kya hai?

BeBadass is an Instagram page and an organization which encourages Real feminist’s who really want to work for society and empowers them, lets us take look at some posts.

As we can see in this post that there is no definition of beautiful and so called ‘perfect body’. They also post about women who are working towards upliftment of the society and more.

For some people the concept of feminism is not clear yet, feminism is a social political moment that was started for quality among all the genders and sexes some misunderstood it as ‘Only for women’. The base of feminism that it has started for women who has faced atrocities and has no equal rights, In India there are a lot of figues which inspires us Savitri Bai Phule, Prathiba Patil etc. are empowered womens who has done a lot for country.

Pseudo Feminism

There are feminists and then pseudo feminists come along, pseudo feminists are the people who thinks that only women deserve all the rights and they don’t want equality they just want women to be empowered. Nowadays pseudo feminists just post nudity on their social media accounts to gain clout. No content about empowerment and equality, showing body is feminism according to them.

Let’s check some social media accounts

1. Nikita Yadav @nikitayadavvv

In this post it was video of Nikita Yadav and Komal Pandey wearing garbage bags, in the caption it is written that they are breaking a stereo type which is not making any sense, how you can break a stereotype by wearing a garbage bag which is not even creative, and they call themselves feminists.

There are a lot of blind followers and pseudo feminists who follow them and encourages this act.

Same Nikita Yadav posted a video on her social media naked and said “Mujhe kapde peheneko mat bolo, logo ko mask peheneko bolo” Spreading awareness about wearing mask is good but why this pseudo feminist connects everything with body? Are they out of content?

Now it has become trend among pseudo feminists to post half naked pictures in name of freedom and awareness.

2. Moose Jattana

She calls herself an activist she was also a part of farmers protest and a lot of protests. She is a NRI and lives in Australia and is famous for mocking religions and men without any reason, recently she was fed up in a controversy where her inappropriate video got viral as she was calling it women empowerment a lot of Real feminists slammed her.

This pic was uploaded on Instagram handle of Moose Jattana which shows Maa Kali a Hindu Goddess is wearing mask and crying and written on it ‘Fight Beti Fight’ and we can also see a comment where are girl is saying that how this pseudo feminists everytime target only one religion.  

We all know that social media has some limitations as Slacktivism, it can be used to start a campaign but that doesn’t last for long time there are millions of users on social media some spread positivity and some spread negativity. There are a lot of feminists who are working really hard for equality and upliftment of the society but due to some pseudo feminists they are getting hate. There are some feminists who are working towards making internet a good place to spread the words but some pseudo feminists spoil it, this new generation only wants clout and they are willing to do anything for that, some feminists understood feminism as showing body only, and at end of every debate they say ‘Because we bleed’ this is not the answer for every argument.

In conclusion we hope that people follow some mature and real pages that will help a person who is really working hard for to make this world a better place.

Female Representation in Indian Kids Shows

By: Azraa Parveen Shaikh & Rakshit Batra

“The representation of women in the society, especially through mass media has been the most delusional act ever done on the grounds of human existence.”

Abhijit Naskar, The Bengal Tigress: A Treatise on Gender Equality
A collage of the shows analyzed in this post – created by Azraa Shaikh

To Start Off…

India is ranked second when it comes to its television market across the globe, with kids shows roping in the highest viewership share. Did you know that these very shows are responsible for perpetuating gender stereotypes in the mind of your children? 

Specifically, your little girls who consume these highly gender-stereotypical content and their perceptions of the media and the world around them are influenced in a very gender-specific way.

Ideally, we would like…

  • The gender representation in media to become less stereotypical and more gender-neutral.

Although, the reality is far from this…

  • The way gender is represented in the Indian media is highly gendered and stereotypical.

But not all is lost as…

  • By the end of this post, you will be able to better understand the way women are represented in the Indian kids shows and what can be done to promote gender neutrality in the media representation for children.

First up, let us take a look at the chart below:

Character Roles Allotted to Females in Kids Shows by Different Countries

Did you not fully understand the significance of showing this here? Worry not, as all will be cleared by reading the post below.

To better understand the female representation, we will analyze the female roles in 5 popular kids shows in India.

Table of Contents

  1. A Blast from the Past – HERO ‘Bhakti Hi Shakti Hai’
  2. Current Mania – Chhota Bheem
  3. Female Lead Alert!! – Chooti Anandi
  4. Flawed Gender Representation – Vir The Robot Boy
  5. An Exception – Galli Galli Sim Sim
  6. To Sum Up…

1. A Blast from the Past – HERO ‘Bhakti Hi Shakti Hai’

Show Poster

We begin with a childhood favorite of ours, Hero – Bhakti hi shakti hai. In this show, we witness two primary female characters. They are Bubbly and Hero’s mother. As seen in the serial, they are shown in a highly stereotypical manner. Bubbly is a pretty, silly, and forever complaining diva whose only power is to attract males with her charm. Whereas, Hero’s mom is shown as a typically loving and caring mother whose sole purpose in life is her children’s happiness and well-being. In both cases, the women are given a one-tone character trait that is far from how the women in real life actually behave. Additionally, both these characters display the stereotypical attributes associated with women in our country like emotional, affectionate, helpful, and more.

2. Current Mania – Chhota Bheem

A Screenshot of the Show Title from an Episode Video – Voot Kids

Next up is a current favorite of the kids around us, Chhota Bheem. Here let us take a closer look at the character named Chutki. She is shown dressed in Indian-style clothes with a big ‘bindi’ on her forehead. Her character is further stereotyped by portraying her as a kind, helpful, and emotional girl who will always follow everything the male lead asks her to do. Furthermore, she is shown as a girl who is relatively fair compared to her mother who is shown as a brown-skinned woman. This character trait sets an incorrect standard of having fair skin in the minds of young girls.

3. Female Lead Alert!! – Chooti Anandi

A Screenshot of the Show Title from an Episode Video – Voot Kids

The next show is a rarity as it features a female character as the lead. But all is not good as it seems, the character is based on an old Indian TV serial character by the same name who was a victim of child marriage. Making us question the whole point the show is based on. They show Anandi as a young girl who is both smart and independent but still call her by extremely stereotypical names like ‘chotii’ ( small ) and ‘pyari’ (lovely) in the title song itself. You may watch it by clicking the link below:

Chooti Anandi – Title Song

4. Flawed Gender Representation – Vir The Robot Boy

Show Poster

Well, this one is especially bad cause it shows not only the female in a stereotypical light but also shows the males as such. Although it can be said that almost all the shows in this list show males as heroic, assertive, strong, etc. But this one is by far the most unrealistic of them all. It is a story about a robot pretending to be a normal boy and saving the city from bad guys. Shows like this create a false image of a perfect person in the minds of young children and should be banned. This is gender misrepresentation at its max.

5. An Exception – Galli Galli Sim Sim

Show Poster

Galli Galli Sim Sim is by far the most progressive kids show we have witnessed in recent times. It is the official Indian remake of a famous American show called The Sesame Street. It features Chamki, a tomboyish five-year-old girl who is ambitious, friendly, and has a knack for problem-solving. She is also a karate expert who wears westernized clothes with a white shirt, sleeveless light blue dress, white socks, and black shoes. She is so popular that she is considered a mascot for girl-child education and school readiness in India.

To Sum Up…

Let us go back to our claim at the start of this post – we assume that by now, you may have come to understand how female characters are represented in children’s TV programs.

Now that you understand the female representation, you will be able to better comprehend the chart we showed you at the start of this post. It is a visual representation of how India represents its females compared with the worldwide scenario.

Also, the graph below establishes that a higher number of males are portrayed as the primary leads compared to females. However, if you notice the behavior patterns showcased by the male and female characters.

You will observe, that there is an overwhelming adherence to masculine and feminine stereotypes. This is alarming considering how much influence these shows have on your children.

A Chart Comparing the number of Primary Male Vs Female Characters with the Given Characteristics

So what can be done? Well, the answer to this question is quite challenging. The first step towards propagating gender-neutral content for the kids is spreading awareness about the influence these TV programs have on young minds. Only after that, we as a society will be able to deny these stereotypical shows. To fully be able to evolve as a nation.

If you enjoyed this post don’t forget to click on that ‘Up Vote’ button below and if you like you may read the following to gain more information about the topic we discussed below.