Jul
17
WOMEN: THE ATTEMPT OF SOCIETY AT DEFINING THEM
Filed Under (Misc) by admin on 17-07-2010
Way back, in the historical setting of what is now known to us as the “Nineteenth Century Victorian England”, society (along with accomplished writers, socialites and other men of importance of that time) created two stereotypes of the gender known as “women”. These were:
(a) The Angel in the House
(b) The Madwoman.
The miss-goody-two-shoes Angel in the House somehow managed to keep her name unchanged through the centuries that have elapsed since. It’s evil counterpart, The Madwoman, however, has undergone a lot of nicknames. The Madwoman, in the popular culture, somehow always ended up in an attic or some such dingy, locked up room in the house. So she is also known as the Madwoman in the Attic. Also, i know people who call her The Whore and The Bitch of the House.
But like Shakespeare ponders, what’s in a name? The characters are the distinguishing factor.
The first category (Angel) is described by Virginia Woolf as thus:
“She was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming. She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed daily… Above all, she was pure.”
Now, the Madwoman (or whatever it is that you want to name her) was evil personified. She was selfish, ruthless, had a will of her own, had a mind of her own, she laughed at the mechanisms of the society. She could not keep her husband, in-laws or any other relation happy. She plotted and schemed for the downfall of that family.
Ofcourse, time has changed a lot since then. Women are now known to display an array of colours in their personalities. They are now known to be a healthy mix of all the sugar and spice…like men are. This stereotype of women does not seem to exist in any place in our modern times… that is, any place but one: the Indian television.
Really, it is shocking, to say the very least, how our thinking is still so Victorian. How the majority of the country, at the end of a very tiring day, likes to unwind by feeding themselves with thoughts that are, well, prehistoric in nature, was fed way back in the 19th century to some other part of the globe! And I’m not just talking about the so-called “K-serials” but also to soap operas beginning with the other 25 alphabets.
The telly always portrays a woman who is ever self-scarificing, slog from dawn to dusk, save her family from every possible peril (whether or not they like it). But its not just her super-heroic deeds of multitasking that make her THE woman that she is, its the fact that she’ll do all this with a happy smile etched on her face.
And then there would be this other woman, who would plot against the family, would long to destroy it and that would be her sole aim in life!
The fact that almost every soap opera running on Indian television paints this picture gives away the mindset of the viewers.
These shows almost seem to propagate what the law deems as illegal. While they still say domestic violence is bad, they portray that a woman who silently endures that domestic violence, endures her sufferings patiently is the ideal woman, that every woman should seek to be her. I strongly disagree. By showing this, by making the positive female protagonist a silent sufferer of injustice against herself, the main idea that any viewer would get is that that it’s ok to be silent, its ok not to raise voices, and its ok to be treated worse than one’s cattle.
Popular media is the most sure shot way of reaching & affecting a large audience. TV shows effect the majority’s mindset far more than any government advertisement or awareness campaign ever can. That’s a fact. So what’s the point if every day, the majority is being fed with mindless saga that teach women to suffer or either to make others suffer?
It’s high time someone raised a voice.
…as it’s a movement for the students and are expected to run by the students only…students start taking up every type of task; from cleaning to everything with authority and responsibility which is actually good for each one. In every meeting they will make you more curious and energizing as convention comes near and near. Now every student is filled with excitement and joy…starts packing up for convention…….and ….here they reach for their destination………….
