Friday 13 October 2017

Men are not superior to women: Blog#316

Men are not superior to women


Please read the title of blog again. Men are not superior to women. Having said that, women are not superior to men too. They are two genders of humans. Are they the same? Absolutely not. They are evidently different. It is this difference which we should celebrate.

Now, have a look at the picture given here. It is from an advertisement brought out by a firm that makes suits for women. It is wrong on so many levels. I don’t think many people understand feminism in its true sense. Many tend to think that feminism is about showcasing women as better beings than men. At times, some people think it is about falsely emulating all things bad about men. For instance, if some men choose to use abusive words while talking, some women who have a false understanding of feminism also use abusive words. Abusive words are unpleasant, be it used by men or women. To my mind, feminism is about equality for the female gender. She should not be discriminated against, in any regard due to her gender. Men and women are different beings but not inferior or superior in any way in comparison to each other.

This Ad is a perfect example of using feminism in the wrong way. It showcases women in suits with naked men in the background. What is this Ad trying to say? If one wears a suite, will they become powerful? Does having naked people in your house mean power or wealth? Does having power and money give you the ability to hire people? Does having power and money give you the ability to do anything you want to the people around you?

Some people might argue that this is just a role reversal of what we see in advertising. Well, this is lazy and irresponsible creativity to say the least. By that logic, imagine an Ad against child abuse - The picture has a child abusing an adult. How is it justified? It is exactly that which is happening here. Should advertisements stop objectifying women? They must. But this is not how you make them do it.

Now, let us look at the race here. All men featured in the Ad have white skin. Why? Reverse this and imagine the furore this Ad would have caused. If that is wrong, this too is wrong. We need to look at people and provide them opportunities for who they are as human beings and not for what their skin color is.

This Ad is a very uneducated, provocative take on issues which needs to be dealt with taking time, effort, context and finesse.


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