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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