For about a week or so now, there has been a huge outrage in the Assamese community concerning a particular "news item" shown on a regional channel which passed moral judgement on women based on what they were wearing. The said piece went from being riduculously stupid to simply bizarre ....comparing girls dressed in short skirts and shorts to monkeys! As expected, the channel had to withdraw the video and issue an apology. The outrage still continues though. My facebook newsfeed is full of satirical memes featuring the so called journalist and I have seen flyers of lectures and discussions being planned in colleges to protest the moral policing.
As a person who swore off watching Assamese news channels years back for its regressive content, this kind of "reporting" didn't really come as a surprise to me. In fact, it was a similar segment I saw in another one of these channels a couple of years back which actually made me skip watching these channels in the first place. Social media wasn't so active back then, hence that particular instance went relatively unnoticed. But in todays day and age, the backlash was swift and relentless...and rightly so.
However, I do find the reaction by the audience, though correct, yet, slightly misplaced. What is being protested against is the moral policing and the character assasination...but over and above all, it is a breach of privacy. Women are up in arms declaring their freedom to dress as they desire, but in all the noise, what is getting undermined is the fact that random women walking on the street were captured on camera without their consent. This lack of reaction to violation of our privacy is only expected, because the Assamese audience have themselves encouraged this brand of journalism over the years.
Every year, during the festival of Saraswati Puja, girls dress up in traditional and ethnic wear and attend the Puja. Over the years, Saraswati Puja has come to be known more for the prettily dressed women than for the Puja itself. Girls pull out all stops at looking their traditional best, and the city is suddenly teeming with bright colors, fabrics and jewellery.
For the past few years, Assamese news channels conduct a so called "beauty pageant" on Saraswati Puja,wherein girls walking to and from their schools and colleges are zoomed in on, (without any consent whatsoever) their looks and outfits commented upon and held up to public scrutiny and judgement...supposedly to "crown" the best looking one of them all. Some channels go one up and do a countdown...showing the ten or twenty best dressed women, working their way backwards to the Numero Uno. This practice is seems to be finding favour amongst the audience as well as the ladies in question, as families line up in front of their television sets that evening to find out who made the cut!
Just because a woman is dressed traditionally and is being complimented for her looks does not in any way make filming her without her consent correct. Zooming in on random women on the streets without their consent is categorically unethical, and will remain so in my opinion,irrespective of how they are dressed. Sure, the women in question may actually enjoy the attention, and celebrate the fact that they are being shown on television as one of the prettiest in the city, but that is exactly what encourages this brand of journalism.
The news item at the centre of the recent controversy is just an extension of this very school of journalism. The only difference being that where the women dressed traditionally are praised, the ones dressed in shorts and skirts are ridiculed and insulted. Either way, this is nothing else but objectification of women. One simply cannot choose to be indignant about one of these practices and be comfortable with the other. It is such selective reaction that is, to some extent, responsible for the low standards these channels have stooped to.
It is beyond question or debate that women should be free to wear what they want without being judged or shamed for the choices they make. But lets not forget our responsibility as an audience as well, where we, knowingly or unknowingly encourage filming of our women without their knowledge or consent. This breach of privacy is far more serious and dangerous than the moral policing the women were subjected to. Lets start by respecting a womans privacy first...respecting a womans choice of dressing comes much later.
As a person who swore off watching Assamese news channels years back for its regressive content, this kind of "reporting" didn't really come as a surprise to me. In fact, it was a similar segment I saw in another one of these channels a couple of years back which actually made me skip watching these channels in the first place. Social media wasn't so active back then, hence that particular instance went relatively unnoticed. But in todays day and age, the backlash was swift and relentless...and rightly so.
However, I do find the reaction by the audience, though correct, yet, slightly misplaced. What is being protested against is the moral policing and the character assasination...but over and above all, it is a breach of privacy. Women are up in arms declaring their freedom to dress as they desire, but in all the noise, what is getting undermined is the fact that random women walking on the street were captured on camera without their consent. This lack of reaction to violation of our privacy is only expected, because the Assamese audience have themselves encouraged this brand of journalism over the years.
Every year, during the festival of Saraswati Puja, girls dress up in traditional and ethnic wear and attend the Puja. Over the years, Saraswati Puja has come to be known more for the prettily dressed women than for the Puja itself. Girls pull out all stops at looking their traditional best, and the city is suddenly teeming with bright colors, fabrics and jewellery.
For the past few years, Assamese news channels conduct a so called "beauty pageant" on Saraswati Puja,wherein girls walking to and from their schools and colleges are zoomed in on, (without any consent whatsoever) their looks and outfits commented upon and held up to public scrutiny and judgement...supposedly to "crown" the best looking one of them all. Some channels go one up and do a countdown...showing the ten or twenty best dressed women, working their way backwards to the Numero Uno. This practice is seems to be finding favour amongst the audience as well as the ladies in question, as families line up in front of their television sets that evening to find out who made the cut!
Just because a woman is dressed traditionally and is being complimented for her looks does not in any way make filming her without her consent correct. Zooming in on random women on the streets without their consent is categorically unethical, and will remain so in my opinion,irrespective of how they are dressed. Sure, the women in question may actually enjoy the attention, and celebrate the fact that they are being shown on television as one of the prettiest in the city, but that is exactly what encourages this brand of journalism.
The news item at the centre of the recent controversy is just an extension of this very school of journalism. The only difference being that where the women dressed traditionally are praised, the ones dressed in shorts and skirts are ridiculed and insulted. Either way, this is nothing else but objectification of women. One simply cannot choose to be indignant about one of these practices and be comfortable with the other. It is such selective reaction that is, to some extent, responsible for the low standards these channels have stooped to.
Real facts brought into limelight. .worth reading and thinking again the whole scenario.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking time to read this, sir. Glad you see the point I was trying to make.
ReplyDeleteBrilliantly put
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThanks!
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