Vogue India made yet another attempt to bring awareness amongst people about women empowerment. After Madhuri Dixit’s 'Start With The Boys' (directed by Vinil Mathew) and Alia Bhatt’s 'Going Home' (directed by Vikas Bahl), comes Deepika Padukone’s 'My Choice'.
Directed by Homi Adjania, 'My Choice' has Deepika doing a voice over for all the reasons it is HER CHOICE, with around 98 Indian women from all spheres of life in this black and white video. It would have been a perfect campaign, except, it is not. The problem itself starts with the poster for the campaign.
Directed by Homi Adjania, 'My Choice' has Deepika doing a voice over for all the reasons it is HER CHOICE, with around 98 Indian women from all spheres of life in this black and white video. It would have been a perfect campaign, except, it is not. The problem itself starts with the poster for the campaign.
It depicts a gorgeous, empowered and strong Deepika with boxing gloves and her arm around a semi clad hunk. If THIS is women empowerment, I want no part in this. Women empowerment in no sense of the word means empowering women by bringing the men down- as is clearly depicted by the promo picture. India anyway needs to learn all about respecting women in the first place, then advertisements like these distort the very sense of women empowerment. What made the makers of this campaign think that any man would want to be supportive of women and their choices.
“My body. My mind. My choice. To be a size zero or a size fifty. To use cotton and silk to trap my soul is to believe you can halt the expansion of the universe. You are my choice. I am not your privilege. The bindi on my forehead. The ring on my finger. Adding your surname to mine. They’re ornaments. They can be replaced. My choice. To come home when I want. My choice. To have your baby or not to have your baby. My songs. Your noise. My odour. Your anarchy. Your sins. My virtues. My choices are like my fingerprints. They make me unique. To have sex before marriage, to have sex outside of marriage. My choice. I am the tree. Not the forest. I am not the snowflake. I am the snowfall. You are the snowflake. I am the universe. Infinite in every direction.”
While almost every message sent through this made sense- one did not.
‘To have sex outside of marriage. My choice.’
This statement is the most hypocritical thing ever. While a man too can have all the above said choices, wouldn’t all hell break loose if he has sex outside marriage? NOTHING gives an individual the right to cheat on their partners. If you do want the choice for sex outside marriage, do not marry in the first place.
It is important to note that such baseless and hypocritical views will get pressing issues of feminism, gender equality and women empowerment nowhere.
Have all your choices ladies, but do not oppress another individual during that process.
-Purabi Chatterjee
“My body. My mind. My choice. To be a size zero or a size fifty. To use cotton and silk to trap my soul is to believe you can halt the expansion of the universe. You are my choice. I am not your privilege. The bindi on my forehead. The ring on my finger. Adding your surname to mine. They’re ornaments. They can be replaced. My choice. To come home when I want. My choice. To have your baby or not to have your baby. My songs. Your noise. My odour. Your anarchy. Your sins. My virtues. My choices are like my fingerprints. They make me unique. To have sex before marriage, to have sex outside of marriage. My choice. I am the tree. Not the forest. I am not the snowflake. I am the snowfall. You are the snowflake. I am the universe. Infinite in every direction.”
While almost every message sent through this made sense- one did not.
‘To have sex outside of marriage. My choice.’
This statement is the most hypocritical thing ever. While a man too can have all the above said choices, wouldn’t all hell break loose if he has sex outside marriage? NOTHING gives an individual the right to cheat on their partners. If you do want the choice for sex outside marriage, do not marry in the first place.
It is important to note that such baseless and hypocritical views will get pressing issues of feminism, gender equality and women empowerment nowhere.
Have all your choices ladies, but do not oppress another individual during that process.
-Purabi Chatterjee