Is Vogue "My Choice" Video Empowering?
Is Vogue “My Choice” Video Empowering?
The Vogue video “My Choice” features Deepika Padukone and is made on women empowerment. There are as many as 99 different women featured in the video. In the video, she declares her choices as her fingerprints. The video highlights the problems that women face in their life whether of clothes, profession or other society bound shackles. The video has gone viral across the nation in just one single day and has been receiving mixed responses from viewers. So, what is your view? Is Vogue “My Choice” Video Empowering?
Yes
• Firstly, it highlights Deepika Padukone who has become a spokesperson for anything and everything in Bollywood. The way she is speaking her heart and expressing what she feels is encouraging for women.
• The video calls for changed in the prevailing mindset of men about women. It wants men and society to stop judging people on basis of clothes, profession and life. It is true. The Nirbhaya documentary tells what men think about women.
• Women empowerment definitely links with women’s personal choices. They are always cowed down by parental pressures, emotional pressure and family pressure. Why should their fingerprints always vanish?
• The video talks about women appearance of being size zero or size fifteen. It highlights the ignored problem in society. The movie Dum laga ke haiysha focused on the same problem.
• Women are judged on the basis of marriage and their sex life. When men are not judged then why women need to give all these tests? Equality is about placing the women and men on the same pedestal.
• The traditional families want women to wear bindi and ornaments and also wear a surname after marriage. Well, all these formalities don’t prove a woman’s love for her man.
No
• Deepika Padukone and Vogue both come from an industry that works on objectifying, fetishising and placing sexist standards of beauty on women. They need to do something different other than producing a video to support empowerment.
• The message about being size zero or size fifteen seems meaningless as these are the Bollywood actresses who instill insecurities amongst the common girls. They promote the message of being skinny to look beautiful.
• Empowerment and freedom cannot be sold through such videos or glossy pages of magazine. It comes through actions that let women known about their rights.
• The whole idea of video is to compare women with men. Well, if men are walking on the wrong path it doesn’t mean that women should also do same. It is not women empowerment.
• The video just encourages women to follow the existing bimbo culture without any fear or hesitation. This is far away from definition of women empowerment.
Conclusion
The video is about women, about making their choices. So, what is wrong in that? Why is so much noise over a three minutes video? Again, the answer is - it is about women. There is nothing wrong in the video as a woman carrying all the shackles wants them to break in order to become a free spirit. She is not the weaker sex and has the ability to stand on her own in the world. The video highlights the fact that spirit of womanhood cannot be trapped or caged. So, what’s wrong in it? The video may have not highlighted many other key issues, but it doesn’t mean that the message given in this video is misleading.
Discussion
- RE: Is Vogue "My Choice" Video Empowering? -asim vishal (04/03/15)
- i totally agree with most of the people who have commented over here regarding India being a male dominated country.but the video over here totally deals with the choice of the girls.i believe if everyone does what he wishes to will create a lot of problems.there will be problems for every one in a country.from the very beginning we are being taught to adjust our self with the society, yes there are some problems and we should oppose it. but there are some problems which can be solved by mutual understanding or even education.now if every one goes by his choice then no body will come to a proper conclusion.i think women empowerment starts from our homes.the parents should teach their children to behave properly with everyone.there should be strict laws for the people who commit these crimes .this will create a fear in the minds of people and they will not indulge themselves in these crimes.there should be various program for teaching the women the technique of self protection and the girls and boys should be treated equally in our home.home is the place where the children learn various things.the society over here needs to change their mentallity this will help a lot .
- RE: Is Vogue "My Choice" Video Empowering? -PRITVISH MANDAL (04/03/15)
- All of these actually starts from the grass root level - the rural part of our nation ,unfortunately which is very superstitious and tightly coupled with the immoral social obligations .Majority of the people living in the urban society draw inspirations from the rural ones which basically celebrate the patriarchal way of leading lives. The women residing in the rural areas have accustomed themselves to this kind of living and preach the same to their daughters.I believe , women in the urban society are quite sensible enough to figure out whats morally correct but what about the women who constitute the majority of India's female population. The video has definitely got some flaws ,where we can see Miss Padukone's assertiveness and boldness. Women are the epitome of love beauty , understanding and what not good praiseworthy adjectives suits them .But at the same time they should not take everything for granted .It is because of the few exceptional men who are bleak to the men's fraternity and India's population as well as the sex ratio is such,that if crime committed by men would be seen in a magnified way.
For concluding I would like to say that , I am not biased to the either gender but more concerned about the way our society is leading itself. "My Choice" the video is definitely empowering but while addressing such delicate issues of the society, one should always take care towards what the consequences one can generate. - RE: Is Vogue "My Choice" Video Empowering? -Deepa Kaushik (04/02/15)
- Hello Mr. Sandeep! Very good morning. I understand and totally accept your point that women need to come up to gain their own recognition. When I say male dominant society, it doesn't specify each and every male, but on a vast majority. I hope you accept that we still have major part of our country into the rural background with lingering superstitious beliefs. We might be trying to eradicate ignorance; still we have a huge percentage of Indian females unaware of their rights. Definitely our society is transforming. I just wanted to say that these videos help as a small tool, an aid to repair the tethered areas of our mentality. We have males taking part in day-to-day activities at home. And people have started accepting it on a positive note which is very welcoming. At the same time, a vast section of our society still feel that their son taking part in household activities is a negative image for men. We do have people who impose that only males are working hands.
Sir, I honestly accept your views. Still I would be much happy if every nook and corner of our nation grows up and spreads the culture of 'respect for females' into our society. - RE: Is Vogue "My Choice" Video Empowering? -sandeep (04/01/15)
- Hlo deepa madam ...this is refrence to ur comment..that this society is not ruled by men.this is 21 cent and every girl is aware of her rights ...dont u think womens tsome extent responsible for their condictions .some womens r responsible for the bad image of lady...these days women empowerment on high so inorder to improve condictions of lady u ladies have to stand ...everythg is possible in 21 cen
- RE: Is Vogue "My Choice" Video Empowering? -Deepa Kaushik (04/01/15)
- The video talks of women, and we are living in a society where the discussion on women itself starts agitations. We are in a society which is still ruled by men, directly or indirectly. We need to accept the bitter truth that yes, we do have a male dominant society which makes vague speeches and false promises of women equality and women empowerment.
We are getting our girls literate, but along with the literacy we also keep them making aware of their gender, their status in the society and their limitations especially when it comes to the social interaction. We are the society where we ill-treat a rape victim throughout her life and add to her trauma continuously and leave the accused to continue more similar offense until his natural death. We are living under a judicial system which takes the rape trial to the court till the time the accused dies his natural death enjoying his life in luxury and the girl is mentally and physically traumatised further and further and further.
Under these circumstances, we need to have something revolutionary that could hit the society from time-to-time and pass the message of humanity and equality for females. The video might be a bollywood stunt, a video for attracting viewership or any other monetary aspect, but the message that it has transferred to the society definitely carries some relevance. This topic being discussed here in itself is a proof that the video has produced some vibrations into the minds of the Indians.
Empowerment does not come by reservation. It comes by understanding our value and place in the society. Yes, empowerment would come only if the females of our country can gather courage and fight against the prevailing dogmas and superstitious belief against women. But all these need to have some initiation, some spark to start with. And this video is one of those sparks which could enlighten the lives of females. The video might not be perfect in every aspect, but it definitely carries the powerful words like a small aid in the huge transformation.
