Thoughts — Womxn

#BoycottAlia was trending on Thursday, and while the page loaded I wondered if it was because the conservatives guessed she was pregnant out of wedlock (honestly who cares!) but Twitterverse - which never fails to surprise - had decided to boycott her because she humorously talked about abuse towards men in her movie Darlings.  Like Badru, Alia’s character in Darlings, we all enter a relationship, especially a marriage, with the belief that we will love, be loved, care and be cared for. The abstract concept of “love” is what gives us courage to take risks, step out of our comfort...

When you look at mental health concerns, people often assume that mental health issues are only faced by those who are underprivileged. While that is a whole new myth to bust, there is also a need to focus on the people who belong to these marginalised communities; who’ve never had access to means like therapy. Talking about ‘mental health’ is a privilege for us. Most people from marginalized backgrounds never even consider rape, abuse, substance abuse, domestic violence, etc. to be issues - it’s a normal event that just… happens. But more importantly, that also means that the trauma they...

This COVID wave burst my privilege bubble. From being the “work from home kid”, who woke up 1 minute before meetings and was served lunch on my work table, I had to adapt to waking up 2 hours before work to cook some breakfast, feed our pet, heat milk and keep the trash outside … and how I wish that was the end of the loooooong to-do list. The day my mother tested positive, I knew I’d have to work and take care of her and my  family, and with no one else to help, this had to be a...

The plot line of Lipstick Under My Burkha (directed by Alankrita Shrivastava) revolves around 4 women, each from a different age group and each leading very different lives. A mother of 3 children, left alone to fend for herself; a widowed woman who attends Satsangs; a 20 something year old ambitious woman finding her place in society; and a college girl trying to find her own identity in an oppressed environment. Each one of these characters are first introduced as very “desi” women, from different backgrounds living in a small town, full of dreams. However, through the course of the movie, we...

Have you ever looked at a weight loss advert which says “love yourself #bodypositivity” and thought to yourself “of course it’s easy to love yourself when you fit into an ideal, how does this help me accept my weight? Should I also start exercising so I can look good and feel good?”Mainstream body positivity argues that we must rebel against unrealistic beauty standards and objectification by loving our bodies. Although widely popular and even beneficial to many, this approach fails to create a pathway from seeing certain body shapes as flaws to absolutely loving them. This might lead to a...