Women Archives - Page 8 of 10

50 Shades of Greying: Ladies, Time to Retire the Compliment “You Don’t Look Your Age!”

We are socially conditioned to equate youth with beauty, and beauty as an accomplishment. But why not think of your crows’ feet and greys as sieves that filter out assholes who think women serve only one purpose – to be someone’s eye-candy? Let’s start by retiring “you don’t look your age!” as a compliment.

Purba Ray April 18, 2016

Gender

“Sharing the Load” was Just for the Lockdown. Men are Back to Being Men

Why do we talk about the men “helping” the women out at home, a friend asked. “Helping” implies that it is the job profile of a woman to run the house, while the man, out of the goodness of his heart, would attempt to “share the load”. As equal partners, isn’t it imperative that both consider the home theirs to take care of?

Rupha Ramani April 16, 2016

Gender

The UP Constable Acid Attack Proves That Even Empowered Women Can’t Escape Misogyny

A woman constable in Uttar Pradesh was attacked with acid by a jilted lover. The fact that she is a cop did not deter the attacker. This is the stark dichotomy between the freedom women now have to make waves at work and the basic freedoms they continue to be denied in their personal lives.

Kahini Iyer April 15, 2016

Gender

50 Going on 20: What’s With Our Sudden Obsession with Birthday Milestones?

I suppose nothing quite tells you that age is not just a number like hitting 50 does. And we now celebrate it with a big, extravagant bash. Does anyone really care about us turning 50? Then again, does that argument hold in an age where beauty standards for even ageing women are relentless?

Lata Gwalani April 15, 2016

Gender

A Step-by-Step Guide to Walking Out of an Abusive Marriage

Why didn’t you fight back when you were slapped and your earring fell off? Why are you still around, crying pathetic pools of tears and snot? Why aren’t you doing what your head tells you to and leave? How did you just become a statistic of physical abuse?

Life 13 April 15, 2016

POV

Why Has #MeToo Scared Every Man

Instead of looking at the positives of the #MeToo movement, I actively tried to pinpoint its imperfections – by focussing on legal loopholes or that one woman who made a false accusation on Twitter. I started finding reasons to convince myself that there was something wrong with the movement. But why was I making excuses for sexual harassers?

Hardik Rajgor April 14, 2016

POV

Back Off Chennai, Let a Lady Smoke in Peace

In Chennai, I have to pay 200 rupees at a posh café, every time I want to smoke a 16-rupee cigarette. Not that chauvinism doesn’t exist in other Indian cities, but it is especially pronounced in my home city.

Tara Manikandan April 9, 2016

Gender

Will #MeToo Help Us Become Better Men?

Most heterosexual men are woefully inept at formulating their views about #MeToo. But discomfort is the beginning of introspection. One hopes this phase will lead to stock-taking, and provide men the opportunity to self-reform and become new, more attractive men.

Rahul Jayaram April 8, 2016

Bollywood

Is Radhika Apte Now Bollywood’s Token Angry Feminist?

There’s a new stock character type in Bollywood, and she is the token feminist. Always powerful, headstrong, and argumentative, you’ll see her in everything from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil to Sacred Games. She’s the effeminate gay man of this decade.

Sreemoyee Mukherjee April 8, 2016

Gender

Honest Conversations with My Temperamental Vagina

She’s turning 40 and has turned temperamental, refusing to cooperate. I give her all the TLC and all this isn’t just a ruse to make her mushy. I reminisce about the good ole days when all it took was a kiss on the neck in a dark nightclub to get her going. She is amused but does not change her stance.

Sangeetha Bhaskaran April 3, 2016