KARACHI:
A recently released movie, The White Tiger, based on the novel written by Aravind Adiga, pushed me to write a letter on how women are portrayed in the media and in society. After hearing much positive feedback about the movie, I was eager to watch it. However, I eventually had to stop watching it after half an hour when I noticed that women were blatantly being portrayed as tools.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only movie that depicts women as sexual objects. Women have long been objectified by the media in songs, dramas, video games, and movies altogether. It is as if her body is either a fun play-thing or something that is desired by the masculine. Very rarely do we see that women have their own agency in the media. I often wonder how writers, directors, actors, and all those working in this industry find this normal. It seems as if they have no sense of social and moral responsibility when producing content. Furthermore, such content is not just consumed by the masses but such narratives and visual ques shape the way people think and feel. Who will respect a female if she is constantly portrayed as a sexual object? Why do we only protest and shout when we see a victim of rape? Why do we not raise our voice when females are portrayed sexually in the media?
In a sense we are all culprits because we encourage such toxic behaviour by producing and watching such vile content. I know my voice is too small to even reach the industry, but I will not sit back and watch without doing something. My effort towards bringing change is voicing my opinion on different forums. I urge everyone to do the same.
Mahnoor Surahio
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, September 1st, 2021.
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