Feministaah

This is an ad by a very successful car manufacturer of German origin, which shall remain unnamed, because outrage and controversy just offers more –and free—publicity. (Like the clothing manufacturer that routinely used offensive photos in their ads, for this very reason). The ad is not new, but has surfaced on social media, and hence, watched again. A slim, well-endowed woman walks into a library goes up to the librarian, and orders French fries, a burger and a milkshake.  The librarian who is an overweight, scruffy and surly (not wearing thick glasses to complete the stereotype, but they are dangling on a string on her drab-looking t-shirt) woman looks up in annoyance and says. “This is a library.”  The blonde looks around, repeats the food order in a whisper and smiles. Then come the words, “Beauty is nothing without brains.” In an age when sexism is under the scanner, the ad is insulting to women in so many ways.  To begin with the few people ...

The biggest problem with being a major star is that everybody who has ever seen a film thinks they own them. They can comment and speculate on their lives, and in the tragic case of Sridevi their death. Unfortunately social media has given every nut case with a net connection the right and the platform to air their views. Some of them think that by being abusive online they put celebrities in their place. Sridevi’s untimely and shocking death let everybody unleash their theories and the one flying around was that the procedures and pills she took to look young and slim caused the heart attack that killed her. When the news about her drowning in a bathtub came out, the early theory was chucked for the one on her drinking because she was depressed. Everybody was an expert and the TV channels were the most insensitive. But does anybody turn their gaze on to themselves ask wonder why there is pressure on all women—not just celebrities—to be eternally young and sexy.  It’s w...