Vulgar portrayal of women in media || Acharya Prashant, at AIIMS Nagpur (2022)

Acharya Prashant

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Transcript

00:00All the forms of the multimedia, the film industry and the advertisements I am talking

00:07about have presented images of both the sexes, most of which have been unrealistic and stereotypical.

00:14The very quality of femininity has been portrayed in the film industry.

00:19Yes, yes.

00:20Ironically has victimized them merely as pretty faces and sidekicks.

00:26So, why do you think women are exploited by the film industry and advertisements?

00:32And in spite of the visible female objectification, why women let it happen to them?

00:38And what is the role of multimedia in gender bias?

00:42We are talking about it as if it is a great mystery, right?

00:46There is a woman who agrees to be in the commercial advertisement of a men's safety razor.

00:56And there she is half nude and dancing and inviting men to buy that safety razor.

01:06Don't you know how that happens? Don't you know the dynamics involved?

01:10She is being paid some money. That's it. And that's all that Prakriti cares for, food.

01:15You take care of my food. I will do whatever you want me to do.

01:20We are saying that media, including mainstream movies and commercial advertisements and all those things, right?

01:29We are saying they insult women, they degrade women.

01:36My approach always is, can anything happen to you without your consent?

01:41Is it really being done forcibly? No, it is not being done forcibly.

01:47If something is being done forcibly, why not fight it?

01:52What's the worst that can happen to you? You lose certain privileges.

01:57Extreme! You will lose your life.

02:01How is a life in bondages worth living anyway? Please tell me.

02:09You look at a woman playing a very abominable role in a movie, let's say a Hindi movie.

02:18Somebody coerced her? Was she made to dance at gunpoint?

02:27Somebody was holding a gun to her? No. It's an offer that she accepted.

02:32And that offer, the tendency to accept that offer comes from Mother Nature.

02:38Don't you see how animals behave? Show them a little food and they'll come after you.

02:44Is that not the case in jungle, please?

02:47As long as we continue to be animals, we will continue to be susceptible to greed and fear and insecurity and such things.

02:58It is pretty rich on our part, quite unbelievable to say that things are happening to us.

03:08No, things are not really happening. They are happening to us out of our consent.

03:15Make a lucrative enough offer and you get any actor or actress to do whatever you want him or her to do.

03:25Maybe there are a few exceptions, but that's all.

03:28And why does that happen? Because we live our biological selves.

03:35The biological self says, have prestige, have power, have a lot of assets, have food, have security,

03:48gather a lot of material things and that's what the purpose of life is.

03:54We are being told the purpose of life is pleasure.

03:59And pleasure can be bought. Pleasure can be bought using money.

04:03So if somebody comes to you and offers money for something, you'll have a tendency to accept that money.

04:09And if you don't accept the money, it is not because you don't want to accept the money,

04:13it is because usually the money is not big enough.

04:18Quote a big enough number and almost everybody can be bought.

04:23Where is the question of exploitation? Tell me, where is the question of exploitation?

04:28But a person who realizes that pleasure and consumption are not the purpose of life cannot be bought.

04:39I want girls and women to be that person.

04:44The person who gives two hoots to all kinds of temptations.

04:48The person who says, I lay down my life rather than sell myself in any kind of marketplace.

04:57We can be that kind of person, right? You have the power.

05:03Why do we care for security so much?

05:07Why do we care for belongingness so much? Is there really a need?

05:12And don't we see the price that we pay for our internal weaknesses?

05:19So many women continue to live pathetic lives just because they can't walk out of their household.

05:29I ask them, what is the reason? Why can't you walk out of the household?

05:33They say, oh because we love our kids. Because the family is to be maintained.

05:37Because we have certain duties and responsibilities towards such and such persons.

05:42I investigate deeper and what do we get to see?

05:47There is insecurity. There are economic issues.

05:55Who will feed me? Come on, let's give it a try.

06:01We will do something.

06:04Maybe you will not get as lavish a lifestyle as you are currently enjoying in your decorated prison.

06:16Maybe you will have to make do with far lesser.

06:20But come on, freedom is worth it. Is it not?

06:25Is it not? I don't know.

06:28Each of us has to decide for ourselves.

06:32What is the worth of freedom? You figure that out.

06:37And if you have much in life and not freedom, what do you have? Figure that out.

06:47Good evening sir. Sir, so we talked about consumerism.

06:52So consumerism basically, whenever we buy something or whenever we consume something,

06:59it is basically a play of the hormones. We need to feel good.

07:04And on the other hand, people fall in love and whatever things make us pleasurable,

07:11they are all a play of the hormones.

07:13So if we lessen it, what would be the alternative?

07:18If we give up consumerism, what would be the alternative then?

07:22Is this question a play of the hormones?

07:25This is the alternative.

07:29As a human being, you are the only species that can watch this play of hormones.

07:37That watching is joy itself. This is the alternative.

07:41Can you watch the entire thing happening and then be in a powerful position to accept or reject it?

07:50This power is pure joy.

07:54Otherwise you are just a slave to circumstances. What fun is there in that?

07:58Somebody showed you a pizza ad and your hormones got activated.

08:05And you said, I want pizza, I want pizza.

08:08You have not decided to buy that pizza.

08:12Somebody has forced you to buy that pizza.

08:16It's just that the force has not been exerted through a gun or muscle power or something.

08:27The other one is controlling you through a remote control with a chip within your mind.

08:37So you don't even come to know that you are being enslaved.

08:41There is no fun in that.

08:45Being liberated is being conscious about it.

08:49Being?

08:50Liberated means being conscious about it. Does that mean?

08:56When you say being liberated, obviously there has to be somebody in bondage, right?

09:01Only then the word liberation has any meaning.

09:04Who is the one in bondage? First of all figure that out.

09:07If you do not know how deeply you are in bondage, liberation will remain just a word.

09:13A good word, a nice word, but not a word you can give your life to.

09:19You can give your life to this word liberation or freedom

09:24only if you firstly realize that you are deeply in chains.

09:28That every part of you, every cell of you is a slave.

09:39Good evening sir.

09:41Sir, for a very long time we have been hearing that a woman is worshipped as an epitome of perseverance, strength, self-respect, sacrifice and so on.

09:52Now my question is, there are situations when we see a woman has to jeopardize her self-respect and dignity

10:02and go for and sacrifice that for the sake of her family,

10:07especially in case of when she is abused and harassed by her in-laws.

10:11So my question is that, should she do that or she should go for her self-respect and dignity?

10:18Because if she chooses either of the two, she has to face that stereotypic mindset of the society that has been infringed since long.

10:26So what do you think should be pivoted at this point?

10:30Why are you narrating this story of weakness?

10:34No sir, I am just sending two examples because these are the two major forms.

10:39Why do we even need to talk of these examples as worth narrating?

10:48What do you mean by family?

10:50You are an individual first of all, right?

10:53And if you have to have relationships, they have to be in love and respect.

11:00What kind of relationship is that which entails oppression and insult?

11:12What kind of relationship is that?

11:15And if family is the collective name for such relationships, why do you even need the family?

11:25Just because somebody is labeled as a relative, therefore you have to be with that person.

11:32What nonsense is this?

11:35Love is great.

11:37Respect is wonderful.

11:40But what is this oppression and humiliation in the name of relationships?

11:45Quit right now.

11:48No second thoughts on that.

11:55We are afraid. We are just afraid.

11:57The moment I say this, there is no nod of approval from your side.

12:02There is a silence of the stunned kind.

12:05I said quit and you are stoned.

12:08How do I quit? How is it even possible?

12:11If it is not possible, then you will have to bear the bondage constantly.

12:20Relationships are wonderful.

12:22Being with a man or a woman is great.

12:25But there is a condition to be met, right?

12:28Without that condition being met, how are you spending even one day with that person or persons?

12:37Just because there is a social contract and a legal thing?

12:41What is that?

12:44No family, no institution is bigger than the fundamentals of life.

12:53And remember the fundamentals of life. Remember who you are.

12:57You are not born to serve the family. You are born for your liberation.

13:01And it is your liberation that is your greatest act of love towards the others as well.

13:07If you really want to help the world, work towards your own freedom.

13:13Instead if you say because I have responsibilities, hence I am choosing slavery.

13:19It is both stupid and self-defeating.

13:36No part of this recording may be reproduced

13:39without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.

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