Indusladies 4th Annual International Women’s Day Blog Contest 2013

Indus Ladies Contest Feb 2013

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Women in Media and Movies

Are not real. They give a false image of figure eights, manicured persona and all things that go with ritz, glitz and glamour. Added to that, all fashion and style magazines intend women to become a superwoman with an amazing body, persona, home, children and not to mention a career. And the biggest lie we see are that these women are everywhere - super styled, super careered and uber super at everything they do.

Are they for real ?  the average Indian woman asks.
How to become them ?  is the next logical quest of all these normal women in the world to attain super stardom in all the roles that have been given to them whether it being mother, daughter, wife, homemaker, employee, writer or a business owner.

Should we really become them ? is the real question we need to ask.

On one hand, we are all running after being happy and on the other hand we are running after being all glitzy and glamorous as portrayed in movies and magazine covers.

On one hand, we do want to educate woman and help her have a career based on her passion, regarding what she is good at doing, but not necessarily what pays the most, but due to how our society works, the parent’s sole concern is for their child to be a doctor, engineer or an actress even, as these are highly paid jobs. 
What about teaching, volunteering, doing arts and crafts, writing ?
They are not even mentioned as a career option as there is no money in them. At best, they can be hobbies of course. Hence so many artists, musicians and dancers suffer as they do not have the sufficient income to match today’s way of superficial jet setting lifestyle where you have to keep your home a certain way, you have to put your children in so many classes and you have to take so many vacations to exotic locales so many times of the year, so you are not the one standing at the water cooler nodding at someone else’s adventurous journey into the jungles of the Amazon. 
Just because a few people who can really afford to do it all, the media especially the Times of India publishes a travel column on every Thursday informing regular people that they can go to the Galapagos or to the sunny beaches of Vancouver when in reality they are struggling to make ends meet.

What about all the lovely nature trails close to home, do you really have to visit the African Sahara to achieve Nirvana. It can be done in your own backyard.

The corruption of the girl child starts pretty early and Disney is the number one company to doom these young girls into dreaming of being princesses in distress with a prince charming waiting in the corner, lets not forget on a horse, to save them.

The pscyhe of the young girl is formed by repeatedly reading and watching Beauty and the Beast, Cinderalla, Rapunzel, Snow White and list goes on where Prince Charming comes on a horseback or a carpet to rescue the damsel in distress.

Why is it that the damsel is the one in distress always ? And then comes the DisneyLand itself which is truly magical but is it for real ? But our little girls take all this to heart so much that my little girl at home has this dream of becoming a princess, so she can own not one or two, but copious crowns and gowns, shoes and sandals all in glass and gold, horses and carriages on hold and balls in ballrooms to behold. On me giving her a little reality check that she is the princess at our home, but really only in London do they still have a princess, her number one goal in life today is to become the princess of London, pretty in pink, adorning a crown and wielding a wand not to mention sitting on a gilded throne in the Buckingham Palace with the guards on duty.

Now is this me who has wanted this kid to become like this or is she a product of the media and the movies where all the celebrities are worshipped in glory, all fancy schmanzy products adorn the papers, TV ads, movies, glossy magazines and shopping malls, and it is ok to keep shopping endless number of shoes and bags, skirts and sandals to fill up wardrobes after wardrobes and then move into a larger posher home so you can keep all the stuff you bought, even if you have to pay for all these through your nose. And ofcourse you have to turn yourself into a super career oriented woman just to keep the lifestyle you have put yourself into.

So at the end of the day, are women benefitted by the way media portrays women or are they being lured into a rat race of pure consumerism and materialism.

Yes, there is a definite high in being an achiever, but nowadays the achievements are not end goals in themselves, they are not achievements until it has been translated into living in a palatial home, owning a luxury car, sending your children to the highest paid schools and of course taking exotic vacations, because why, you have to keep up with the Joneses, keep up the image of being successful, as if being successful was not enough in itself.

So the day when being successful is enough in itself and does not have to translate into a show off charade, the day the media acts as an inspiration to lead a life of lofty goals, the day media preaches simple living and high thinking, the day our mighty nation goes from a corrupt to a confident nation of citizens living by right conduct, living by inspiration and not by aspiration, that would be the day the media and magazines would have done their real job.