Oh. my. freaking. god. When will people understand that this video isn't supposed to be a moral guideline as to how women should be living their lives? Just because you have the freedom to make a choice doesn't mean every choice is one that should be made. The video also mentioned that a woman can choose to be a size 13 -- is Deepika advocating for nationwide obesity and diabetes now as well?
Our choices , right or wrong, make us who were are... they often bring consequences and they often bear reward. But suppressing them is suppressing an identity.
What empowerment stands for, and what the video was trying to emphasize, is the importance of a woman's actions to be regarded equivalently to her male counterparts. If she has sex or an affair or decides to pursue her career... she deserves to be regarded exactly like her husband would be in a similar situation. That's it. That's all there is to it. Deepika Padukone is not encouraging girls to take their tops off and cheat on their husbands in the name of empowerment.
In addition to this, I noticed an army of people are also dismissing the problems faced by "privileged, entitled" urban women because of the severity of the problems in rural India. What bullshit!
Women in cities face gender discrimination every single day -- the wage gap, groping, eve teasing, inability to move up professional ranks, constant judgement for the color of their skin. They're not "born into the life of luxury".
All these issues are important. All of them deserve to be recognized on a proper platform. You can't discredit the injustices against one woman because of those against the other. Every problem deserves a voice and a solution.
And I, for one, think its time to stop discussing as to whether sex, drinking and smoking is right or wrong (because no opinion is superior to another) and focus instead on how girls can be respected for their intelligence and ideas rather than what they do in the privacy of their beds and the clothes they wear on their backs.
There's nothing wrong about enjoying a glass of wine on the weekend. What's wrong is being labeled as a clueless s**t when you do so.
So my sincere kudos to Deepika Padukone.
I'm not a fan or supporter of everything she does, but I sure as hell admire her raising her voice and sparking a national discussion. Cause at the end of the day, this woman has something so very little people do --- global recognition and immense power.
Somewhere in the world, a woman watched that two minute video and felt more confident in her own skin. I support anything that accomplishes that.
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