Vogue empower is not real Women empowerment.
Ah! Miss Deepika Padukone is out all guns blazing in the news. This time with a video on feminism. I am not entirely sure, if she’s comfortable with someone addressing her with her second name as it is her father’s name who is a male too. I guess it may not be to her liking, though she conveniently used it to become popular and rise to higher ranks in Bollywood.
Well, she’s right throughout the video, all of that she chose to say that are her choices, are her choices anyway. They are obvious things, the sexual urges, sexual orientation, relationships are one’s choices. And who is imposing them on her; we all know how many relationships she has had, who stopped her from having them? Is she socially ostracized for that?
I am not also sure who the target audience of this video is, the readers of Vogue magazine or the users of Vogue Fashion brand, because, the women who really need to be empowered may not even understand her language and expression at all.
Well again, it is her choice to convey what she wants in the name of women empowerment, for whatever remuneration she has accepted from Vogue, who are we to criticize?
While she gave her definition of empowerment, let us be clear what should real empowerment mean?
So here are few examples that I think are really empowered women.
1. A certain Arunima Sinha, who after being handicapped didn’t lose her hope and became first physically challenged to climb Mt. Everest (Search for her talk on YouTube)
2. A certain Bhakti Sharma swam in the chilling ice of Antarctica, to become one of the world’s best.
3. A certain Indira Nooyi went on to become CEO of Pepsi Co.
4. A certain Kiran Bedi, Justice Ruma Pal.
5. A certain actress like Priety Zinta who stood by her word and took against Don Chhota Shakeel when her good male colleagues backed out.
6. A certain Saina Nehwal and many more.
The empowered women need not be among the celebrities only.
A woman in armed forces; a woman working in male dominated projects in IT Companies; a woman who comes to town from village to sell vegetables; a teacher going out to teach good values and inspire 100s of students; a woman who choose to go to foreign countries for education; a woman who can exercise her choice to marry who she wants to; even a housewife who rears her children to make them good citizens and knows her rights; are all empowered women.
In short, any woman who is mentally strong, financially independent, knows her power as to what she can do is an empowered woman.
While, if Deepika thinks infidelity, polyandry, homosexuality, male harassment are indicators of women empowerment, so be it, for her. I rather think it is not feminism or empowerment but is femi-nazism.