[Music]
there are 168 hours in a week even if we
sleep for 10 hours every day even then
we are taking inputs from our
surroundings during 100 waking hours
from the media and spaces around us now
these inputs inform us about two things
one who are the visible elements in our
society and do how do they interact with
each other take an example of a public
street and deli the visible elements
that you’ll observe are men women
vegetable carts cars
Pulis in the street now what is the
gender of most of the cab drivers that
you see
who wears sari and makeup what are trans
people doing in the street
if most of you imagined cab drivers to
be mean if you could imagine only women
wearing sari if trans people were only
soliciting arms at the traffic signal
then we are living in a very limited
let’s expand our imagination let’s
imagine men talking about food recipes a
derby stall near the roadside
imagine women taking afternoon naps in a
public park
imagine a trans person coming to pick up
their child from a school in their own
our imagination limits or expands our
reality and I believe that media has a
very very important role to play here
consider body hair when I was growing up
then in eighth grade one of my friends
starting waxing her arms I remember we
all encircled her and we asked Wow how
does it feel to have no body hair and
she said yeah it seems hygienic it’s
clean okay
I didn’t wax my arms or legs until
college until men and women started
cringing at the sight of my body hair
until it became a norm for me to go to
Apollo every month it’s only very
recently that I became comfortable with
my body hair that I stopped waxing for
the Society
and even then there is a very thin line
between social conditioning and a choice
sometimes it’s so difficult to figure
out even for our own self whether what
we are doing is because if the society
expects me to do it or because I want to
do it when I was growing up my cousin
loved to dress up cook meals braids my
mom’s hair everything we associate as
feminine now he works in an organization
and I often wonder did he ever aspire to
be a homemaker did he ever even consider
it to be an option a research says that
children tend to associate masculine
jobs as higher in status than feminine
jobs and yet they tend to take up rules
which they culturally associate with
their own sex
so young women like you tend to take up
jobs which you associate with your own
gender but you aspire to go for
masculine roles and young men like you
take a prose you associate with your own
gender but never even aspire to take up
feminine roles and what it does is that
it creates a huge gap between two
genders it creates a burden for one
gender now where does media fit in here
on an average we see 5000 advertisements
every day to process so much data our
brain tends to generalize information it
makes boxes of stereotypes around us
for example take detergent ads in all
the detergent ads the visible elements
are men women kids in a house with a
washing machine or a woman clad in a
sari tucked around her waist with a
bucket in her hand the second signal
which our brain interprets at a
subconscious level is since all
detergent ads have women in it women
must be associated with this task thus
women wash clothes now I want you to
take a moment and imagine an ad a
detergent ad without any women in it
with only men not mentioning women at
all just washing their clothes taking
the bucket to the rooftop looking at the
neighbor and saying hey man how is your
shirt so white I am going to use wood
huge is possible
a research says that by the age of five
to eight children shape their gender
stereotypes and between the age of ten
to thirteen these stereotypes get
strengthened so a child already knows by
grade three who cooks meals at home and
who takes them out for shopping for
market adventures and if you’re one of
those lucky ones whose father cook means
for you at home and whose mother went
out for dinner party with her friend
then please go back home and thank your
now the inputs that we receive from
media work at multiple levels externally
we learn who is allowed to wear frocks
frills and glitters and homie not we
also learn about gendered professions we
associate firefighters and doctors with
one gender and we associate teacher OHS
homemakers and nurses with another
gender when we get past this external
level our verbal language
reflects our stereotypes the pronouns in
adjectives we use the kind of jokes and
slangs we share with our friends
I remember when I was a child and we
used to watch television with news
talking about sexual harassment and
sexual assault
my mother would often say of course if
you step out at night women will be
harassed no one ever said if boys don’t
seek consent then they will violate
peace and harmony of someone when are we
using active and passive oils whom are
we putting the blame on then another
indicator is our body language you would
often see that in media and in reality
women are more contracted in their body
language than men let’s go even people
Media shapes how we think it shapes our
now for example look at cookies ads what
does cookie ad have to do with gender so
um take cookies ads with only men in it
and you’ll see that men are sitting
comfortably on a bench wearing their
sports attire talking about whether
eating cookies whereas if there is a
woman present in the same ad that woman
would almost always be seeking
validation from a man she’d be
complaining to a man that she is not
getting enough attention how are we
shaping the narrative within a child’s
frame they’re learning that this is how
they’re supposed to behave if they’re a
woman and this is how they’re supposed
to behave if they’re a man so once in my
classroom I asked why do we not see
amazing inclusive films and this little
child said it is that’s what sells item
numbers says that’s what filmmakers see
I always find it amusing and a little
disturbing when I see my cousin dancing
in to an item number she doesn’t even
understand half the lyrics but what she
does in the sand is what’s a tone and
what’s he body language of the actress
she’s also learning if one gender is
interested in the other then who chases
whom and how so let me put this the
other way round we get these narratives
in media not because that’s what sells
but because that’s what
and thus while the media has immense power in shaping our reality the real
power in shaping our reality the real power lies in our hands so what can we
power lies in our hands so what can we do about it
do about it just four simple steps choose a media
just four simple steps choose a media form take either ads on use headlines or
form take either ads on use headlines or a film dialog pick up any aspect of
a film dialog pick up any aspect of gender body image body hair profession
gender body image body hair profession and rewrite the narrative post it on
and rewrite the narrative post it on social media when I asked my classroom
social media when I asked my classroom students to pick up one fairy tale and
students to pick up one fairy tale and put their dreams in it this is what one
put their dreams in it this is what one of them shared once upon a time long
of them shared once upon a time long long ago there was a princess quad
long ago there was a princess quad Rapunzel she wanted to be a librarian so
Rapunzel she wanted to be a librarian so she would often go up to the tower in
she would often go up to the tower in her town in a library and sit and read
her town in a library and sit and read books there
books there while she was there one day the lift
while she was there one day the lift broke down so she went to the window and
broke down so she went to the window and said ahoy can you get me nails and
said ahoy can you get me nails and copper wire I have to fix my lift and
copper wire I have to fix my lift and the man said sure why not
the man said sure why not so the man went to the nearby shop
so the man went to the nearby shop caught her copper wire and some nails in
caught her copper wire and some nails in the meanwhile Rapunzel
the meanwhile Rapunzel read about how to fix an elevator and
read about how to fix an elevator and when she got all the material she fix
when she got all the material she fix the elevator came downstairs thank the
the elevator came downstairs thank the man became friends with him and then
man became friends with him and then they stayed friends happily ever after
they stayed friends happily ever after if a seven-year-old child can write this
if a seven-year-old child can write this so can you you can change the narratives
so can you you can change the narratives you can make them more expansive more
you can make them more expansive more inclusive and each story that you put
inclusive and each story that you put out in the social media will create
out in the social media will create enough demand for these influencers to
enough demand for these influencers to change the narratives to expand the
change the narratives to expand the narratives and media and that will
narratives and media and that will change
there are 168 hours in a week even if we
sleep for 10 hours every day even then
we are taking inputs from our
surroundings during 100 waking hours
from the media and spaces around us now
these inputs inform us about two things
one who are the visible elements in our
society and do how do they interact with
each other take an example of a public
street and deli the visible elements
that you’ll observe are men women
vegetable carts cars
Pulis in the street now what is the
gender of most of the cab drivers that
you see
who wears sari and makeup what are trans
people doing in the street
if most of you imagined cab drivers to
be mean if you could imagine only women
wearing sari if trans people were only
soliciting arms at the traffic signal
then we are living in a very limited
let’s expand our imagination let’s
imagine men talking about food recipes a
derby stall near the roadside
imagine women taking afternoon naps in a
public park
imagine a trans person coming to pick up
their child from a school in their own
our imagination limits or expands our
reality and I believe that media has a
very very important role to play here
consider body hair when I was growing up
then in eighth grade one of my friends
starting waxing her arms I remember we
all encircled her and we asked Wow how
does it feel to have no body hair and
she said yeah it seems hygienic it’s
clean okay
I didn’t wax my arms or legs until
college until men and women started
cringing at the sight of my body hair
until it became a norm for me to go to
Apollo every month it’s only very
recently that I became comfortable with
my body hair that I stopped waxing for
the Society
and even then there is a very thin line
between social conditioning and a choice
sometimes it’s so difficult to figure
out even for our own self whether what
we are doing is because if the society
expects me to do it or because I want to
do it when I was growing up my cousin
loved to dress up cook meals braids my
mom’s hair everything we associate as
feminine now he works in an organization
and I often wonder did he ever aspire to
be a homemaker did he ever even consider
it to be an option a research says that
children tend to associate masculine
jobs as higher in status than feminine
jobs and yet they tend to take up rules
which they culturally associate with
their own sex
so young women like you tend to take up
jobs which you associate with your own
gender but you aspire to go for
masculine roles and young men like you
take a prose you associate with your own
gender but never even aspire to take up
feminine roles and what it does is that
it creates a huge gap between two
genders it creates a burden for one
gender now where does media fit in here
on an average we see 5000 advertisements
every day to process so much data our
brain tends to generalize information it
makes boxes of stereotypes around us
for example take detergent ads in all
the detergent ads the visible elements
are men women kids in a house with a
washing machine or a woman clad in a
sari tucked around her waist with a
bucket in her hand the second signal
which our brain interprets at a
subconscious level is since all
detergent ads have women in it women
must be associated with this task thus
women wash clothes now I want you to
take a moment and imagine an ad a
detergent ad without any women in it
with only men not mentioning women at
all just washing their clothes taking
the bucket to the rooftop looking at the
neighbor and saying hey man how is your
shirt so white I am going to use wood
huge is possible
a research says that by the age of five
to eight children shape their gender
stereotypes and between the age of ten
to thirteen these stereotypes get
strengthened so a child already knows by
grade three who cooks meals at home and
who takes them out for shopping for
market adventures and if you’re one of
those lucky ones whose father cook means
for you at home and whose mother went
out for dinner party with her friend
then please go back home and thank your
now the inputs that we receive from
media work at multiple levels externally
we learn who is allowed to wear frocks
frills and glitters and homie not we
also learn about gendered professions we
associate firefighters and doctors with
one gender and we associate teacher OHS
homemakers and nurses with another
gender when we get past this external
level our verbal language
reflects our stereotypes the pronouns in
adjectives we use the kind of jokes and
slangs we share with our friends
I remember when I was a child and we
used to watch television with news
talking about sexual harassment and
sexual assault
my mother would often say of course if
you step out at night women will be
harassed no one ever said if boys don’t
seek consent then they will violate
peace and harmony of someone when are we
using active and passive oils whom are
we putting the blame on then another
indicator is our body language you would
often see that in media and in reality
women are more contracted in their body
language than men let’s go even people
Media shapes how we think it shapes our
now for example look at cookies ads what
does cookie ad have to do with gender so
um take cookies ads with only men in it
and you’ll see that men are sitting
comfortably on a bench wearing their
sports attire talking about whether
eating cookies whereas if there is a
woman present in the same ad that woman
would almost always be seeking
validation from a man she’d be
complaining to a man that she is not
getting enough attention how are we
shaping the narrative within a child’s
frame they’re learning that this is how
they’re supposed to behave if they’re a
woman and this is how they’re supposed
to behave if they’re a man so once in my
classroom I asked why do we not see
amazing inclusive films and this little
child said it is that’s what sells item
numbers says that’s what filmmakers see
I always find it amusing and a little
disturbing when I see my cousin dancing
in to an item number she doesn’t even
understand half the lyrics but what she
does in the sand is what’s a tone and
what’s he body language of the actress
she’s also learning if one gender is
interested in the other then who chases
whom and how so let me put this the
other way round we get these narratives
in media not because that’s what sells
but because that’s what
and thus while the media has immense power in shaping our reality the real
power in shaping our reality the real power lies in our hands so what can we
power lies in our hands so what can we do about it
do about it just four simple steps choose a media
just four simple steps choose a media form take either ads on use headlines or
form take either ads on use headlines or a film dialog pick up any aspect of
a film dialog pick up any aspect of gender body image body hair profession
gender body image body hair profession and rewrite the narrative post it on
and rewrite the narrative post it on social media when I asked my classroom
social media when I asked my classroom students to pick up one fairy tale and
students to pick up one fairy tale and put their dreams in it this is what one
put their dreams in it this is what one of them shared once upon a time long
of them shared once upon a time long long ago there was a princess quad
long ago there was a princess quad Rapunzel she wanted to be a librarian so
Rapunzel she wanted to be a librarian so she would often go up to the tower in
she would often go up to the tower in her town in a library and sit and read
her town in a library and sit and read books there
books there while she was there one day the lift
while she was there one day the lift broke down so she went to the window and
broke down so she went to the window and said ahoy can you get me nails and
said ahoy can you get me nails and copper wire I have to fix my lift and
copper wire I have to fix my lift and the man said sure why not
the man said sure why not so the man went to the nearby shop
so the man went to the nearby shop caught her copper wire and some nails in
caught her copper wire and some nails in the meanwhile Rapunzel
the meanwhile Rapunzel read about how to fix an elevator and
read about how to fix an elevator and when she got all the material she fix
when she got all the material she fix the elevator came downstairs thank the
the elevator came downstairs thank the man became friends with him and then
man became friends with him and then they stayed friends happily ever after
they stayed friends happily ever after if a seven-year-old child can write this
if a seven-year-old child can write this so can you you can change the narratives
so can you you can change the narratives you can make them more expansive more
you can make them more expansive more inclusive and each story that you put
inclusive and each story that you put out in the social media will create
out in the social media will create enough demand for these influencers to
enough demand for these influencers to change the narratives to expand the
change the narratives to expand the narratives and media and that will
narratives and media and that will change
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