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Do We Still Need Feminism?
You may say yes — but that’s not what I’m hearing from the men close to my heart.
Watching a documentary about social issues on TV is an interesting experience. That’s because you get to see the ads as interludes. The discrepancy between the narrative of a film featuring human tragedies and that of a capitalism-driven commercial can be astonishing.
This morning I watched a horrifying documentary about human trafficking on the Nepalese-Indian border. The vast majority of it was women trafficking. At some point, the protagonist of the movie was explaining how, on top of being kidnapped and abused, she also had to face her family’s response to her tragedy.
Her mother was a conservative traditional Nepalese. Once she learned what happened to her daughter, she declared that she must now marry her abuser. Simply because she was involved in sexual intercourse — even if against her will — the societal tradition deemed her to bear responsibility and be faithful to the one who broke her life.
As I felt tears growing in my eyes, the documentary suddenly stopped. It was time for ads. The first one that came up was Monica Bellucci showcasing an anti-ageing cream. Embodying the “mature womanhood” at its best.
