Gender Norms
ज जब मैं अपनी माँ और चेची के अनुभवों के बारे में एक इंटरसेक्शनल यानी अंतर्विभागीय नारीवादी नज़रिए से लिख रही हूँ, तो मैं यह सोचती रह जाती हूँ कि उनके शारीरिक और भावनात्मक श्रम का भुगतान कौन करेगा।
The Half of It is beautiful because it brings out the insecurities of teenagers who want to fit in with the world around them and are confused about their feelings which might be the diametrical opposite of what is socially expected.
The film begins with the mother’s dilemma around her daughter’s refusal to be ‘normal’ and marry a ‘decent boy’. As the story unfolds, we see the mother invite a ‘suitable boy’ for dinner on the same evening as the daughter’s partner is coming home to meet the family.
What if we refused to assimilate? What if we collectively decided to dress in a way that made it so society could not render us invisible?
That offline patriarchal norms are travelling online – lock, stock and barrel. Digital technologies may appear to be gender-neutral, but floating below their waters is the whole kit and caboodle of patriarchy.
I discovered that tennis is not only about having the privilege to buy a racquet and specialised tennis shoes and access a tennis court. It is also about how one performs and expresses oneself, requiring players to follow a particular aesthetic that enforces gender binaries.
The gendered assumption that girls are generally disinterested in sports, could be easily refuted by the fact that the principal’s office shelf was adorned with multiple trophies awarded to the girls’ hockey team for winning championships.”
That’s all the big roles and ethics
All there to fulfil.
Another task,
Another box to tick
Another concrete path to rush
Quick, simple and straight.
I often imagine if I had been able to access friendly and empowering comprehensive sexuality education from my childhood, how different my life would have turned out to be.
How could I be trans if I didn’t tick off all the correct checkboxes demanded by politics, law, society and even the transgender community itself?
We carve strangers’ words onto our skin
like tattoos to be flaunted while hiding away
everything that we are from within.
So why do we have to have fixed notions of gender roles and food?
Clothes for me are our first line of defence. They are also our first act of providing relief.