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Barack Obama’s interview to Glamour where he goes to lengths to explain his own feminism is spot on - on all that one might need to know about feminism.
Barack Obama’s interview to Glamour where he goes to lengths to explain his own feminism is spot on – on all that one might need to know about feminism.
Every sentence of the interview seem to consist of a very simple do or don’t which if put into practice, might banish the need for any feminism at all eventually!
The key is change in attitude; change in the attitude which exists currently once someone says it’s a boy or it’s a girl. Stop raising girls to be demure and boys to be assertive – he wrote.
Change the attitude which congratulates men who change diapers or stigmatizes full time dads and penalizes working moms.
The entire interview can be read here.
Just a few months ago, at a UN Conference, Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, took an unabashed stand on feminism, saying, “I’m going to keep saying, loud and clearly, that I am a feminist. Until it is met with a shrug.”
We might have had philosophers of yesteryears or activists these days, who hold the flag of feminism.
However, to have men holding positions of political power come out openly as feminists means a lot to women all over the world and to the goals feminism needs to achieve.
Boys and men get a very powerful role model to look up to.
Objectification of women exists in its subtlest forms wherein they need to use makeup to look good, have hair-less legs to be able to wear skirts or dress a certain way to look acceptable. Even the best of men subconsciously objectify women – which is a strong comment on culture and mindset; both of which strongly depend on other men around them. Hence, men who still hold preconceived notions on women and their rights are forced to re-think and re-analyze their views.
Men who support feminist ideologies secretly, can now come out in the open with their views, and not worry about sneers and jibes from colleagues and friends.
One strong aspect on equality is to give traditional women related tasks the importance that they deserve. Men who might sincerely support career oriented women, might not find themselves overtly comfortable changing a diaper or take for granted the mundane task of child rearing as a natural thing for women with few challenges to it.
And as Obama mentioned in the interview, growing up without a dad, one looks to the society for rules on masculinity.
Hence if our boys have men as Trudeau and Obama as an ideal to look up to, we are sure of a generation which in years to come would have abolished feminism – as it would have no need for it.
Image credit official US government White House website
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Being a writer, Nivedita Louis recognises the struggles of a first-time woman writer and helps many articulate their voice with development, content edits as a publisher.
“I usually write during night”, says author Nivedita Louis during our conversation. Chuckling she continues,” It’s easier then to focus solely on writing. Nivedita Louis is a writer, with varied interests and one of the founders of Her Stories, a feminist publishing house, based in Chennai.
In a candid conversation she shared her journey from small-town Tamil Nadu to becoming a history buff, an award-winning author and now a publisher.
Nivedita was born and raised in a small town in Tamil Nadu. It was for schooling that she first arrived in Chennai. Then known as Madras, she recalls being awed by the city. Her love-story with the city, its people and thus began which continues till date. She credits her perseverance and passion to make a difference to her days as a vocational student among the elite sections of Madras.
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