#pmasa

[indizombie]

Cinema is the biggest influencer in India; people follow fashion trends, hairstyles, and dialogues from popular movies. Given this huge influence movies have on people, a huge responsibility lies on the movie, television, and the advertisement industries. Unfortunately, these industries are irresponsible in how they portray women and violence against women. Popular tropes involved in Indian movies are that of the childlike female protagonist who the male protagonist will stalk until she gives into his 'charming' stalker, romeo-like advances. If the female lead is assertive, and independent, she will be chastised as 'modern', 'immoral', 'available', and so on. The men in movies are entitled brats who cannot bear rejection from women. The effect of these dangerous stereotypes can be seen in numerous cases of acid attacks on women who have rejected the advances from men.

“We Won’t Surrender”, Stories of People’s Struggle against Sexual Assault

[indizombie]

Entertainment media such as songs, stories, television shows, films play a role in framing people's ideas about sexuality and consent. Across media forms, women's consent is not respected. Women are only sexual as they are objects of desire. Those objects of desire are young, unaware, and lost without male patronage. This leads to fetishisation of children, who are vulnerable and are less self-aware of their sexuality. The effect of this framing is that women are conditioned to express their sexuality passively, while men are conditioned to express their sexuality actively. Active expressions of sexuality by women are portrayed as invitations to violence. Active and even violent expressions of sexuality by men are celebrated and made natural. This leads to a culture that accepts aggressive male behavior. Bystanders also are portrayed in typical gendered ways. Male bystanders intervene with violence, either as support, opposition, or rivalry. Female bystanders are either passive, or pedagogical. They are either submissive, or instruct other actors on appropriate behavior, using patriarchal messaging.

“We Won’t Surrender”, Stories of People’s Struggle against Sexual Assault