Wednesday, September 28, 2016

It’s Time to Stop Beautifying Violence Against Women for Fashion


In the Time magazine article I was disgusted with the number of horribly photographed situations that can so easily be related back to the rape of the India girl.  This bothers me because I know that there must be so many more images like this out there relating to her rape.  However, I am even more bothered because I know there are millions of more images and ads that subjectivity women as objects for men's enjoyment.  
The image of the India women fending off a group of men on the bus bothered me specifically because of what it was called, "The Wrong Turn".  This title makes it appear as though it is the woman's fault, or that she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.  How can that be acceptable?  How as a society can we teach that women are not objects and should not need to be concerned about their well being every second of the day?  I am baffled as to how the photographer, Raj Shetye, was able to not feel morally guilty for his actions and publication of the image.  The fact that Nirbhaya the 23 year old from New Delhi was fatally gang raped on a bus and then his ad glamorized the situation.  I am glad that women's rights activists caused outrage on Twitter, however, I am bothered that situations like this have and will continue to happen again and again.
I am concerned for the future generations, they see glossy magazine covers and ads but don't think of the greater meaning, the struggle that could have influenced the shot.  Because of this I believe that what the girls father said was correct- "they should be ashamed of it, what is the photographer trying to show to the juveniles and youths of the nation?  He should be punished".
I feel that we as a society need to educate current and future generations to not make women feel as though they are the ones that are the problem.  In school girls are told that they cannot wear SO many things because it will be a distraction for boys education.  When in fact it is the girls that spend so much time worrying about if what they are wearing will get them in trouble instead of being able to focus and learn.  We need to change the way media and ads portray women and we need to stop believing that violence can be beautified.

1 comment:

  1. I completely agree with you. Although that ad received backlash, someone still had the idea that it should've been an ad and it was allowed to be published. That is what needs to change. Someone could not recognize exactly what is happening in the ad, however they could come across an instance depicted in an ad they saw and therefore think it's OK. Many of the times women are made to believe that it's their fault, and the man was doing nothing wrong. Or the woman deserved it. Younger generations need to be taught about things like this or the problem will just become worse and worse.

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