Would have never known there was so much sexual content in the image of two people looking at each other through sieves on a moonlit night until the riot act was read by the protectors of our culture on this Dabur ad. Say two young girls are wishing each other long life and happiness this way, they might be lesbians, they might not be. But why this uproar as if they are demolishing all that is precious and pure in human relationships! No, the fear lies elsewhere! Karva Chauth is sacrosanct because it is not interested in giving a message of love and fellowship but in reasserting the eternal sexual and emotional subservience of the wife to the husband. That message is the husband's monopoly! Who knows what makes corporate companies deviate from banal conservatism in their ads occasionally? Maybe a bit of variety sometimes brings more profits! Dabur however has withdrawn the ad. As activists in a women's organization, though, we feel that just as by sending the message of rakshabandhan to people who are not related to us by blood but are our sisters and brothers in humanity we reinvent a traditional ritual, similarly it would not be bad if we could change the content of the ritual of karwa chauth by allowing it to foster an image of love and fellow feeling between two persons, even two women, never mind whether they are lesbians or not.
Born in 1914 to S. Swaminadhan, lawyer and A.V Ammukutty, social worker and freedom fighter, Lakshmi was involved in the freedom struggle from an early age. she campaigned for temple entry for…
The cowardly, brutal killing of Gauri Lankesh has led to waves of spontaneous protests in different corners of India. Gauri was a voice of honesty and courage, she challenged the status quo in…
Women’s anger erupted on July 31 at the gates of the Supreme Court of India against its recent judgement that would lead to the dilution of Section 498A. Several representatives of women's…
Women’s emancipation is impossible to obtain without achieving equal status for all sections of women. AIDWA has been in the forefront of the struggle to mainstream the multiple dimensions of…
A 13 year old daughter of a rag picker was abducted by six men in a moving car when she was returning home with her brother after doing domestic work on May 2, 2005 in Lucknow. She was beaten with a…
