In the last few months, there have been efforts in Hyderabad to create a dialogue on breaking gender stereotypes. Across the arts, from theatre, short films to an online initiative to post videos, we see a push to speak up against rigid notions of gender roles. City-based Open Face Media steers a new chapter on social media to break gender stereotypes. With its recent #Stepupnow challenge, the company invites anyone between the ages of six and 60 to post videos to show how they broke the stereotype. “We want to break stereotypes like taco shells; the idea is to ensure that no task is tied to a gender. Nothing is specifically a man’s or woman’s job, everything is everyone’s job,” asserts Pavan Atukuri, director of Open Face Media.
A month ago, Sachin Tendulkar’s insta post of him getting a shave from two women hairdressers — Neha and Jyothi — went viral. “The blade that shaves, does not know whether a girl or a guy is using it,” he had said, applauding Neha and Jyoti for their courage and right attitude to break stereotypes to move forward.
A few months ago, when the play Cinderella Sangeet was staged, the princess Cinderella was not a damsel in distress. Staged by Samahaara in collaboration with Kites and Nine Pins, the play by director Pallavi Banothu and writer Deepthi Krishna Thota gave fairy tales a novel perspective.
Different narrative
Pallavi thinks art is an opportunity to bring about a change in mindset. “Our workshop production had a group of 10 kids, wherein they learnt a lot of skills and also how to deal with stage fright.” As part of a few exercises at the workshop, she asked the young boys and girls to observe stereotypes at home and outside. “They came up with different things. A nine-year-old girl said that she often heard that girls cannot play football.” Pallavi likes to work on gender and her earlier play Antibodies with adults dealt with body and the politics associated with it. “Personally, I hate patriarchy. But I am not giving any message; this is more about my understanding of the problem and my learning when I am working on it.” Deepthi, who is also a research scholar, tries to analyse what is wrong in fairy tales. The stories send the wrong message, she posits. “The way women and men, or even witches, are portrayed and are boxed into pigeon holes is problematic,” she says. In her Cinderella Sangeet , Belle (of Beauty and the Beast ), Rapunzel and Princess Aurora (of Sleeping Beauty ) go to a party. When someone there calls Belle beautiful, she insists, ‘Excuse me. I am not just beautiful; I read very well.’ Deepthi points out the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast does not show her reading skills at the end of the movie. In Deepthi’s play Cinderella’s prince adopts a different tone as he says, ‘No one asks me what I want; I am just asked to go and rescue and get married. Maybe I want more than the kingdom and rescuing the princess.’
Presenting a different narrative leads to different perceptions and makes girls feel empowered. “It is inspiring to see how girls question and react on social media when they see something happening around them. When dress code rules are imposed, they take it head on. This constant dialogue and questioning gender stereotypes will help them to come out of that mould.”
For Pavan Atukuri, the inspiration to launch the #Stepupnow campaign came from his teenage daughter and school sports captain Disha, who questioned why her school permitted only boys to cycle around as marshalls. “We see many people casually saying, ‘ Endukura edustunnavu, ammayi laga’ (why are you crying like a girl) or ‘ Nuvvu vodipote neeku gajulu vestaamu’ (If you lose, I will make you wear bangles) . These statements are wrong and we have to stop them.”
When a group of interns joined Open Face Media for internship, Pavan saw a chance to address the issues. He made the group of two boys and six girls identify such topics, write blogs and make a film on the concept. The group encourages and challenges people to break a stereotype, make a video and send it to them to be published online. The response was encouraging, to say the least. In less than two weeks, they received over 20 videos. Ruchi Saha, a homemaker who often fixes air conditioners in her home, sent them a video of her cleaning the AC. Chakrapani sent a video of him loading clothes into the washing machine, drying them and then folding them to keep in the bedroom cupboards.
“We want this message to go out big,” says Pavan. The team has also been tweeting and putting videos on Instagram and Facebook and tagging ministers KTR and Smriti Irani, actors Mahesh Babu, Vijay Deverakonda, Neha Dhupia, Dia Mirza and Sophie Choudry.
The group of girls hope to change the mindset of some families. “They feel studying arts is good for girls and science is for boys. This mentality should change and everyone should have the freedom to choose what they want to pursue,” says Sukeshi.
Isn’t it true that most modern working couples share chores and do not think that it is a big deal to don gender fluid roles? “Some people have told us we do pitch in a lot for household chores but why should we go public with that. To them we say, by sending a video, you may be inspiring others,” says Pavan. These small but concrete steps are definitely in a positive direction.
To participate in Open Face Media’s challenge, send posters, blogs or one-minute videos through email to dont.bethatguy.in@gmail.com. or with a file-sharing utility. For details, visit www.openfacemedia .com/campaign
