Perfectly Imperfect Childhood

Once upon a time, a girl was born to a loving Indian family. She got her basic education, got married at a young age, had an arrange marriage, and gave her husband 2 sons. The end.

Okay so that was a short summary of probably countless Bollywood movies (which I'm still a fan of by the way), but more importantly, this is the way thousands of ignorant people view the Indian culture. And honestly, I don't even know if it's entirely their fault.

Now a much more real story is that of my life. I was born into an Indian family and very early on I was taught things that made me fit the cookie-cutter image of an ideal Indian girl. I was enrolled in singing and dance lessons. I played with my stuffed animal best friends and lovable pink elephant friends. I spent most of my leisure time with my most-prized possession of the time: my pink plastic kitchen set. And of course, my wide variety of beautiful, lifeless Barbies.
Unfortunately, these extremely gender specific toys made me believe that this was what it meant to be a woman. I thought I had to be social, outgoing, a good cook, and well have blonde hair and blue eyes. However, "for all her giant breasts and high-heeled feet, she lacks a certain softness" (Prager 354). Barbie never taught me to be kind or respectful; instead, she emphasized a woman's sexuality and not through natural beauty but through short skirts and perfectly straight hair.

And today, although a a young girl's childhood has been pixelated with the excessive impact on technology. No matter how strongly feminism is decimated throughout the society, social stereotypes are so deeply ingrained in everyone's mind, that even Jesus will not be able to completely change the deep-rooted clichés.

But we are definitely making progress. This year Barbie's image was recreated as she is now manufactured in different body types and skin tones, empowering the upcoming generations of females with a vision beyond a skinny body and blonde hair. Additionally, with the power of rhetoric, feminists can still propel progress for a more equal, gender-neutral society .

Regarding my childhood, my gender-role enforcing childhood was definitely not my parents' fault but instead a shortcoming created by society. Ironically enough, I have definitely fit the image of an indian girl a bit as  I have grown up to be an outgoing dancer. However, I am definitely the worst cook in the world and well your ears will bleed if you hear me sing. But I'm proud to say that I'm 100% an Indian girl (princess). 

Race: A social construct or biological creation

For hundreds of years, there has been some time of discrimination or racism due to racism. Whether it be in our own country or in another one,  multiple times one race has considered itself superior to the other. However, when taken a closer look at, race is dependent first on recognition of physical attributes. If you have brown skin you're Indian, if you have pale skin you're white. So, this way, it would be considered a biological construct.

However, the creation of the standards for race root from social construct. We have become so reliant on the fact that any we see now will fit into one of our categories that it's hard to see beyond that. However, a white person is truly part European. Many people who have brown skin aren't Indian but are instead from Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. This shows how limiting these boundaries can be, but we  would not be able to classify people without it.

On the other hand, when race is looked at as a biological creation only, all the stereotypes and stigma attached become separated from the person. This may be a good thing on many accounts, but when looking at history, events like the holocaust dawn on the fact that these stereotypes like the blond hair and blue eyes can create a distinction among the races.

There is also a lot more confusion that happens when considering religion and ethnicity. For example, in the graphic novel Maus, Art's wife "converted" after marriage from a French to a Jew, so she was drawn as a mouse. But in today's world, when a woman converts after marriage it usually refers to her religion, so in that sense, how can you tell religion by just looking at someone? By changing her religion, she in turn changed who she was and which is why she too was drawn as a mouse. Region, race, and ethnicity are intertwined and the relationship between them is up to interpretation.

Racism is a social construct. Racial recognition is based on social standards created by the biological creation. So, which should it be called?

Analyzing Maus

I've never been a big fan of graphic novels.
I've always thought they were way too overdramatic with the BAM! and POW! effects, which in my opinion took away from the message of the pieces. Although boring at times, I preferred the word-only, chapter-by-chapter novels that allowed me conjure up images to match the text.

Maus, however, has completely changed my opinion on the effectiveness of graphic novels.
Not only is the story brought to life with the rather vibrant black-and-white drawings, but also through the use of text bubbles and rectangles to display text, and some text and images escaping the confines of the squares.

The novel, much to my surprise, conveyed much deeper meanings then expected. To begin, the The use of animals to represent Jews, Polish, and Nazis is indeed very symbolic, as the Jews are mice and the Nazis are cats and the power struggle of the two is rather infamous.

When looking at this section of Maus, the true essence of the impactfulness of this novel is understood.


 In the picture at the top, the Germans, or cats in this case, are seen brutally abusing the Jews. There is a mix in which of the two groups is black or white to symbolize the disarray of this time period. Not every Jew was "good" (white) and not ever German was "bad" (black). Many Germans were forced to do this against their will, and, on the other hand, some Jews were like the "the rat that turned my (Vladek's) family over to the gestapo." As you continue down, you see the fence between Vladek and the chaotic beatings, which shows that while some were imprisoned by the German, some did walk free. However, even those Jews were still under constant scrutiny and fear because their Jewish heritage would never leave them, as shown by the Star of David Vladek beneath him. Finally, the bottom picture shows Valdek and a couple others staring down at the beatings going on from a safe place above. This aerial view gives Vladek the superiority, however, the black draws attention to the guilt he probably had for leaving the other Jews to die.

Maus has definitely given me some insight in the power of a graphic novel and has truly captivated me with this riveting story. 

Make A Change

It's 2016 and we are still no where close to reaching equality.
Women today still have to prove themselves. Prove that they're just as strong as men. Prove that they too can be independent.
And just as we start voicing our opinions and stand up for what we believe in, people are quick to make the statement, "You're such a feminist." Unfortunately, in the past 5 years, the word "feminist" has to grown to adopt a negative connotation as though it is something to be ashamed of.
However, those who do misinterpret the meaning of the word, have a flawed definition of feminism to begin with:

 Feminism- "the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men"

Yeah, did you read that? Equality meaning the goal of feminism is to make women equal to men. Not above or below. Just equal. This is extremely important to understand as more that half of the anti-feminists think feminism means putting women above men, which is not even close to being accurate. Therefore, when people deem me as feminist, it is in no way an insult but in fact a compliment because any educated individual (who has taken the time to understand what feminism means), will proudly call himself/herself a feminist. 

To continue, women continue to have the bear the weight of the social stigma and stereotypes placed on them. A plethora of women around the world are still taught that "a woman's place is in the home" (Hooks 97).  Females are expected to get married early so they can have kids and take care of the household.

I was born in India, but I came here when I was 3 months old and have lived here ever since. I've grown up with American values and culture, but a big part of my life is still rooted with Indian culture and that's something I would never want to give up. However, their is a stark difference between the way women are treated there versus here. For example, I have twin cousins, one guy and one girl, yet this past year my grandparents have been trying to get her married just because in Indian culture the girls usually get married very early to guys older than them, and well it seems like my cousin had become of age. What shocked me the most was that though they were trying to find a match for my female cousin, but they did not even bring up my male cousin getting married even though they're the same age. 

Also, just this past week I came to find out that one of my distinct female relative is filing for divorce. I was devastated to hear this since when I visited her last I remembered seeing her small happy family with her beautiful daughter. When my mom finally told me the reason for the divorce, I was appalled. Apparently, her educated, lawyer husband had been mercilessly taunting her and her father-in-law occasionally even beating her just because she had not been able to conceive a son for the family yet. Just for that one small reason. I was almost in tears after hearing this. I had known how important sons were in the Indian culture as they were the heir to the family, yet it had never crossed my mind that I would get to witness something like this in a day and age like today. 

I would like to clarify though that it no way am I demeaning Indian culture, and I myself am very proud to call myself an Indian. These problems I just mentioned are just part of culture and society and have been repeated for so many years that people can't seem to see beyond it. 

Lastly, I know I can't change the world and that everyone won't agree with my viewpoint. But I just ask for one thing: if you ever see a man or woman getting oppressed or not receiving his/her rights, please speak up and help someone in need. We can make a change together :) 

Perfectly Imperfect

I honestly don't think we are ever gonna have a perfect, ideal government. Like ever.

Back in the day we found faults with the lack of government under the Articles of Confederation and many claimed "government is best which governs least." Just as we though that the "ideal" government could be obtained with the Constitution, many found problems with that as well. They thought it made the government too strong.

And I, until just a little while ago, failed to see just how much our government controls our morals and actions. Think about it. We pride ourselves on being "american" and calling a world superpower home. We pride ourselves on the facade of cultural equality in this country. We pride ourselves on our modern society.

But we fail to look at just how binding this country can be. As of right now (thought its very likely to change), we have not had a female leader in power. Ever. Doesn't that scare you? It's over 200 years since we won our so-called independence and created a system of equality. We love to show the world just how far we have come from the stereotypical, woman-stay-at-home mindset and have adapted to the model of the working woman. Yet, Canada had its first female leader in 1947, and we, nearly 70 years later, still have millions of people afraid of making a female our nation's president. We fear that a female leader won't be strong enough. Won't be brave enough.

I wouldn't say its the fault of the people but instead of the government (btw, which has more men than women) and culture.

From the beginning, they have had utmost power on women whether it be disenfranchisement or the right for a woman to own land. The government has morphed Americans' beliefs and morals into making it acceptable to deprive women of equal power.

Women have to fight back, even if it means a little civil disobedience.