Heena Sharma Blog

Gillette’s new ad – “The best men can be”, which plays on the razor brand’s long-held motto, “The best a man can get” – is powerful and emotional, a carefully-spun narrative about the role models young boys see in their daily lives. It tackles bullying, sexual harassment , inequality in the workplace, and sexism on screen, by promoting courage, humility, responsibility, and kindness. It says all of these behaviours make up that complicated construct, “masculinity”. And it challenges viewers to question what sort of behaviour defines manliness. The mutiny against Gillette’s ad reinforces why we need movements like # MeToo and shows how painfully little distance we as a society have covered since it began. In the wake of various high-profile allegations, #MeToo called out unsavoury behaviour that was somehow condoned by society – behaviour that increasingly comes under the umbrella of “toxic masculinity”. Yet Gillette’s ad, which recognises this drive for change and wants to tak...

For decades Gillette has been selling razors using the slogan “the best a man can get”. This week the Procter & Gamble-owned brand has adopted “the best a man can be” as part of a marketing campaign meant to challenge toxic masculinity. Explicitly aligning itself with the # metoo movement , the message is that men have to change if we want to end sexual harassment, bullying and domestic violence. The campaign’s centrepiece, a 108-second “short film”, has divided opinion. Among those to declare their contempt for Gillette’s “virtue signalling” is the British television presenter Piers Morgan, who has labelled the advert “man-hating” and part of a “war on masculinity”. On the other side, those lauding Gillette include Glamour magazine contributor Helen Wilson-Beevers, who has praised the video as a “self-assured piece of advertising that Gillette should be proud of”. Read More Business Standard

Actor Preity Zinta , who has been receiving backlash for her views on # MeToo movement , released her statement on the movement and aplogised for unintentionally hurting sentiments of people. In her statement, the 'Kal Ho Naa Ho' star said, "I am a huge supporter of the movement and its unfortunate that some of my comments were taken out of context. I recognise that everyone is in a position to fight back and I don't want to marginalise the women that have been abused." Referring to her own # MeToo experience , Preity said that it also happened to her and she reacted to it strongly. "My reason for saying this 'I wish something like this would have happened to me, I would have reacted to it and much layer, when it did happen, I did react and the whole world saw it," she stated. The #MeToo movement, which began in Hollywood more than a year ago, gathered steam in India after actor Tanushree Dutta accused co-star Nana Patekar of alleg...

Sushant Singh Rajput has been accused of sexual misconduct by his "Kizie Aur Manny" co-star Sanjana Sanghi . In his defence, the actor shared screenshots of their SMS conversation and called it a "smear campaign". Sushant on Friday tweeted snapshots of his conversation with Sanjana from the first day to the last day of the film's shoot, and captioned it: "I feel sad to reveal personal information but it seems that there is no other way to state what was, in the midst of this curated and well-timed smear campaign. "From the first till the last day of the shoot, this is what happened on the set with Sanjana." Sanjana has accused the 32-year-old actor of behaving inappropriately on the sets of the movie, saying he made her feel "uncomfortable" with his "overly friendly behaviour" during the shoot in Jodhpur. On Thursday, Twitteratis pointed at Sushant's missing blue verification tick on the micro-blogging p...

Yash Raj Film Tuesday fired its creative and business head of Y-Films, Ashish Patil, in the wake of the sexual harassment allegations against him. In a brief statement, posted on its official Twitter handle, the studio said it has terminated Patil's services with immediate effect. "Yash Raj Films terminates the services of Mr. Ashish Patil: Vice President Brand Partnerships and Talent Management & Business and Creative Head Y-Films, with immediate effect," it said. Patil has been accused of sexual harassment and exploitation by an anonymous woman whose account was shared by activist Japleen Pasricha. After the allegations surfaced, the production house had ordered an inquiry into the matter and referred it to their Internal Complaints Committee. Read Complete Article Business Standard

Union minister M J Akbar , facing charges of sexual harassment that go back to his time as newspaper editor, has not only refused to step down but insinuated that the approaching Lok Sabha elections had a bearing on the allegations. Speaking on Sunday after his return from his official visit abroad, he said he would take legal action against the women who had alleged sexual harassment by him. Akbar’s holding out, sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said, stemmed from the seeming support he received from the party leadership. However, the sources also said Akbar was likely to be dropped as minister. Though there is little political cost to the BJP if Akbar goes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had a track record since his time as chief minister of Gujarat of backing his ministers even when they have faced criminal charges and have been chargesheeted. For the time, Akbar has been given an opportunity to defend himself, party sources said. Read Complete Article ...

Women speaking out about sexual violence on social media and elsewhere in recent times marks a significant departure from the norm. Just how much so, can be gauged from the government-backed National Family Health Survey. The latest installment of the data that the International Institute for Population Sciences helped collect, was released in December 2017. It shows that that less than a fifth of women ever even told anyone about instances of sexual violence (see chart 1). There is also no distinction in reporting between urban and rural areas despite the former having better access to facilities like education. The median urban female completes seven years of schooling compared to 3.1 years for rural women. Less than 15 per cent of either category sought help following sexual or physical violence (see chart 2). Wealth also doesn't seem to matter when it comes to such instances. The percentage of those seeking help is the same for both the poorest and the richest-les...