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We like to believe we are a civilisation that respects women and celebrates the feminine. We worship goddesses, proudly invoke the Kamasutra, admire the sculptures of Khajuraho and Konark and speak of the richness and openness of Hinduism.

Yet, a woman wearing a sleeveless top is enough to make us uncomfortable.

That is what the recent Raksha Bandhan controversy exposes. We are still a deeply patriarchal society that believes a woman’s dignity and morality can be judged by her clothes. We continue to police what women wear, how they look and how they present themselves, while conveniently  ignoring the men who make, approve and profit from these choices.

We have not stopped policing women. We have only found new ways of doing it.

Patriarchy under the guise of ‘feminism’

A woman wears a sleeveless top in an advertisement. The internet calls it an ‘undergarment.’ The brand deletes the advertisement. Television channels erupt into primetime debates. Social media splits into ideological  camps. And somewhere, in this manufactured outrage, Raksha Bandhan – a festival meant to celebrate love, trust and protection between siblings – is reduced to a national argument on whether a woman’s shoulders are ‘too visible.’

Giva’s Raksha Bandhan ad, featuring actor Kriti Sanon, was pulled down within a day after her outfit drew outrage online, much of which was amplified by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut. Calling herself a ‘proud Sanatani,’ Ranaut questioned why someone would tie a rakhi while wearing “a bikini or an undergarment,” describing the advertisement as “intentionally creepy.“

The irony is impossible to miss. In the very same post, she celebrated today’s woman as a ‘global woman’. Apparently, a woman can be global, but only until she exercises the freedom that being global actually promises.

The tragedy is not that people disliked an advertisement. Everyone has the right to dislike creative........

© The Wire