Feminist Rani's next session to talk about mothers raising their sons into feminists

A screen grab from Start with the Boys, a campaign that discussed gender sensitivity

A projected picture of an Indian feminist is a woman who wears kajal, drapes herself in a saree unconventionally and uses long and complex words. Possibly, for the inability of getting into this costume some women hailed as heroes, and even some people working on gender issues have declared that they are not feminists. But Shaili Chopra, the founder of SheThePeople.TV and Feminist Rani, does not shy away from calling feminism by its name.

A screen grab from Start with the Boys, a campaign that discussed gender sensitivity

In fact, the upcoming session of Feminist Rani, a series of interactive events started eight months ago, will discuss the theme, Are Modern Women Raising Their Sons To Be Feminists? with authors Lalita Iyer and Kiran Manral.

"When we started Feminist Rani eight months ago, the idea was to make the discussion around feminism more conversational and accessible. We wanted people from different walks of life to contribute to the discussion and break the overhang on the term," she says.

Shaili Chopra

She explains that there is much confusion around the term, which has in a way discouraged people from exploring the achievements of the movement and feeling one with it. Some prominent celebrities denouncing feminism does not help either. "Often, celebrities denouncing feminism are buying the stereotypes about the movement and by doing that they are inadvertently popularising the stereotypes themselves," she says and adds, "Unlike the imagined idea of pitting women against men, feminism is about gender justice. And that is why we had sessions from people from different professions like comedians, journalists and also a session with men."

Lalita Iyer

The next gen
The upcoming event, she says, is significant because it looks at what the future is going to be like. "I have often wondered why men don't empathise with women's issues and the reason often lies in the way they were raised. It is heartening to see that many young mothers are now bringing up their children with feminist values," she says.

Kiran Manral

Author Kiran Manral, who will be sharing her own experience of raising boys, says that it is a challenging task given that boys are growing up in a gendered environment that reaches them through multiple media.

"We live in a gendered society. Young boys are constantly bombarded with messages that enforce gender roles; that they need to be macho; that they cannot cry when pained or injured. That is when we need to intervene and explain simple truths to them. Something as simple as pouring too much deodorant on yourself does result in women from falling all over you," she explains.