Bare for the screen
It is the lens through which one looks at characters that creates the flavour of the narrative.
Female characters in pop culture often get an over-sexualised treatment from their male creators. And while this habit has created debate, the situation doesn’t seem to ameliorate. Experts weigh in.
Director Ram Gopal Verma has been in the news lately for his rather dubious project, God, Sex and Truth (GST), which is a collaboration with pornstar Mia Malkova.
Though the filmmaker would like to call his project a “documentary” on the relationship between women and their sexuality, the term is rather debatable. The short film follows a completely nude Mia, as she goes on about the meaning of sex, her sexual fantasies, the act itelf, and much more, in a monologue.
However, while the words that come from Mia’s mouth spell out the school of thought that sex should be acceptable for all women, two men, RGV and P. Jaya Kumar have penned it.
And thus comes in the issue that pop culture — including both literature, and films — has faced: every time that a male writer pens down a female character, he tends to sexualise her. One need only look at most female superheroes in comic books, with their over-endowed bodies and perfectly arched backs. This very depiction had also become a topic of debate when the Justice League version of Wonder Woman (created by two men, William Moulton Marston and H. G. Peter) appeared much more sexualised than that of the original Gal Gadot movie (made by a woman, Patty Jenkins).
It is the lens through which one looks at characters that creates the flavour of the narrative. And here, male writers bring in their perspective, which is often far removed from any woman’s narrative. “It is all very subjective, because as a writer, you write through your very own gaze. So, a male writer will write a female character through his own gaze,” says author and columnist Kiran Manral.
Taking instances from pop culture, Kiran explains how the narrative is often skewed when a man writes a woman’s role. “The way that the fictional character of Katniss Everdeen is written in Hunger Games by a female writer (Suzanne Collins) is different that the way that the fictional British archaeologist Lara Croft (Toby Gard) is written. You can see the difference clearly,” she explains.
Author Anuja Chauhan, however, believes that the over-sexualised version of a “bold, confident woman” is not just present in the male narrative but has, to an extent, been used by women as well. “It’s not just male authors; this notion of a strong woman, her wants, her needs, carrying a strong sexuality, is in a way internalising of the male gaze that has been handed down to us through generations,” she explains. “I have personally been guilty of using some of these images of a strong woman during my advertising days. That this is who strong women are: they are outgoing, they want sex, they have 40 orgasms in one night, they don’t care, whatever. But I don’t know anybody like that.”
Author Ira Trivedi, however, believes that the issue is much more a simple case of biology. “If you look at the content and the art (sculpture or other kinds of art), men have always fantasised about women and almost always sexualised them. But that is the feature of a male mindset and not the female mindset. Sex is far more on the minds of men than it is on women. It is biological. Therefore, I am not surprised,” she scoffs.
Author Anand Neelkantan, whose body of work boasts of strong mythological female characters such as Sita, Sivagami, Kali, gives a few instances from history where the exact same narrative has been reiterated even in ancient times. “Men react to visual stimulation. So naturally, their art reflects that. Take for instance all the architecture and the sensual sculptures all around India. They were made through the male gaze. It is a revolutionary process. Even the ancient textbook on human sexual behaviour, Kama Sutra, was written by a male writer, Vatsayana,” he shrugs.
Not all male narratives have lacked sensitivity though. Anuja points out various Bengali authors who have given multiple facets to their female characters. Indeed, one can study the many nuances of Rabindranath Tagore’s female characters and come up with new realisations each time.
Kiran also gives the example of Kiran Nagarkar’s book Jasoda. “It is a marvellous example of how beautifully Kiran has put down this role. He is written about this woman from Rajasthan who is compelled to kill her girl children. There is no sexualisation of the woman at all. But that is a very rare writer who understands this,” she laments.
The only way to counter the over-sexualised male perspective of a woman, reasons the author, is through more works in pop culture that come from women themselves. “I think this will only begin to change when more women writers take charge and share their narratives with the world,” she firmly states.