Swara Bhaskar: “I think there’s a lot of misuse of feminism word”
With the world becoming a lot more aware of the troubles and issues that were once rather taboo, actress Swara Bhaskar has spoken out about how her own views on feminism and how women should be taught to stand up for themselves without fear.
In a candid interview DNA reports that actress talking about the misuse of the term ‘femenism’. “I think there’s a lot of misuse of the word feminism. I don’t think if people even understand it. It’s not about getting special rights for women or getting more rights than men. Not about cutting the balls off men. That is all bullsh**,” she explained.
She went on to say, “Feminism believes that men and women should be free of gender constraints. Their sex should not determine what their aspirations, personalities or their opportunities are in life. So, a woman shouldn’t always be pressured to be a woman, a man also shouldn’t constantly be asked to ‘Be a man’. Feminism is equally fighting for men — to be free of masculinity. If there’s a pressure of patriarchy on women, there’s also a huge pressure that patriarchy puts on men — to be manly, masculine in a certain way. I don’t think feminism is about being a nasty person.”
“It’s about getting rights for women in general collectively. If you don’t have any feeling of sisterhood about women, how are you even a feminist? You have to be able to be friends with other women. Equally, feminism is not about just burning bras because these are all symbolic things that happened in the ’60s or something. It’s done, it’s over with. It’s much misunderstood term,” the actress added.
In her last film, Bhaskar played a women who had been sexually assaulted and abused in ‘Anarkaali of Aarah'(2017). Talking about her own experiences, she went on to explain, “I have been molested. Interestingly, I have been molested and eve-teased in Mumbai as much as I have had to deal with it in Delhi. The biggest challenge for a woman in a society where you have to be ashamed for what has happened to you, is to fight your impulse. I have done that, I have fought my impulses to make myself react.”
Bhaskar also explained, how she has had these kind of experiences even after becoming a big part of the film industry. “I have been groped during ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ (2015) when we landed at Rajkot. I was travelling with Salman (Khan) Sir and nobody realised, but there were around 2,000 people at the airport to see him. Despite the fact there was security, people got in and it was Anupam Kher who made sure I got into the car. It was crazy. As a female artiste, you know the feeling of being vulnerable in front of a crowd, which is why I connected with my character Anaarkali. You know that when we were shooting the Holi scene in ‘Ranjhanaa’ (2013), the production has put five boys from the AD team around us in that get-up, to protect us from the rest of the crowd,” she expressed.
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