Vogue India's Campaign To End Abuse And Rape- Video

India has a major rape culture and domestic violence problem, and it's not just Muslims who are the perpetrators.  Vogue Empower is tackling the issue with the release of a short film titled "Boys Don't Cry."  Directed by Vinil Mathew of Bollywood fame, and produced by the Managing Director of Conde Nast India, Alex Kuruvilla, it focuses on how teaching young boys to not cry can eventually lead to violence as adults.

The hard-hitting film features an endless cycle of parents scolding their sons, from toddlers through adolescence, for crying. It then powerfully culminates in an image of a man holding back tears. The camera shot then pans out to unveil that he is converting his emotions into violence by physically abusing his already battered female partner.

At the end of the video, a woman says: “We have taught our boys not to cry. It’s time we teach them not to make girls cry,”

Kuruvilla was inspired to produce the film after a Susan Sarandon comment at the Goa Film Festival:

 “If you want to make a change, start with the boys.”

He said:

“The idea of the film is centered around the fundamental truth that women’s empowerment is not about women alone, which is why I pledged to create a short film that communicates clearly the need to change the mindset of boys before they become men."

[snip]

“When we teach young boys at an early age to not do something ‘like a girl’ – the distinction that what a girl does is insignificant is imprinted in the young boy’s mind. Growing up, when these boys don’t see eye to eye with their partners they feel the need to enforce their views through aggression.”

More on Vogue's attempt to empower women and educate the men.

When Vogue Magazine Spent Time In Afghanistan

Although hard to believe, there was actually a time in Afghanistan, albeit very short-lived, where women had equal rights weren't forced to hide under burqas and were actually allowed an education.  Most of that happened when the Marxists took control of the government in 1978, but even back in the mid 1920s attempts at modernization began and continued up until the Taliban took control and women were shoved back into their burqas, and their homes.

Vogue Magazine even made a trip there in the late 1960s, strange as that might seem, back in the days when Kabul didn't seem much different than any other westernized foreign city.  I came across that tidbit of information in an interesting article written in 2010 on The Polyglot blog. Chicago-based Alex Aubry writes:

"Given the amount of images and headlines devoted to Afghanistan over the past three decades of war, one would be forgiven for concluding that a rich culture and civilization had never existed there; let alone a long history of cultural exchange with the West.

Yet back in 1969 Afghanistan was part of the hippy trail, an exotic destination for both the world’s fashion elite and young Americans and Europeans looking for adventure. What they found was a vibrant, modern Kabul teaming with traffic and stores selling the latest furniture and fashions. But there was also the centuries-old bazaars, a stately museum and Mughal gardens waiting to be discovered. A half-century ago, Afghan women pursued careers in medicine, men and women mingled casually at movie theaters and university campuses in Kabul and factories in the suburbs churned out textiles and other goods.

This was the Afghanistan that the Vogue team encountered upon landing at Kabul’s International Airport in 1969. The result was a fashion story titled “Afghan Adventure,” which appeared in Vogue’s December issue that year. In addition to photographing models amongst ancient ruins and colorful bazaars, the accompanying article also featured the Capital’s bright young things; amongst them a young fashion designer named Safia Tarzi."

Make sure you read the rest of the article, it's fascinating.

Westernized Afghan women in the 1960s in a record store

Fast forward to Taliban days, and even now.

I feel for the women who had a taste of freedom and then had it mercilessly wrenched away from them.