Changing the world through the power of Storytelling

Media content transforms the world. Creating narratives countering a damaging status quo, can prove it to be a vehicle of hope with visible results. 

Yet in South Asia, media is often used to create and deliver content aimed at dehumanising women.

This dehumanised woman is seen in the storylines of popular dramas, the aspirations of mainstream morning shows, and in the shaming strategies of marketing campaigns.

The existing establishment excels at developing visual media that is directed by and further fuels values of the patriarchy - a trend that I know from my work is at conflict with the viewing interests of the voluble and thoughtful women of today.

Those currently dominating mass media hijack the conversations and play into gender roles. As such the potential for positive change is never realized and the urgent need for a space to craft narratives of empowerment grows stronger by the minute.

We see content that demonizes women who aspire to be agents of change and ennobles women who choose to be victims of circumstance. Writers, producers, investors – the industry operates only to cash in on ratings.

The problem of poor entertainment content driven by ratings is primarily affecting all demographics of South Asian Society who own a Smart Phone or TV. This is largely because it is tailored to cater to them.

Even those who don't own either are victim to this problem as the media influences the minds of people making decisions for them. Sexism, colorism, gender inequality, normalizing domestic violence, toxic masculinity are some of the key themes propagated by media in my part of the world.

How the mass media is portraying them plays a big role in trivializing and explaining away problematic societal values.

Women are quick to undermine violence when their screens repeatedly flash their favorite actors emerging victorious in abusive marriages - not by confronting their abuse but by staying and suffering in silence.

Young girls are quick to resort to dangerous bleaching agents and hacks glorified on screen, all to lighten their naturally brown skin tones.

Elders are quick to pressurize teenage girls into abandoning their education, giving examples from TV shows promoting child marriages.

This all validates trends that should otherwise be causes of concern.

Ignoring a whole demographic who flock to see empowering content when produced outside Pakistan and delivered via international cinema, Netflix etc - local media ratings are sought by appealing to an archaic mindset in reducing women to passive objects.

This demographic is tired of content perpetuating society’s expectations of what it means to be a desi woman.

It is not just disagreeable to view such content - studies show how it brainwashes a society into accepting a horrific state of affairs.

That there is a link between social acceptability of gender-based violence and media portrayals of misogyny is well documented. A May, 2014 review in the Austin Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences showed that when media shows high levels of violence against women, this desensitizes viewers and creates acceptance of a sad state of affairs. Locally the Journal of Pakistan Medical Association published an article on violence against our women in its April issue of 2008, stating understanding the role of media as useful in building strategies against it.

At heart it is this defective perpetuation of stereotypical gender roles that has hurt generations of women, even now in this era of progress and education. We cannot directly blame media for this. Yet when the same oppression we witness in daily life is reiterated non-stop on screen, they are definitely contributing to a vicious cycle.

This is the cycle I began to break when I started Conversations with Kanwal through a grant from Facebook. By bringing forward real, inspirational stories that we can learn from. And 30 million views later, I am looking to continue this journey to chipping away problematic norms solely through the power of storytelling.