STOP MALE BASHING.

I'm sure you all must have seen the #MyChoice video starring Deepika Padukone, as it is going viral over social media. A friend of mine asked me to watch it, as it was "amazing" in her words. And after watching it, I was just appalled. In my opinion, that video is horrible and disgusting, to say the least. For starters, why are they mixing two completely different things like adultery and feminism? That's just absurd.

I have always felt proud in thinking of myself as a feminist. And I'm sorry to say this, but that video which aims at "empowering women" has brought shame to numerous 'feminists' like me. Because it reeks of plain hypocrisy. And that's not the kind of world we hope to live in. 
 

Feminism is about advocating EQUAL rights for men and women. It does not aim at pulling down men. Such videos that target men are infact more damaging to the cause of women empowerment. (This link is of a counter-video to Deepika's #MyChoice. Honestly, I found it much better - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhjOnXGXpHo)

Feminism has a lot of negative connotations attached to itself. Once and for all, it's not a battle of the genders. Not for me, atleast. We do not want to scare men away. We are not seeking to displace men from boardrooms and put them in the kitchen. We just want to be treated as equals, so that we can walk shoulder-to-shoulder with men, in any damn field. And above everything else, we just want to be respected.

I think one of the reasons why I am still a Potterhead (proudly so) is because I have unparalleled respect for Hermione. For me, she symbolises women empowerment. She doesn't believe in playing dumb and is in fact as talented as Harry and Ron, and helps them on the Horcrux hunt, as an equal. 

She's a smart, nerdy and a beautiful girl who falls for a guy who is probably not the "hero" of the story or 'The Chosen One', as they call it. She has the courage to make that kind of a choice. #HerChoice. That is feminism. That is women empowerment. She is the kind of girl I aspire to be.