Vitamin Stree, a content channel run by Supari Studio’s, that focuses on cultural, political, artistic and ideological perspectives that are shaping the lives of women in contemporary India release uniquely themed video’s every month, the theme for the month of May is Gender Conditioning. Through objective analysis, in-depth research, original reporting and inspirational storytelling, Vitamin Stree’s goal is to offer unique assessments to issues that matter most to the Indian woman of today.
Vitamin Stree have made a video titled ‘How to be a man?’. The video talks about how we all know that patriarchy is crushing men but we don’t realise that it’s also harming men. Men grow up listening to things like, “be a man“, “boys don’t cry”, “don’t be a girl” at home, at school and even on TV. From a very young age, boys are conditioned to believe that being masculine is more important than being kind. Patriarchy reinforces the idea of toxic masculinity and how it puts a lot of pressure on men. The Company made use of objects that would remind people of their childhood and school because we believe that that’s where conditioning first starts.
Tara Kapur, Head, Vitamin Stree – “Vitamin Stree’s series ‘Scratching The Surface’ explores various topics around gender, relationships, beauty, health, and other areas of interest for young men and women. Our latest video ‘How To Be a Man’ looks at patriarchy and toxic masculinity and how it impacts men. From a very long age, men are subjected to lines like ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, and ‘Be a Man’, which create really strong gender stereotypes. It causes men to suppress their emotions, puts pressure on them to be strong, and encourages violent behavior. Given that gender conditioning and stereotyping usually begin at an early age – we decided to visually represent this piece with imagery reminiscent of a childhood and school.”