Shabana Azmi: Need to change the way we bring up boys

New Delhi, Oct 29 Actress Shabana Azmi wonders why society is stuck with definite ideas about masculinity, from telling boys not to play with dolls to telling them not to cry. She says it is important to tackle patriarchy and the notion of masculinity first and foremost, to change things for women as well as men.

"Many years ago, when I was a Member of Parliament, I was on a committee that was set up by the chief minister's wife on the scourge of female foeticide. Many steps at that point were taken and one feels that ultimately, it is based in patriarchy. The belief that a boy should be privileged at birth because of being born male that discrimination against the girl child exists all through her childhood, adolescence and then later adulthood," Shabana told while talking about her film, "Kaali Khuhi", which explores the issue of female infanticide through lens of horror.

"What we need to do is to tackle patriarchy, because patriarchy affects not only women but also men. Men also internalise. We have definite ideas of how a man should behave. Boys should never cry why shouldn't they? Why is it looked down upon?" she added.

The actress continued: "Why do we, at the age of three, decide that girls should be playing with dolls and the minute a boy decides to play with dolls we say, 'haww, this is terrible'. All this stratification that starts sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously, is what we need to really get to the root of."

She cited her son Farhan Akhtar's MARD

( With inputs from IANS )

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