While we all fixate on the looks of a person as the first impression that we form in our minds, I think the stealthy world of the Internet of all Things has taken it a bit too far recently. There has been story after story of Justin Trudeau’s butt on my feeds recently, and as if that was not enough, some genius actually took the time out to find pictures from his younger days – yes, you are welcome – to post them online so you can tack them to your fridge as a sure shot relief from a bad day. Covert operations may never have looked this good! We now have a shirtless Trudeau beaming at us, just as he would from the podium, geared for a speech. We have a long haired Trudeau with a hippie style bracelet. And as if that was not enough, we actually went right ahead and ignored his speech for a shot of his butt – and yes, that man staring into oblivion, caught unbeknownst on camera, and now the subject of many a meme. Well…!
Speaking of memes, we have also been bombarded with images of Ivanka Trump and Kate Middleton as well as various other ladies, looking coy and “acting their gender” around this dashing leader. Reverse the roles to find a male leader acting his gender around the opposite sex and you have the threat of a viral controversy waiting to happen.
Now, may I ask where all those feminists have gone? Don’t get me wrong – I am just as enamoured as the rest of you. But whatever happened to gender equality? In the past 72 hours, we have heard very little of what this charming and generous Prime Minister has actually done, and more about how he looks. Now, for a long moment, let us just assume that this were actually a woman. A woman as a Prime Minister, shaking hands and welcoming refugees, launching into a speech on quantum physics, and basically taking the country where it ought to be – at its optimum best. And let us also assume that she were to be as good looking, as beautiful as the feminist loving Trudeau. Imagine the mayhem if someone were to speak about her good looks then.
Even if we were to talk about her foreign policy and her stance on the refugee crisis, a single article showing her physical beauty or talking about her appearance and choice of outfit would set off a chain reaction from bra burning feminists to quasi feminists, tut tutting at lunch in the office cafeteria. The whole drama would go viral and suddenly we will have women holding placards about how they are not be objectified and how this is the same as rape culture. Suddenly there would a complete meltdown which would lead to a complete overshadowing of her actual work.
For example, how many of you know the exact cases in which Amal Clooney has been involved as a Human Rights lawyer? But you do know that she is expecting twins and what she wore to the airport last week, right? I can already see countless women rolling their eyes and saying, please Melania Trump was wearing too many sequins on a dress that exposed a thousand yards of cleavage for the Congressional address a few nights ago – that is inappropriate. How is shirtless Trudeau and our fascination with the same – the same? Well, from Michelle Obama’s shoulder baring dresses and arms to Melania’s apparent lack of cleavage coverage to Justin Trudeau’s butt – are we seriously getting too fixated with the quick visual format of news today? Is this what we have been reduced to – a generation hungry for quick visuals and even quicker opinions? How are we so quick to judge arms and cleavage and so ready to ogle to a butt because it belongs to a male?
Plus, why is it okay to lech at him? Because he is safe (and safe is fun, apparently) – I mean, who has ever heard of a female rapist, right? Wrong.
So people, a little perspective here. No one is asking you to stop fixating on the butt. But, you could probably cut some flak when women are spoken about in the media too – rather than raising a banner with the words Rape Culture written in bold. That will truly be gender equality at its best – and all in good humour.
