There is a small but impactful pattern that I’ve recently observed on social media in which Indian women go abroad — either on vacation or for work, and sometimes as migrants — and speak openly in reels about what they are basking in, away from here: “freedom”.
Elsewhere — but not everywhere — in the world, even within Asia, women are able to take for granted so much: doing whatever they want, dressed as they wish, loitering, lingering, living, loving, laughing out loud. To go to or to live in those places is to breathe with ease, to just be.
The latest one to go viral is by an Indian woman living in Singapore, Kritika Jain, who posted about walking alone in the city at 3 am and the utter sense of safety she enjoys there. Many other reels in this category speak in particular about how women in various places abroad can wear their choice of attire without risk of harassment or worse. This is less about clothing itself, and more about the way women are perceived and treated in general. Aakanksha Moga, for instance, posted a delight-filled reel encouraging Indian women to try travelling to Latin America to experience “what it truly feels to be free as a woman”. The caption has been edited since it was first uploaded. It now says, right at the top: “Update: had to turn off the comments section because men were getting extremely triggered and filthy in the comments. LOL. The IRONY.”.
There is a joy evident in most of these reels that cannot be faked. There is also, especially in the captions and in many affirming but wistful comments, a sombreness: this is a joy that simply cannot be accessed back home.
The notion of home itself comes into play. Can a place really be home if one doesn’t feel safe there and does not feel a sense of belonging — and also knows without a shadow of a doubt that those feelings do exist when one is elsewhere? These reels are threatening not only to garden-variety sexists, but also to those who are very invested in the reputation of their nation. Of course, there’s a perfect intersection between these two categories of people.
Speaking of intersections, a feminism that is dishonest about systemic injustice embedded in a culture, that disguises and recasts powerlessness as choice, and which does not critique or at least be suspicious of concepts and practices of patriarchy, nationhood and privilege is not a sound feminism at all. These reels still pack a feminist punch without needing to use sophisticated terminology. To not present an eyewash of what India is or isn’t is itself brave.
There are plenty of other places in the world just like India: oppressive both overtly and invisibly. Whether a person chooses to name this fact (to rage against it and to aspire for more), or focus instead on those who are worse off in order to puff up false pride, says everything about them. The women in these reels are in their own, expressive ways demanding that this country become better. They are proving that joy can be a radical act, too.