KOCHI: The scene is set in an upper middle class Malayali household. In hindsight, it could be taking place in any part of the country with little change in what is to follow. The mother walks into the drawing room to inform her children who seem to be in their late teens about the imminent arrival of a few guests for lunch. While the son, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, lounges on the couch unperturbed by the news; the daughter, who is wearing a similar attire, is told to change into something more modest.
For 20-year-old psychology student Alex James Mathew, whose short video on the premise recently went viral on social media, the episode is a telling example of ingrained patriarchal conditioning implicit in society. Titled ‘I want to wear shorts’, the two-and-a-half minute video uploaded to the Instagram handle run by the sociology department of St Aloysius College, Mangalore, where Alex studies, has been viewed over 80,000 times in the past week. The loud argument that ensues between the mother and daughter in the video is shown in a funny yet relatable allegory of a boxing match.
However, the daughter has to finally cave in to her mother’s demands despite putting forth worthy arguments about the differential treatment meted out to her. While the situation is far from alien to young girls in India, Alex, who conceptualised and directed the video, was stirred by the premise after he came across the incident of Malayalam actress Anaswara Rajan being trolled for wearing shorts in one of her social media posts.
“I have seen this happen all my life but I was complicit until I got into college and became aware of these issues. It didn’t bother me till then, I never faced such a situation as I am a boy. The generation before us has been fed the assumption that the onus of a woman’s safety and honour lies only on her while the men can get away with anything. There is a need to unlearn this conditioning,” says the Kasaragod native whose family is based in Dubai.
As part of his research, Alex spoke to a number of his female friends. What he gathered was that incidents like this happen in almost every household. “I had a discussion regarding the topic with my family and the arguments from that formed most of the dialogue. I didn’t want the video to be preachy so I included the imaginary boxing segment. My mom, sister and I formed the cast while my father shot the video,” he says.
Pleasantly taken aback that a video shot at his home with little preparation has gone viral, Alex hopes his endeavour sparks a change in young men like him.
“The handle to which the video was uploaded to was launched by fellow students just last month as a platform to highlight various pertinent issues. We didn’t expect others to watch and share the video. I have received messages from strangers saying they showed it to their mothers so the response has been quite amazing,” adds Alex. Watch ‘I want to wear shorts’ on Instagram @rant.sac