Flip the switch
This opinion piece explores the concept of 'flipping the switch' to understand social discrimination by reversing gender roles in common scenarios. The author uses examples ranging from advertising tropes to religious practices and health stigmas to highlight societal double standards.
Why it matters
It encourages critical thinking about gender-based societal conditioning and systemic inequality.
Sometimes, all you need to understand discrimination is to flip the switch.
Let me explain with an example. Recently, I watched a brilliant ad on Instagram made by a content creator, Vir Bhaan Saini, in partnership with a clothing brand, XYXX Crew, titled ‘If Baniyans Were Bras’. In the opening shot, a father sees a bra hanging on the clothesline and angrily calls out to his son. He snatches the towel off his son’s shoulder and covers not the bra, but the baniyan hanging beside it.
In the next shot, three women lean over a young man wearing a transparent shirt in a bus and giggle as they try to catch a glimpse of his baniyan.
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