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Author, photographer and gender activist. Founder of The 50 Million Missing Campaign to end female gendercide in India. For more visit the website www.ritabanerji.com
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All posts tagged mothers

What Do Indian Girls Learn/ Unlearn from their Mothers?

There’s a lot of search going on in the global feminist movement for “female role models” for girls.

But in context of psychological growth, the fact is, that no prototype, however strong or famous, can overshadow the one most powerful female role model in any girl’s life. And that role model is the girl’s own mother!

‘Mom’ is the ultimate “mirror” in which most women reflect on their own images of femininity, womanhood, self and life! It doesn’t mean she will choose to be like her mother. But it is in her mother’s image that she examines her own, and decides whether she will accept, reject, or refine her own!

So as I look at issues of violence on women in India, what interests me most is the relationship between mothers and daughters. In this following article for the Indo-Canadian magazine Masalamommas, I look at five Bollywood films and how they portray mother-daughter relationships.

To read the article click here. (more…)

Will ‘PARENT’ be the Gender Neutral Term for the 21st Century?

One of my mother’s friends, after reading about Elton John’s baby last year, expressed her disapproval to me with “He’s gay! First he says he’s married to a man! Now he says he has had a baby with him. That’s impossible.”

I tried to explain the concept of egg donation and surrogacy to her. She brushed me aside like I was slow on the uptake. That was not what she was questioning. She said, “How are they going to (more…)

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by Rita Banerji on May 13, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged concepts, fathers, gender, motherhood, mothers, parenting, parents

Posted by Rita Banerji on May 13, 2012

https://ritabanerjisblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/will-parent-be-the-gender-neutral-term-for-the-21st-century/

Happy Mother’s Day To Elton John

I know I’m going to be the party-pooper at this grande-monde celebration of madre-hood today in India.

But the thing is that I don’t really buy the idea of a ‘mother’s day’ or for that matter a ‘father’s day.’ Let me explain.

This lady, who is my mother’s age, recently said to me, “You know that Elton John singer. He’s gay and he married a man! And now they have a baby. That’s impossible.” I asked why. And she said, “How are they going to raise a baby without a mother? A baby needs a mother.” I told her she reminded me of some of my students, when I taught biology. For the laboratory exams when asked to identify the sex of fetal pigs, the boys would invariably write, “Female, because it has nipples.” Read the full article on Pickled Politics