[Reader-list] Fwd: Union expresses concern over stereotyping the fisherfolk

[T Peter]

Union expresses concern over stereotyping the fisherfolk

By Nidheesh J Villatt - KOCHI
newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/Union-expresses-concern-over-stereotyping-the-fisherfolk
07th May 2013 09:00 AM

The Kerala Swathanthra Matsya Thozhilali Federation (KSMTF) has
expressed deep concerns over attempts by mainstream Malayalam cinema
and serials to stereotype the fish workers, especially through male
gaze that is lustfully commodifying fishing women.  In an article
written in ‘Alakal’, their official mouthpiece, T Peter, the national
secretary of the union reminds mainstream Kerala that there are limits
in allowing such humiliating stereotypes to flourish.

“In most of the films and serials, the spoken language of the fish
workers are unnecessarily and irritatingly distorted. It is
unfortunate that Malayalam movies are still following the trend
created by ‘Chemmeen’. The usage ‘Kadaappuram’ itself had originated
in the imagination of the writer. You cannot find this kind of spoken
Malayalam in any of the coastal regions in Kerala. Similarly fisher
women are depicted in a licentious attire. But in reality they do
decent dressing. There is also a tendency to depict fishing community
as a group that is infected with all sorts of immorality,” he wrote.

 Benny Chiramel, a Jesuit priest and a labour researcher in Bombay
university, who is currently writing his doctoral dissertation on
social exclusion of the fishworkers said that “visual media are
reflecting the deep structural biases in the society. It is painful
and shameful that these stereotyped portrayals are now widespread”.

 Referring to his field work in different coastal regions of Kerala,
Chiramel narrated how the powerful male gaze that commodifies fish
vending women are reproduced in films and serials. “During my field
work in Mariyanad, women described how demeaning it was to watch
certain films that visualised coastal life. The films present women as
lascivious. Camera techniques are shrewdly used to commodify their
breasts and body”, he said.

 Chiramel also pointed that the roots of patriarchal gossips are
related with the arduous working routine of fish vending women. “Women
have to go by early morning and they return by late night. This
unavoidable travel routine in ‘odd times’ for livelihood are
unfortunately depicted as a tendency towards licentious life. It is
interesting to probe why films are not investigating the reality and
nuances of sexual violence which women encounter in their working
life,” he said.