Actor Fatima Sana Shaikh speaks to Janice Sequeira about the flip side of social media and how hard it is to challenge patriarchy.
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00:00There used to be discrimination in the society.
00:02Because patriarchy breaks like this.
00:06It takes centuries, it takes generations.
00:11I wanted to understand, we were talking off camera,
00:15when we first started using social media,
00:16maybe Facebook, Orkut or MySpace,
00:20we used to use it as a means to just have fun, right?
00:23Not to show off our lives or constantly show everyone,
00:29I'm roaming around here, my life is so cool, I'm so beautiful.
00:32But today, social media has become such a massive monster, right, Fatima?
00:36It doesn't matter if any nameless, faceless person comes and abuses you.
00:41Correct?
00:42So, on top of that, you're a celebrity,
00:45you're a public face, you're on your way to stardom.
00:48What does it mean to be a public face in 2020,
00:51where there's so much social media glare?
00:54I think there's a flip side to any positive thing.
00:59The glare we're talking about, it was there before too.
01:02Whether it was any medium, whether it was a newspaper or a radio,
01:05there used to be magazines where we used to interview,
01:08we used to discuss, we used to gossip,
01:10that what's happening with this actor, this affair is going on, this isn't going on.
01:14It was there before too, now the medium has changed.
01:16I think this social media has given job opportunities to a lot of people.
01:23For actors also, for anybody who's minutely creative, it's a great platform.
01:28Because if you're a little creative, you have the internet,
01:31you educate yourself, you upload something, it'll go viral,
01:35you'll become famous, you'll get opportunities,
01:37maybe you'll even get a career.
01:39So, there is a very good positive side to it also.
01:44So, I think every person has a perspective of how they're taking it.
01:48Either you fight, or you struggle, or you only look at the negative side of it.
01:53I'm taking only the positive side because I think,
01:56if you have a tool, why not exploit it for your benefit?
02:00There is going to be a flip side.
02:02Anything that is available, any medium that is available,
02:06it will definitely have a negative side.
02:08And it will only get worse as the technology advances.
02:11You've come to this understanding that this is how I need to use it
02:14as compared to letting these social media platforms use me.
02:18But, there are many of our audience who spend the whole day on social media, right?
02:24For whom it's very difficult to ignore the trolling,
02:27ignore the hate comments.
02:28It is extremely difficult.
02:30So, that is something I think that we should speak about and talk about
02:33that how to tackle it.
02:36Because the internet, especially during these last 6-8 months,
02:39the negativity and hatred, especially for female actors,
02:42female content creators, has increased a lot.
02:45But, it was there before.
02:46There used to be discrimination in the society.
02:49Before, if a woman would meet a man, she would say that he is such and such a woman.
02:55In the society, it was said that if a woman in the village
02:57had a little bit of her skin down,
02:59then all the men in the society would say that she has no character.
03:02Women also used to say that.
03:03So, this happens.
03:05And the biggest sorrow is that, I just want to say this personally,
03:08when a woman makes another woman fall down or says bad things about her,
03:13I feel like, to me especially, that is one of the greatest disservices.
03:16Because, I don't know, I just feel like this innate sisterhood has to be there.
03:21I think it is unfair to expect this from women who have lived a certain way.
03:28Because patriarchy doesn't break like that.
03:32It takes centuries, it takes generations, it takes a lot of education.
03:36There are a lot of things.
03:38You have to understand that these women,
03:41who don't have exposure, whose world is so small,
03:44who don't know anything, they are so innocent that they feel that
03:49if you touch them, they go to school.
03:51But, they are so ingrained.
03:54So, you know, I feel it is unfair to expect that.