I've recently discovered the joy of twitter. I was once loathe to use it, but now that I know I can use it for amazing, activisty purposes..... all bets are off. Today I called @VBS_UK out on this horrifyingly offensive "documentary". The poor, ignorant host Sarah Harris reduces India to a "land of contrasts" and talks matter-of-factly about "fat, blue-skinned, gold bikini wearing Gods." All this in addition to misrepresenting sex workers and having absolutely no knowledge of trans issues. I'm shocked that VBS couldn't (wouldn't?) see how almost every aspect of this film is thoroughly problematic.
The bright side of this is that almost anyone can use new media to fight back or have their voices heard. In a brilliant response video, the subjects of Harris' film reject the reductive, misrepresenting, racist and disdainful portrayal of their lives and realities and call her out for not using informed consent forms.
An open letter to VBS by AWID (Association for Women's Rights in Development) aims to counter such inaccurate representations and prevent VBS from spreading such a fallacious and offensive film. Women in such situations are often just the object of an often uninformed Western gaze and are unable to put forth accurate self-representations due to the dominance of Western media, but now have seized the opportunity to speak up for themselves! Sign the petition!
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