It’s all in the mind, baby...

I would like to start off with a problem that has been bothering me for a long time lately. I am, what might call it, exposed to a very “liberal” atmosphere, so far as my academic institution is concerned and luckily my environment at home is also conducive to practising “free thinking”. But people more often than not confuse certain acts that are regressive to their own health as acts of liberation. The thing that has been bothering me is the issue of consumption of cigarettes by women.

Virginia Slims was launched in 1968 by the Altria Group. Its target group was young working women. More slim and sexy in appearance, the first tag line of this brand was “You’ve come a long way, baby.” I would point out here, that America and some other parts of the world were fighting for equal employment rights for women and also trying to do away with discrimination against women during this time. It is not that women had just started to step outdoors to work. Women had taken up professional roles outside their houses, way back into the time of the Second World War, when they stepped out to take responsibilities for their households since most of the men had been sent away to fight. This was a time of rising up, a time for change. This liberation movement of the late 60s and 70s might be termed as the second step of the suffrage movement of the 1920s. It was inevitable.

Ideology is a very powerful tool of Capitalism. It can be used to plant and grow certain ideas amongst masses (Remember Nolan’s Inception, anyone?) and capitalism has and continues to use this to a great extent. So, what the Altria Group did was go with the flow a time when women were setting foot proudly and with dignity in what was known to be a “man’s world”. How did they decide to go with a flow? Lo and behold! They came up with a brand of cigarettes that were designed specifically for women. It successfully fed into the consumerist mentality and took the market by storm with catch phrases like “It’s a woman thing”, “When he offers you a low tar cigarette, tell him you’ve got one of your own” etc. These catch phrases and posters were designed in such a way so that they would make the target consumer desire to make themselves more desirable and it was successful in using the spirit of that time in making women believe that they would be considered liberal and progressive, if they had their own box of cigarettes!

   

I am in no way asking members of my sex to stop smoking. If I do ask one day I will ask all, irrespective of the biological sex or the socially determined gender. But, I am in no position to do so, since I myself am quite fond of these tiny treats. I have seen a lot of women and girls around me who begin smoking because they think it is “cool”. What is the definition of “cool” for a 21^st century woman? She has to be liberal, she has to be progressive and she has to be independent. Very good... but how can independence be equated to the smoking of cigarettes? I for one do not think for one second that smoking a cigarette or drinking alcohol makes me a liberated and independent woman. It does not give me any pride at all when I see other women smoking either! I think that just like everybody else knows that cigarette smoking is injurious to health (hell, it’s there on the packet itself!) and in spite of that indulge in it, they are nothing but fools who are harming their own health. I am one of them and yes I admit it.

Admit it girls, smoking a cigarette does not bring any kind of independence or liberation along with it! If you do feel a sense of liberation, a feeling where you feel proud that you are openly smoking on the streets to flout the norms of patriarchy, then it is because of this ingrained consumerist ideology that smoking is a sign of being liberated. It is time you become conscious of that. I am sure that almost every girl who smokes has been once or twice been questioned in their lives by complete strangers as to why they smoke or being passed comments at by men and women. You will hear statements like “she is bringing a disgrace to our culture”, “girls are not supposed to smoke” and what not. I have listened to women brag and boast as to how they have retorted back and lit another cigarette to prove that they don’t care. My dears, if you want to retort back, why not find a way that is less harmful for your health? How can smoking a cigarette be an element in a fight for equality! If you want to fight, fight with something more substantial, more concrete. I refuse to believe that any kind of independence is attached with the rings that you blow out when you smoke. If you want to smoke, smoke. If you like to smoke, smoke. Nobody should stop you there (until there is of course some valid medical reason and you yourself choose not to). But do not smoke because you think that this is a sign of liberation or independence. If you do, know that it is a big fat consumerist ideology that is driving you and it’s a mistake. Do what you want, but do it for the right reasons.

Warning: Cigarette smoking is dangerous to your physical health. Thinking that a woman smoking a cigarette is a sign of how independent she is, is a greater danger to your sanity.