Monday, July 24, 2006

'I have made it a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at a time..'Mark Twain

I wonder when stupid, archaical Indian newspapers would wake up and stop posting articles titled ‘Why do girls smoke?’.
Would someone please help me understand the reason behind such inane articles?
Is it because…

* People would read anything with the word ‘girl’ in it
* Mightily bored people read all the articles in any newspaper on any given day
* It would please the Shiv Sena activists
* An increase in the MCP readership is required
???
Whatever …

I would have been happy had the title been ‘Why do people smoke?. What do they mean by the question ‘Why do girls smoke?’ I mean, would the reason be any different from why do men smoke? Then why the gender bias? All things being the same, I guess women have as much right to self-destruction as men have. Or rather as much right to the pleasures of life just like men.

(Note: Before the moral police start picking up their cudgels – let me tell them that this is not a post to advocate the joys of smoking or to encourage people to take up smoking; it is but a small cry by the already habitual smokers to stop propagating messages which make people judgemental about girls who smoke.)

15 comments:

Trevor Penn said...

LOL... nothing to say... nincompoops !

Deepak said...

I once saw a pregnant woman here smoking and I felt like slapping her. Maybe, just maybe, girls probably have a greater reason to save themselves from an addiction.

That apart, I see your point of course, I'm not blind to the other MCP expectations of this world. A woman drinking a pint of beer has committed a greater sin than a man drinking two.

Grey Shades said...

Actually heard that some women smoke to 'maintain their figures' Apparently it kills the appetite and makes them consume less food! Nice writing though! :)

Crouching Tigress said...

Hahaha! Let's not give a rats ass about them.

Mr. J said...

curious to know.. which paper was it?

And hey something wrong with the blog template? Unable to view it in the right format.

30in2005 said...

Well said. It's just a bored journalist on a slow news day!

Raghav said...

i agree.. but if you scan thru the magazines that come leading english daily you will be surprised to find that the content is not only trashy but also adult.. not to forget the kind of pictures that go with them.. and they preach morality. Bah !

Swathi Sambhani aka Chimera said...

@seashells
**nod my head in agreement***

@deppe
slapping a pregnant woman?? i think that is being too harsh.but then most women i know stop smoking n drinking as soon as they become pregnant.

@grey shades
this is the first time i'm hearing this theory -sounds weird!perhaps another shade of grey??

@c tigress
but let them also not publish such stuff, u never know how it affects ppl's psyche!

@John
it was in 'The Hindu' supplement
'am able to see the template properly.perhaps some browser problem?

@30in2005
well, well perhaps they need to be careful 'bout their slow news days, else they r gonna face my wrath , lol!

@scarecrow
hmm, i know that we ignore but there might be just a few who would take it seriously.

@raghav
thatz why i don't subscribe to TOI or Deccan Chronicle and stick to 'The Hindu'.

anumita said...

This is probably the 15th time I am coming to your page and finally leaving a comment for this post. Was waiting for the page to look formatted and realised this is the new template you were talking about!
Smoking is an individual's choice, man or woman, irrespective of what the pseudos may say.

Grey Shades said...

Oh this aint no shade of grey of mine! Its a statistic and its here

Pallavi said...

I think its a personal choice :)

Swathi Sambhani aka Chimera said...

@grey shades
for the most part(if u discount the pregnant women bit) the effects of smoking would be the same on men as well as women alike and that was not my point of discussion

@pallavi
exactly the same IMHO.

Bindu said...

You are absolutely right! Smoking is not more wrong for women than men! It's equally wrong for everybody. It's really funny how all Indian movies show lady-villains as smokers and driners :)

Fatally Flawed said...

lol :)

White Magpie said...

women smoke for the same reason as men do. habit. no rocket science there. people wonder about other people's habits when their own lives are not interesting enuff. and the newspapers have to earn bread right? so no blaming them. we dont have benchmarks here for a good newspaper.