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Was taken in 1958 when my grandmother was only 14 years old

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In Hinduism, incorporation of our Gods in festivals, plays etc is very common. In this religion, there are many Gods, some genderless, some males, and the others are females. What is unique about hinduism is that depending on which part of India a person is from, out of all the many Gods that Hinduism includes, one of them is their main Holy representation. For example, in Delhi Ganesha is the God that is worshiped for the most. Ganesha is half elephant and half human and in other words: genderless. However, where my family is from, Kolkata, West Bengal, Durga Ma is the God that is most worshiped. Durga Ma is known as the Mother of the Hindu Universe. The reason why we worship her is because it is told that she is the one that will protect us because that is the duty of a mother; to protect her children and loved ones. This picture was not taken by me, however is an original picture from 1958 from my grandmother when she was involved in a play. In the middle, is a women dressed as Durga Ma holding a sword. It is emphasized how she is in power and that no one else is. It is shown in the picture how she is on the top of the picture and no one else is. All the children and males are sitting in the bottom or is under her standing.

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In India, priests are usually men. Why? It is usually because in the public eye, males are the most suitable to handle all the responsibility that is with the rituals. Usually women just help prepare for the ritual by having everything ready but males are the ones who do the actual ceremony. In "Patriarchy, the System; An it, Not a He, a Them, or an Us" by Allan G. Johnson talks about how patriarchy culture is about how "social life is and how it is supposed to be; about what's expected of people and about how they feel. It about standards of feminine beauty and masculine toughness"(29). Even though as years pass, how society views what tasks a male and a female during a religious ceremony still has not changed. In positive terms, in 2020 Hindu Female priests are making a stride in a male dominated path. However, it is still looked down upon. In this picture it is shown how the male here is swirling around a fire which is part of the ritual where as in the next picture it is shown the woman is only giving things to Durga Ma and not doing the ritual. This is very ironic because even though in the West Bengal, we worship a powerful God who is a woman, in social life it is seen as if women still should not be doing something that has a bunch of responsibility because it is deemed that a strong male will take in control.

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Woman bowing down to give the food she prepared

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Woman bowing down to give the food she prepared

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As shown above, is a middle aged woman bowing down to Durga Ma the food that she has made for the God. In Hinduism, the food the women make has to blessed by God first and then everyone else eats it after. This picture was taken right after the man was doing the ritual with the fire. But as you can see there is a huge difference in the picture. In the last picture, the guy was standing straight holding the fire straight at the God and even while looking at the God. However, in this picture, the woman is bowing down, looking down, looking less powerful. This goes back to the same article as discussed before by Johnson, and how it was discussed about how Patriarchy is about " the social acceptability of ... toughness in men but not women, and  of caring, tenderness, and vulnerability in women but not in men" (29). The aspect how everything is determined on if it is socially acceptable is degrading the ability of a women. Just because it is socially acceptable for a women to be vulnerable and less tough does not give a reason why they are not able to do what males can.

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Young Girl Performing during Religious Ceremony

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Young Girl Performing during Religious Ceremony

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This picture might seem like just a young girl performing, however there is a lot of meaning behind it. After a religious event, there is usually entertainment that goes along. However, when someone goes it will be prominent that in the in the whole time, no males are performing. Only young Indian girls or moms who have come together to perform a dance or a say a traditional piece of that religious event. Just like what Mitsuye Yamada said in " Asian Pacific American Women and Feminism" "Asian women are too happy bound to their traditional roles..." (72). Women in India just are not pushing for the change that they deserve. Even now there is a huge portion of the population where the girls are stuck in the house because they are expected to entertain and be doing household chores. " It should not be difficult to see that Asian... women need to affirm [their] own culture while working within to change it" (73). In this picture, you can see a young girl is performing a dance and background information about this girl is that she is from India and has been raised there. She's been living there since she was 25 years old, and she did not get any education besides being put in an indian classical dance school. This is because their family is poor and her dad believed that she could get money for the family by dancing places. Now she has come to the United States dancing at different events and supporting her family. When she was asked if dancing is her passion, she responded with no but it is what I have to do for my family.

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Males doing ceremony while women watches

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Males doing ceremony while women watches

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As can see all the priests in this picture are male and all the women are sitting down watching the ceremony happen. Even in 2022, gender issues are present and I believe this has to do with us "doing gender without even thinking about it" (Lorber 1) as Lorber discussed in "Night to his Day; The Social Construction of Gender". Since we are so used to seeing males doing the ceremony, we do not even think much of it.  Not only that but as Judith Butler said gender is performed and what that means is that people has taken on a role or they are acting in some way which plays a crucial part to the gender that someone is and present to the world. By the women just watching, the act of watching is them performing to be less dominant and be less important than the males who are taking action and doing the ceremony. These acts that they are doing are playing a huge role to their gender identity.

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Female God who is the most powerful of all but importance of female not practiced in reality

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Female God who is the most powerful of all but importance of female not practiced in reality

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Coming to an end, as discussed Durga Ma is considered as the most powerful God in Hinduism. We consider her the mother of all and we all worship her and want her blessing. In this picture, she is the biggest statue un the middle next to her two sister in laws and under her are demons. Even the animal that Durga Ma carries is a lion which is known as the King of a Jungle. Showing how she is the most powerful and strong. However, in India the power of women is less than males. Which is very ironic especially since we worship a female God so it would be assumed that the value of women India would be priceless. Hoping for more progression in the future, where gender equality diminishes.