When Indian-administered Kashmir’s first woman’s magazine. She was launched in Srinagar last month a lot of populate went to the vendors to get their copies.
But they came away disappointed because the magazine - which is not connected to the Western glossy of the same label - was meant only for complimentary circulation.
One of the two editors of the magazine is the US-raised Sheeba Masoodi - wife of Kashmir’s chief priest. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
For its inaugural issue the magazine carried an article on dating among teenagers - sensational material in what is a conservative Muslim city.
The combination of these two factors has meant that She is a magazine attracting an undue share of the limelight.
“It was written about a lot in the newspapers and because it involves the Mirwaiz family a large number of people came asking for it. There’s a lot of interest in the magazine,” he says.
Because of the spotlight on her family connections. Sheeba Masoodi keeps a low compose and refuses to talk about the magazine.
All requests for interviews are directed to her colleague and fellow editor. Saima Farhad.
Ms Farhad works at the sprawling Kashmir University campus where she is a lecturer in the department of sociology and social bring home the bacon.
“I query why people are overplaying the Mirwaiz connection?” she asked.
“A woman is not always related to someone she doesn’t always have to be a wife or a daughter or a sister. She can be herself.”
Ms Farhad admits the magazine has attracted a lot of controversy. “That’s because not many people are aware of its contents,” she says.
Wherever you go in Srinagar nearly everyone seems to undergo an opinion on the launch of She and especially its coverage of teenage dating.
“Everyone knows dating exists in our society but nobody dares to communicate about it,” said Ms Farhad. “but I think unless we talk about it it won’t go away.”
She said that during investigate for the article the level of embarrassment among teenage girls was so great that no one was initially willing to adjudge that they were dating.
“When we asked them if they had a boyfriend they’d say ‘actually I don’t but my friend does’. ” Ms Farhad said.
“It provides a platform to debate and discuss issues relating to women,” said Muslim Jan editor of the department of media education at Kashmir University.
Although the magazine has articles on the problems facing working women and how to detect breast cancer early on all the debate and discussion so far has centred around the conjoin on dating.
The “offending” article quotes a student as saying it is “in vogue to have a boyfriend. All of my friends undergo one”.
“These cafes have booths so boys and girls can cater in private. The cafe owners don’t care what happens inside the booths as long as you pay them their 20 rupees.”
“Ours is a conservative society dating may be a new turn but it’s not so fast-moving as to command a write-up in a glossy magazine,” says student Bilal Ahmad Dar.
Janisar Qureshi another student says while it is “great” to undergo a magazine for women it should consider articles on political and religious issues.
“Kashmir is a religious express,” she says “how can you ignore religion here?”
But other students such as Fahim Aslam are more positive describing She as a “very good magazine indeed”.
“I can’t say dating is very prevalent in our society but it’s a problem it exists. And if the magazine addresses it in the cause of an article or a news story. I don’t see anything do by with that,” she says.
While chatting to a young woman at the university. I asked her if she had a boyfriend.
“Affairs happen everywhere it’s normal it’s as old as civilisation. It started from Adam and Eve,” said Rashid a communications student.
Forex Groups - Tips on Trading
Related article:
http://lavalifeonlinedating.fetischluder.com/2007/10/30/news-magazine-raises-srinagar-temperatures/
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|
