DIDIHOOD ~ Issue 6

How is it already August?

In the midst of everything happening this summer, your Didis have been busy working away to bring the Didihood to the West Coast. That's right, at the end of the month, Vancouver will get its first taste of the sisterhood, along with a launch party to celebrate. If you have any friends or family members in British Columbia who would be interested in joining our network, send us an email at [email protected]

And because we are kicking things off in Vancouver, it only makes sense to feature a Didi from the city for this month'sMeet the Didis. 

For August we have a Q&A with fashion influencer and outspoken feminist Pooja Patel of The Pooja Project.

 How would you describe the art/creative scene for WOC and South Asian women in Vancouver?
The creative scene for WOC and South Asian women in Vancouver varies from field to field. While we are making advances and improvements for the proper representation for women and WOC in artistic communities, there are some places where more can be done. I can speak to the modelling/fashion scene and film community in Vancouver, where many mainstream and popular names are still predominantly male and Caucasian. It's easier for white art to be accepted and for white content creators to succeed in these communities where Caucasians hold more privilege. WOC and POC do have to work 10 times harder to be noticed and have access to opportunities and resources. Whereas white male content is consumable by universal audiences, women and WOC content is still considered "abnormal," "exotic," "other," and only for niche audiences. Another issue is that the arts and creativity scene is largely controlled and led by men. Women are stepping up but large board rooms with funding, event leaders, community leaders are all still men and there is still an air of "men are in control at the topmost level."  As a female artist, it's harder to seek opportunity because men are still the gatekeepers of those opportunities. I think it's important for men in these positions and circles to check their privilege and make way for women to have more control over their opportunities. 

What is missing in the scene? 
A sense of community, togetherness and support is missing from the scene. We all talk about women uplifting women or POC uplifting POC but it all seems to be just talk. We are more concerned with making it big before everyone else, so we don't try to uplift others around us. There is a great sense of competitiveness, tons of gossip and jealousy for others. There is also a lot of comparison. People strive to be better than everyone else. We should strive to be stronger and better as a community (of women or of POC) because it's our inherent membership in ethnic communities or minority communities that marginalize us in society in the first place. 

You are quite outspoken on social media on issues that matter, why is this important to you?
Speaking out is important to me as a WOC because women for generations have not been allowed to speak or given any chance to. WOC in particular have been made quiet not only because they're women but because they're people of colour too — we have faced double the oppression. Our tongues have been held for so long that even today when WOC step up to speak, sometimes the words don't flow right, our voices shake or we feel we might be overstepping our boundaries because we were socialized to stay passive and quiet. I realize that all the hundreds of women in my lineage before me have been quiet either by will or by force, but today I finally have somewhat of a voice in society. I have a platform like social media to say what I want, to say what needs to be said. It would be an injustice to my ancestors if I didn't speak up. 

Which creative projects are you currently working on?
I'm always working on a ton of stuff because I always bite off more than I can chew, but at the moment I've been focusing on creating more socially conscious fashion content that makes a statement about society and helps my audience learn something as well. I'm also working on more film-related projects in production design and costuming for indie films about POC or films that cast POC. 

You really own the South Asian space, how did you come to this voice?
I hope I do in some way because I do try really hard to make a statement and impact on the creative South Asian space, rather than to just create pretty things. I think I have formed this unwavering voice over years of staying quiet and experiencing plenty of discrimination as a darker skinned WOC. A person can only take so much while staying silent. I dreamed about saying what I felt. I practiced in the mirror what I would say to people who tried to keep me down. One day I didn't want to imagine anymore. When I saw that I had a voice on social media, I started to branch more into saying what mattered to me, not what people wanted me to say or what others wanted to hear.Twitter really helped me form a voiceby giving me a platform to share my thoughts. When I saw that people related, I knew I had to speak louder and eventually fashion, photography and modelling helped me do just that. 

What we're reading:

In South Asian Women Like Me Still Face Subtle Racism on Tinder,Vicereporter Ruchira Sharma digs into the realities of being a brown woman on dating apps.

You need to know the Azmi sisters. Thesix sisters from Ontario are changing the face of ball hockey and we're here for it.

If you're a fan of Tollywood,The News Minutegives us ahistory lesson on how the industry's portrayal of women from being sexual objectsis slowly starting to change.  

What we're watching:

Fellow Didi Shetu Modi has created aYouTube cooking page for her mom Smita, and in their latest episode, Toronto's very own HateCopy joined in to make daal. (Seriously, this is adorable).

We've already posted this on our Instagram page, but we love thistrailer from Surina & Mel-- "Two American-born South Asian women living in New York City who are figuring out what life looks like when you’re not quite a model minority nor a Bollywood star fighting terrorism on an ABC show." We can't wait until this is out! 

-- Arti Patel

Upcoming Events:

Issue 6

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