12 Lies Tamil Films Tell Us About Women

Okay, so we already know that most Tamil films revolve around men and their stories. But did you realize that these lies about women have been told over and over again?

Female beauty is fair skin

Tamil movie logic: Beauty = fair skin. Even if darker actresses are cast, they are made to look as light as possible. There are no actresses who embody the real skin tone of Tamil women, which ranges from a shade of caramel to up to the colour of kopi O.

The problem arises when people become so accustomed to seeing beautiful fair skinned women on their television screens, that a dark woman with exactly the same features is derided for being ugly.

Women, no matter how big a career they have, are always looking for love

Tamil movie logic: Tamil movies usually entail a love story. Interestingly, no matter how successful or motivated a woman is, she is always looking for love. Even if she isn’t looking, love seems to find her!

If a woman says no; persist, push, prod, and she will say yes

Tamil movie logic: The easiest way to get a girl to like you? Keep following her, stalking her, forcing her to accept your ‘love’ that just developed 3 minutes ago when you saw her walk past you for the first time in your life.

All women yearn to get married and have children

Tamil movie logic: All women want to have kids! The end goal for the female characters in Tamil films is to be like the ‘Amma’ character Saranya Ponvannan plays, and if she’s really lucky, have a spoilt brat of a son to spoil further.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. More women are choosing to be childfree, including Malaysian women. A study conducted by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development reveals that with 8.6% of Malaysian women within the reproductive age group (15 to 49) have zero kids, as of 2014.

“By now, this rate could be around 10%,” the ministry tells the Sunday Star.

All women like men

Some Tamil women are attracted to women. Yet, before 90ML (which has not been screened in Malaysia, but is now available on Netflix), there was not one representation of Tamil female homosexuality in mainstream cinema. The homosexual characters portrayed have always been men, and even then, they are reduced to comic relief. Will there ever come a time when lesbianism is not made fun of or fetishized?

Women don’t enjoy sex. If we do, it is quietly and only with our husbands. Any other form of sexual enjoyment is by sluts.

Tamil movie logic: Sex? Chee! We can’t even say the word! It is only for dark nights under the covers, and definitely ONLY with our husbands. And even then we do it so that HE will enjoy it, not for our enjoyment, no way!

It is okay to win a woman’s heart with deception

Tamil movie logic: Yes, you can pretend to be Rajiv and hang out with a girl for 5 days, and she will still walk away from her wedding to run into your arms at the airport. Or better yet, pretend to be a woman and convince her that you are the man for her. She’ll be yours in no time. And she would OBVIOUSLY want to get married after being duped like that. Don’t worry, it’s all good. After all, we can utter a thousand lies for a wedding to take place, right?

If a woman is educated and knows what she wants, she is a b*tch

Tamil movie logic: Because, how can a woman have a mind of her own and dictate the terms or a relationship? No matter how educated she is, the man always makes the decision.

All women who consume alcohol and smoke are ‘easy’

Tamil movie logic: How dare they screen a movie with five women consuming alcohol, smoking and talking openly about their sex lives? ‘Respectable’ women don’t do that. Our only entertainment is watching serials at night after washing the dishes.

Rape is always the woman’s fault.

Tamil movie logic: A girl was raped. “What was she wearing? Why was she walking alone? Why was she out so late? Why did she go to the bar? Why did she have that drink? Why was she on Tinder? Why did she respond to a random guy on social media?”

Women are mere plot devices in a man’s life

Tamil movie logic: In almost every Tamil movie with a ‘hero’, the female characters are mere plot devices to the happenings of his life, they are just supporting actors to the issue that HE is dealing with. Of course, the concept of teamwork and the woman having her own life and her own struggles are conveniently forgotten.

A woman always needs a man to tell her what to do

Tamil movie logic: Women are creatures who cannot think for ourselves and constantly need a man to tell us how to live our lives. From what to wear to how to speak and behave, we need to be mansplained. Heck, please, just tell us how to be a woman!

Ladies, what are some of the other lies Tamil films have perpetuated about us?