There are innumerable Pakistani channels nowadays which air Morning Shows on regular basis. If you are a stay at home mother who likes to switch into television in the morning after children leave for school, there is no way that you can totally escape these shows. You can of course choose to skip the channels on which these shows are airing but in the process you are bound to notice how typical all these shows are. All of them are obsessed with a handful of topics. I think that all these topics are clichéd to the core and they are not doing anything to boost the self-esteem of women in particular in any way. If you’re someone who is not obsessed with weight loss, fair skin and have a stable family life you will not be able to relate to these shows at all.
Here are some topics which have been done-to-death by our Morning Show Hosts but somehow they can’t get enough of them!
Fair Complexion!
When you watch these shows you feel like there is nothing more important in this world than having a fair and flawless skins. The amounts of totkas that are hammered into the minds of thousands of housewives out there who are watching these shows endorse the idea that fair is lovely! We see the same specialists on every single show who tell women how they can be fair.
What happened to promoting intelligence and skill? Why don’t we show women who might not be fair but they are good achievers who have done really well in their respective fields. Why can’t they show women who have fought hard to keep a family together in difficult circumstances? I am sure that Pakistan is full of such beautiful women who will provide an inspiration to all those women out there in a way that they might stop wishing for a fairer skin but strive to have a better life! If all the women in Pakistan become fairer will that put Pakistan on top of developed countries? Will being fair make a woman a better or happy person?
Our Morning Shows should stop feeding the stereotypes that already exit in the society and try and set new standards for women!
Weight Loss!
I really want to call on one of these shows some day and ask them if it is okay for people to be overweight because somehow they are out to prove that weight loss is the key to success. Yes of course healthy eating and exercising is great but why discuss weight loss only from the point of view of beauty. I have never seen the experts on the show discussing it from a medical point on view. It is like a rat-race where everyone thinks that it is their duty to give the best totka for making women in particular lose weight. The way it is done is usually hasty and anything but helpful. I wish we would also hear every now and then that it is okay to be dark and overweight because life is about much more than being skinny and fair!
Making The Most Of A Tragedy
Most of the times when I watch these Morning Show hosts interviewing someone who has been through a tragedy their insensitivity leaves me speechless. The focus is on extracting gruesome details out of the victim and the same questions are asked again and again. The kind of questions that are asked are both unintelligent and thoughtless. Inviting people who can sing something relevant to the “issue” is beyond ridiculous. There is hardly a time when these Morning Shows are out looking for a solution but the focus is always on getting cheap thrills. It is sad that the victims of various tragedies have no choice but to come to such shows in order to be heard.
Marital Issues
I am not saying that these issues should not be discussed but the way they are being discussed in our Morning Shows is not helping anyone at all! And how about those women out there who have a stable family life? Why not give solutions to day-to-day small problems which every person faces rather than discussing the extremes alone? Calling experts to the show who teach men and women to cope with the stress which they might face on regular basis is much more important than discussing petty things about husbands and mother in laws that tick the bahus off.
There was a time when our Morning Shows were obsessed with getting people married even those people who were already married, I am glad that they are over that now. In my opinion our Morning Shows need to be stop focusing on outer beauty and send out a message to the women who are watching which will prove to be an inspiration for them. They need to be more sensitive towards their guests and start asking them some intelligent questions! I have to say that the Morning Show on PTV and Aplus are exceptions which give you some hope, other than that it is a rat-race and I feel for women who think these Morning Show hosts are doing them service by telling them how to be fair and thin! Can you think of any other topics that are Morning Show hosts are obsessed with? Does the obsession with outer beauty annoy you?
Fatima Awan
