Sapna Bhavnani: Chose Wench as I wanted to subvert its connotation

Sapna Bhavnani

When Sapna Bhavnani christened India's first female-directors-only indie film gala Wench Film Festival, she hoped to spark a dialogue about how sexism influences our everyday language. But the hair stylist-artist-producer did not expect social media giant Instagram to be among the first to raise an objection. Over the past two days, the social media platform has restricted the activities of the film festival's account. "Last year, Facebook had restricted my production house's account because of the term ‘wench'. It took three months of persistent conversation with the US office to fix that. Now, I am facing the same issue with the festival's Instagram page. We are unable to reach out to our audience because we can't follow people back," says Bhavnani. The film festival, partnered by mid-day, is slated to kick off on March 6.

The festival's Instagram handle is barred from posting updates

Bhavnani asserts that in naming the festival and her studio thus, she hoped to battle the negative connotation that ‘wench' has acquired over the decades. With its roots in Old and early Middle English, the term originally meant a female infant or a young unmarried woman. However, over time, it came to designate a servant, but the disempowered status was tied to servitude rather than femininity or sexuality. She notes that its current usage as a derogatory term for a woman is another example of our sexist society. "Wench means a young girl, not what it has colloquially come to be known as. When I was naming the studio, I asked Twitterati for two terms used to derogate women. Wench, witch and spinster are three words with problematic connotations. I chose ‘wench' because I wanted to subvert its connotation. The effort to see our intention is lacking in these social media sites."