The Heat

Debate Competition

“I may be wrong and you may be right and, by an effort, we may get nearer the truth.”

Karl Popper

A debate is a formal discussion where participants state their opinion on the given topic. Their ideas are supposed to be relevant and thought provoking. The debate event that took place at Resonance 2015 definitely changed the way we thought about the media.

To put this point across, all the participants gave examples of extreme male stereotypes that are portrayed by media; the first participant, Shaurya Singh from Step by Step asked the audience to think of a corrupt politician and asked them whether they thought of a male or a female; speaking for the motion from Pathways School Noida, Karan stressed upon the usage of male models in negative advertisements such as smoking; Karan, from Sri Ram School, said even if a man sheds a tear, the masses call him “less masculine”. Furthermore, Sahil Arora, a student from DPS Noida highlighted the famous saying that are put up in advertisements like, “Man – The Provider” and “Men Don’t Cry”. However, the debate even criticised media’s portrayal of women when Milind from DPS Noida argued upon the fact that the use of women is not to “demonstrate the qualities of the product but to attract the mass” that is to say that women are objectified to sell products. Moreover, a student from Vidya Sanskar International spoke about the “male gaze” and urged the masses to make it less ‘awkward’ for women.

An excellent debater is the one who changes the way the audience perceives a certain topic. The judges, Miss Ira and Miss Sanyukta, had to agree that all the participants were excellent debaters indeed.