When I asked Sarah "Who do you prefer: Gandhi or Che Guevara?", she laughed and reached into her bag to show me the background image she had recently put on her phone. Christiana and Nathalie, to whom I had asked the question previously had also given this same answer.
Although it would be hasty to draw conclusions with such a small sample size, I was a quite surprised. These women's unanimous preference for the morals and actions of "a man of peace" goes against the impressions I get from our modern media. If Gandhi is what women want, why is he not painted as the epitome of the modern sex symbol. Why do beautiful women continue to co-star alongside gun toting and death dealing Brad Pitt's and Robert Downey Jr.'s (the latter for example being the clear preference of my 17 year old niece).
I tried to explain to Christiana that (speaking from my own point of view) the actions of men are in a large part motivated by the impression we think women will have of us. I suggested that she should somehow try to use her significant influence to change the way men bahave. She shook her head sadly and told me she didn't believe that you can change somebody's opinion. I was crushed.
If it is impossible to change someone's opinion, what hope do we have for a future that's any different to our past?
