This week in women

Representational image. An art campaign in Bonn, Germany, to mark International Day Against Domestic Violence, observed every year on November 25. (Image Mika Baumeister via Unsplash)

The all-female road-trip movie we were waiting for has been announced, and the reverberations are still being felt. Perhaps it is Covid, perhaps it is Farhan Akhtar coming back as director, perhaps it is the hottie troika of Alia-Katrina-Priyanka, but a cast like that and a movie like this – we can’t wait!

The number of French women sunbathing topless has apparently gone down. According to a recent poll, now only one-fifth of the French women will take off their tops at the beach. The fear of appearing on social media via some stranger’s selfie or secret zoom lens inhibits the bold women of yore.

Pop star Madonna’s daughter Lourdes has been signed up by jewellery firm Swarovski. They said, 'Model, actress, linguist, academic and activist, Lourdes personifies the spirit of Swarovski.' Quite a mouthful of CV for a 24-year-old when some quarters are crying foul over the N word – nepotism. Children of famous parents have heard this a lot, so just go ahead and sign what they can when they can. The N word is going to dog them all their life, anyway.

A woman has accused Bob Dylan of molesting her when she was 12. Identified as JC in court papers and now in her late sixties, she says this happened in 1965 over a six-week period in New York when Dylan ‘befriended and established an emotional connection’ with her. This was done ‘to lower her inhibitions with the object of sexually abusing her, which he did, coupled with the provision of drugs, alcohol and threats of physical violence, leaving her emotionally scarred and psychologically damaged to this day,’ the lawsuit states. Dylan's somehow always in the news - a Nobel or #MeToo.

Meanwhile, Ghislaine Maxwell, alleged partner in crime of the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, barricaded herself in the prison’s video conference room with a cart of legal documents in what was seen as a security threat.

Back home in India, the younger daughter of Indrani Mukerjea, who allegedly bumped off her firstborn, has come out with a memoir, Devil’s Daughter. Vidhie writes of visiting her mom in prison for the first time with her step-father Peter when ‘we were scared to ask her the persisting question in our mind: Did you do it?’ If she can't, how can we?

After many actresses have of late played Princess Diana, it is Kristen Stewart’s turn in the yet to be released film Spencer, with the first teaser just out. Emma Corrin and Naomi Watts have been there, done Di, and after Kristen it will be Elizabeth Debicki for the next season of The Crown.

In academic news closer home, Delhi University has dropped from its syllabus a short story by Mahashweta Devi. Draupadi, which had been in the syllabus since 1999, is gone. What's the story behind it?

Also, Alexa’s voice has now been replaced with that of Amitabh Bachchan’s. For a price, the famous Bachchan baritone is yours to command. And Alexa has no choice but to shut up and put up.