Circulation trick forces publisher to black out portions of the cover (the breastfeeding part) in order to sell in the Gulf

The authorities in Gulf region directed Kerala’s women’s magazine Grihalakshmi to blacken their cover photo displaying breastfeeding mother. The Grihalakshmi Magazine’s latest issue of breastfeeding mother cover was an internet sensation across India. Actually, the magazine belongs to Kerala’s big media organization Mathrubhoomi was creating an outrage to the outcome the sales of their rival ‘Vanitha’, the women’s magazine published by another media group Manorama.

Sharia rules in the region prohibit any sort of exposure of women’s “sensitive body part”, say the Indians working in the authorities.

The fact of the matter is that in the 1970s even postal stamps were issued portraying breastfeeding. Grihalakshmi Magazine was bringing a new topic of men staring or men looking when a woman breastfeeding in public areas. But all these neo-feminism vanished when the magazine wanted circulation in Gulf region. PGurus confirmed that many book stalls put black cover to cover the breasts of the lady in the magazine’s cover. These are the photos we took from the stalls in Abhu Dhabi and Sharjah areas. As the rules are very strict, we are not revealing the identity of these shops.

The shop owners and many Indians working in the Gulf region said that every magazine coming for circulation should go through the authorities and simply ban or black out the “sensitive” contents.

Sharia rules in the region prohibit any sort of exposure of women’s “sensitive body part”, say the Indians working in the authorities. In Gulf area, basically Kerala and Tamil magazines have huge circulation; they have no other choice and have to strictly adhere to the local rules. The rules also put the responsibility on shop owners to check the magazines are according to the rules.

The Grihalakshmi Magazine was accused of manufacturing controversies to enhance circulation as they were always behind the rival magazine Vanitha. The lady on the cover was not at all a mother and she was a well-known model. There were arguments in Kerala that this was fooling the infants by engaging them in photo shoots with models posing breastfeeding. Anyway, the magazine which claimed and argued for freedom of breastfeeding theory in India has literally succumbed to hard rules in Gulf region by putting a pardha on the portion of their cover where the breast was shown.

Below is the original cover of Grihalakshmi and see further below how the cover was blacked in Gulf region when the magazine reached for sales.

Fig 1. Original picture that appeared in Grihalakshmi

Fig 2. Altered picture in Store 1

Fig 3. Altered picture in Store 2