{"id":8037,"date":"2016-01-04T11:00:34","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T05:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak?p=8037"},"modified":"2018-08-21T15:13:25","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T09:43:25","slug":"review-the-absurdities-of-sexy-and-funny-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/review-the-absurdities-of-sexy-and-funny-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Absurdities of Sexy and Funny Women"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At the now infamous All India Bakchod Knockout roast last year, comedian Aditi Mittal told this joke about her fellow panellist Abish Mathew: \u201cAbish, if a girl has sex with you she becomes a virgin again. You are literally a hymen repairman.\u201d Though hardly the most vulgar joke of the evening, suddenly Mittal was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BKcdoj-u0bw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fielding cancellations<\/a> for shows she\u2019d booked with corporates who wanted a \u201cfemale performer\u201d for International Women\u2019s Day, typically one of Mittal\u2019s busiest performance days of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Mittal, along with Neeti Palta, Vasu Primlani, and Radhika Vaz, is considered one of the top four female Indian comedians working today. The joke is that there are <em>only<\/em> four Indian female comics, a near obligatory comment in every interview and article about these performers as well as a staple punch line in their own acts. The hymen joke is a rather tame example of the range of topics they cover. It\u2019s all on the table: discussing sex with parents, cunnilingus, women masturbating, deciding not to have children, sex-selective abortion, aging, shit, sagging vaginas (and the beauty industry that promises to make you \u201c18 again\u201d with tightening cream!), rape, and menstruation including a rather brilliant piece Mittal does in which she compares talking about sanitary napkins to uttering \u201cVoldemort\u201d in a Hogwarts common room:<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bIapVfDTgBY\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s so controversial about a woman talking about hymens and sanitary napkins? In an era where even a mild &#8216;female buddy comedy&#8217; like <em>Angry Indian Goddesses<\/em> makes the censor board clutch their pearls, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dnaindia.com\/entertainment\/report-watch-all-the-scenes-in-angry-indian-goddesses-that-censor-board-thought-was-too-unsanskari-for-audience-2153435\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">apparently it\u2019s offensive<\/a> when women say much of anything. These comedians don\u2019t perform a genre of \u201cfemale humour\u201d, or \u201cjokes for women\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s observational humour that might seem different because it reveals experiences long missing from the male-dominated Indian comedy scene (or the comedy scene anywhere, for that matter). Women might laugh harder at a bit about street harassment, though, because they\u2019ve been on the receiving end. All of these women underscore the importance of truth and personal detail to successful comedy. The audience has to believe that you\u2019re sharing your own experience with them in order to build the kind of trust that allows the comic to really push boundaries. As Vaz puts it, this is both the point of comedy and the reason why so few women go into the profession. At its best, stand-up uses humour to make the untouchable more accessible by getting a reaction and making a \u201cbig bloody scene\u201d about something we wouldn\u2019t normally discuss. But women, Vaz says, are taught to remain quiet and not make a scene, to \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/cake.youthkiawaaz.com\/2015\/10\/19\/radhika-vaz-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">keep our vaginas shut<\/a>, so to speak.\u201d Vaz\u2019s statement lacks nuance, but it\u2019s a strategic kind of gender essentialism that forms a common thread in these women\u2019s work. The shock value of female comedians discussing gender and sexuality in a way that seems bawdy and brash serves to draw audiences in. Once we\u2019re hooked, however, they waste no time in renegotiating social norms about what women should do and say, invoking generalizations only to tear them down. The joke isn\u2019t a woman yelling \u201cvagina\u201d, but <a href=\"http:\/\/www.livemint.com\/Leisure\/tdQIqKqo76MyRXZRSaDHRI\/Society--Funny-girls.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">how silly it is<\/a> that some people think that she shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>It might not just be that the truth of comedians\u2019 material is hard to swallow, but rather that the very presence of women who are both funny and conventionally attractive using humour to their own advantage is subversive, disrupting deeply-held norms about who is \u2018allowed\u2019 to be funny. As Taran N. Khan writes about the history of funny women in Bollywood, only women considered \u201cbizarre\u201d in some way \u2013 the horny vamp, the fat woman, the quirky grandma \u2013 were allowed comedic capers that no decent \u2018beautiful\u2019 heroine could perform. Despite their obvious talent, actresses like Tun Tun were shunted into sideshow\/sidekick roles, laughed at for their <a href=\"http:\/\/himalmag.com\/women-actors-comedy-bollywood-column-taran-khan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">failure to be \u201creal\u201d desirable women<\/a>. Numerous scholarly studies probing how men and women use humour show that because of norms dictating that women\u2019s sense of humour should be limited to laughing at the jokes men make, women laughing at and for themselves <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2015\/11\/plight-of-the-funny-female\/416559\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">makes them seem<\/a> less attractive. In comedy then, as elsewhere, norm violators are punished. Anxiety still runs deep about how audiences perceive the sexuality of a female performer \u2013 who is especially dangerous if she appears conventionally attractive <em>and<\/em> gets you to laugh at the systems of power that define the parameters of women\u2019s attractiveness. She is already in on the joke that society had hoped would go over her head.<\/p>\n<p>Another way in which these performers\u2019 acts might differ is the ways in which performing \u2013 or refusing to perform \u2013 \u2018ideal\u2019 femininity and sexuality onstage is integral to their comedy. When in an interview Vaz states that she is \u201cbarely a woman\u201d, you get the sense she says this not to fit in as one of the guys, but because she is vehemently opposed to an ideal she doesn\u2019t plan to embody. Vaz\u2019s comedy has incorporated costumes like the retro femme 1960s look she rocked in her show <em>Unladylike<\/em>, in which she sipped from a delicate tea cup while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ffRMh0-2tq8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ruminating on farting and \u201ctongue-juggling\u201d<\/a> her husband\u2019s balls. The juxtaposition was key to unmooring the audience\u2019s expectations of what a \u201cproper woman\u201d is supposed to think and say. Notably, in her most recent performance, Vaz wears her everyday street clothes; one might guess that in line with the show\u2019s title \u2013 <em>Older, Angrier, Hairier<\/em> \u2013 Vaz gives fewer fucks after 40.<\/p>\n<p>When Mittal was first starting out in stand-up, she really wanted to tell jokes about sex but was concerned about the typical audience response to a female performer who refers to sex even once \u2013 that they are <em>gandi <\/em>(dirty), <em>besharam\u00a0<\/em>(shameless), \u201cobsessed with sex.\u201d She decided to incorporate the character of Dr (Mrs) Lutchuke into her shows in order to displace the sexual topics onto the embodiment of this elderly Maharashtrian sex therapist character, known among other things for her \u201cGuide to Losing Your Virginity\u201d. By circumscribing sexual concerns in this way and keeping her \u2018Aditi\u2019 persona fairly buttoned-up, she tried to avoid accusations that she is only onstage because she used her sexuality to get there.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=78N0GVUe&#8211;4<\/p>\n<p>Primlani, an out lesbian, creates a different kind of tension with her performance. She relies heavily on physical comedy in her routines, and deliberately chooses young female audience members as volunteers. Though the topics are quotidian, \u2013 riding the Delhi Metro, how Indians stand in line, etc. \u2013 by openly discussing her own desire for women as she enacts these situations, she plays up rather than minimizes her sexuality, resulting at times in a palpable tension. Primlani has been both almost slapped on the face for her \u201cinsolence\u201d by a female volunteer, as well as thanked by men promising to reform their behaviour now that she\u2019s shown them <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5PKyYjxv--M\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">how terrible they\u2019ve been<\/a>. She is most pleased by conversations her acts catalyse even among educated audiences after the show \u2013 by bringing the truth of her queer sexuality onstage, she overhears them questioning whether what they heard is \u201creally true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"HILARIOUS comedy on public transport: Vasu Primlani on the Metro\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OBlgrNrc43U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If \u201ccomedy equals tragedy plus time,\u201d as the saying goes, how do these comedians joke about things like rape and sex-selective abortion that are so close to home? Can jokes about rape ever be funny, even with a woman behind the mic?<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref\">[1]<\/a> If comedy is really about sharing truth, it makes sense that women who experience a disproportionate share of sexual assault, everyday sexism, and other dangerous forms of gender- and sexuality-based discrimination would incorporate discussion of rape into their routines. When it comes to sexist treatments of rape in comedy, these comedians are more concerned about the rising ease with which Indians take offence to things \u2013 and what this says about the future of free speech \u2013 than about the existence of the jokes themselves. Intent rather than content matters most, as Palta notes <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youthkiawaaz.com\/2015\/07\/neeti-palta-exclusive-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in an interview<\/a>: \u201cIt is something to think about, when we become a society where a comedian is afraid to tell a joke, or an artist is afraid to draw a cartoon but a rapist is not afraid to rape.\u201d In their own work, these four show that earnest jokes about the (actual) causes of rape and how we as a society deal with it are at once heart-rending and hilarious. It is a relief to laugh not about sexual violence itself, but at the <em>absurdity<\/em> that it keeps happening, that a majority of women will experience rape in their lifetimes, and police and families continue to victim-blame whereas legislators refuse to acknowledge rape is even possible within the \u201csanctity\u201d of an Indian marriage. Primlani, who has been open about the sexual abuse she experienced as a child and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ewlGPbMFIr4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has given a TedX talk<\/a> on the topic in 2014, recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UPCOCRjxySw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">released a video<\/a> in which she explores what would happen if the police \u201cinvestigated\u201d other crimes, like a television theft, in the same way they approach rape: \u201cAre you sure the TV has been stolen? Maybe you gave it away of your own volition.\u201d Laughing doesn\u2019t obviate the power dynamics that perpetuate these circumstances, but it does disrupt them. For a brief moment, we\u2019re all in on the joke of how just how bloody absurd this reality is, and how rarely we hear the comic truth <em>from women<\/em> about the everyday violence they intimately know.<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/__NgKSWfmh4\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Featured in the review:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCFd5eywNrsmGfcaXjNCZKVw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Neeti Palta<\/a> performs with Delhi-based comedy outfit Loony Goons.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/dyslexiasoftware\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aditi Mittal<\/a> recently finished a tour of her debut show <em>Things They Wouldn\u2019t Let Me Say<\/em>. She is a regular performer at the Canvas Laugh Factory in Mumbai.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/radvazOFFICIAL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Radhika Vaz<\/a> recently finished touring her show <em>Older, Angrier, Hairier<\/em>. She stars in the web-based comedy <em>Shugs &amp; Fats<\/em> and posts videos on feminist topics to her YouTube Channel. Vaz also publishes a bi-weekly op-ed column, <em>Read it and Weep<\/em> in The Times of India.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCsIqC_PAZGRppGyeRPnah8A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vasu Primlani<\/a> performs mostly in Delhi and Mumbai, including recently at Lodi \u2013 The Garden Restaurant and with the DU Queer Collective for Pride 2015.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> And <em>should<\/em> it only be women talking about rape? Vaz thinks possibly so, but Primlani points out the importance of getting \u201cbuy in\u201d from men on gender-based violence. Comic Daniel Fernandes, for example, has done <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=n9Cql4qMrQ8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an excellent job<\/a> critiquing the Indian government\u2019s (and Indian men\u2019s) approach to marital rape.<\/p>\n<div id=\":2am\" class=\"aOT\" data-type=\"m\">\u0907\u0938 \u0932\u0947\u0916 \u0915\u094b \u0939\u093f\u0902\u0926\u0940 \u092e\u0947\u0902 \u092a\u095d\u0928\u0947 \u0915\u0947 \u0932\u093f\u090f <a href=\"https:\/\/tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/hindi-sexy-aur-mazakiya-mahilaon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u092f\u0939\u093e\u0901 <\/a>\u0915\u094d\u0932\u093f\u0915 \u0915\u0930\u0947\u0902<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the now infamous All India Bakchod Knockout roast last year, comedian Aditi Mittal told this joke about her fellow&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":8059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,574,3],"tags":[582,121,25,578,499],"class_list":{"0":"post-8037","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-categories","8":"category-humour-and-sexuality","9":"category-review","10":"tag-comedy","11":"tag-feminism","12":"tag-sexualities","13":"tag-stand-up-comedy","14":"tag-women"},"menu_order":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8037"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14834,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8037\/revisions\/14834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}