Female Comedians Apologised For Being Funny, Being Women And Being Alive. Because Men Take Offense To Us Breathing
All the social media fuss about the Agrima Joshua offending the followers of Shivaji Maharaj and getting graphic rape threats in return by some jerk took me to her “infamous” video. I actually found it quite funny and not offensive at all but then, I am not some thin-skinned Indian man who’s looking to target women for merely speaking on stage.
Anyway, the whole time I was watching her skit, all I could think was, is that it? That’s her fault? That she’s funny? Or that she’s a woman born in India where men can do and say anything because ‘men will be men’ and would be supported instead of being held for their actions? Wow!
Female comedians getting rape and death threats in India was being conveniently normalized until this one incident when netizens refused to take the shit and got the ‘badass’ behind the bars. But the real question is do these female comedians deserve it? Do they deserve to be threatened with rape just because they made a joke? If it’s so, then we are really sorry as women to exist with these monsters. And, that’s exactly what these women content creators feel too. They apologised for everything through a video.
Comedian and content creator Srishti Dixit shared an IGTV video on her Instagram yesterday with the caption “Women Finally Apologise For Everything. We’re deeply sorry.” In the video, 13 female comedians including Srishti, Dolly Singh, Kusha Kapila and Mallika Dua apologise for everything from learning to talk, being funny, having an opinion, being a woman, speaking on stage and being alive, you know, breathing because butthurt men like Shubham Mishra come charging at them
Watch the video here.
Also Read: Comedian Agrima Joshua Got Explicit Rape Threats For Making A Joke. Why Do Indian Men Always Resort To Threats Of Sexual Violence?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCqgOA6HV9C/
The video has garnered over 750k views and 2k comments mostly of women adding in their apologies as well. “I am sorry we live in this situation,” a woman wrote. Another commented, “I am sorry to support a movement (feminism) which makes me not say sorry for wanting and asking the most basic right and things any living being gets and wants.”
Others came in support and lauded the heartfelt video. One user commented, “I literally have no words… This had me in tears. You all are so so strong and beautiful and confident and I adore you for that. I look upto you and I want to fight with all of you till the very end.” Another wrote, “What a gut wrenching video…I am really sorry the country’s insanity has come to this.” A guy wrote, “I, as an Indian male, am sorry for what women go through.” Another wrote, “I’m NOT SORRY for watching this and appreciating this! I am SORRY that you had to make this.”
This video was important because it highlights how difficult it is to be a woman in a country where everyone takes offense to anything and thinks nothing of sending rape threats in DMs. And it’s only women comics who get rape threats. Male comics are threatened with violence, but it’s not sexual. Often, they are abused using their mothers and sisters as tools. This video is a powerful slap in the face of misogyny and we applaud it.
By the end of the video, I had a lump in my throat. We actually live in a country where women are really sorry to be born. When a woman gets raped, she is blamed for arousing the man with her clothes or by being alone at night. We are blamed for being out, we are beaten for being in, we are sorry too.
