Pakistani feminist comedians challenging taboo topics

Menstruation, sex, ridicule of physical health, harassment, misogyny and dating, these are topics that are not usually discussed openly in Pakistani households or in gatherings of friends. But when these taboo subjects are presented as comedies to packed halls, they provide the audience with the best material for humor. Different families, married couples, elders and youngsters come in large numbers to watch such performances, where female artistes perform their art. Although this type of comedy is becoming more common now, stand-up comedy is still relatively new for women.

Historically, comedy in the country has always been a male monopoly. Even if there were few women in this field, they were limited to television only. Women who are doing stand-up comedy have also not been accepted until recently because women going on stage, whether alone or with someone, is considered very flawed and has a negative opinion about them. goes

Although Pakistani singers like Noor Jahan have been prominent in Pakistan’s pop culture for a long time, female comedians have not achieved such a status. Women in Pakistani society have been the subject of jokes, but they themselves do not tell jokes. However, in the last decade, women have also made a place for themselves in the world of comedy, thanks to stand-up comedy and Fe Al-Bahadiya comedy.

Many female comedians say that traveling all-female troupes has given them confidence and a sense of security to perform in front of people. Thirty-one-year-old Amtal Buja, a digital content creator and comedian, says she has been performing since 2011 when she was a university student. But she was not confident in doing comedy until she joined the South Asia Female Comedian Group. The name of this group is ‘The Women Two Thousand and Sixteen’.

“My confidence grew by working with women, before comedy was dominated by men,” she told DW. Therefore, most of the comic roles were played by men and the audience also found men more funny and because of the audience, women had to work hard for the role. But with the group, we had to play all the roles, even the male roles, which people laughed at.”

“My confidence grew by working with women, before comedy was dominated by men,” she told DW. Therefore, most of the comic roles were played by men and the audience also found men more funny and because of the audience, women had to work hard for the role. But with the group, we had to play all the roles, even the male roles, which people laughed at.”

Faiza told DW that she started the group to help women feel safe and feel free to express their potential and talk about complex issues through comedy. Not only are Amtal and Faiza in the same group, but they both have very successful careers as comedians and are making full use of their social media power and reach. Amtal has 47 thousand followers on Instagram while Faiza has 178 thousand. Social media and being in a group have given both a sense of security and the opportunity to work in a free environment.

64-year-old Rubina Ahmed is a retired civil servant. He started stand-up comedy four years ago. She also found artistic refuge in the feminist group Awar Naak. Earlier she worked with young boys where she could not work on her favorite topics with such freedom.

A day after her retirement, Rubina recently broke more barriers by performing a hundred los. “For me, comedy is a bitter pill, which is bitter but I can easily swallow it,” he told DW. In my plays, I usually discuss topics that are related to women. Patriarchy, misogyny, taboo subjects, emotional exploitation, gender identity, sexual preferences etc. are some of the topics that I take up in my plays.

Rubina presented many patriarchal constraints in Solo to an audience that consisted of people from different walks of life and showed through her play how social concepts affect their bodily autonomy from childhood to adulthood. struck

“I speak on topics that I have experienced in life,” she told DW. I never talk about hypothetical cases and hypothetical situations. “My emotions seem more natural and effective because of the real topics I’m talking about.”

Rubina challenged another taboo topic by telling how after the age of sixty she discovered that her sexual orientation was non-binary. In one play, Rubina throws her bra (bra) from her clothes on stage and tries to symbolically show that she is breaking the patriarchy’s control over her body.

“We are getting public space,” says Umtil. Even if we are not talking about women’s issues, just standing up and speaking is proof that we are feminists. This is how you are working for representation and equality.

Thirty-year-old Amna Baig is a police officer in the country’s capital, Islamabad, and has been doing stand-up comedy for three years. Amna is in the two male-dominated fields of police and comedy. She uses comedy to illustrate the prevailing laws of society, the police department and the sexism that exists in society.