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What is it about a man dressed like a woman that is supposed to make us go all haa-haa-hee-hee? We did some brainstorming, find out!
The trope of men dressing up as women for comic purposes (or drag queens) is prevalent throughout the world. In India too, there are many movies as well as TV shows, the most famous example being The Kapil Sharma Show, which uses this trope to incite laughter in the audience. Cross-dressing, on the whole, is a huge concept but mostly in the Indian context, we only see it as men dressing up in womanly clothing.
What is it that makes this so funny? Is it the transgression from gender roles? If not this, then where does comicality come into this transgression instead of a sense of subvertion from the norms? If we negate this point, it is only one thing that remains: women and their clothing is essentially funny! And not wholesome-haha funny but a demeaning sort of funny.
Clothes are just clothes, it is society that assigns to them a certain set of ideas with regard of class, gender and culture. The most basic purpose of dressing up is to protect our body from any harm from the external stimuli, that’s all. So what is this fascination that we have that makes a man dressed up as a woman result with extreme comedy?
It is generally assumed by the society that clothes are an extremely big deal for us women. And hence, come the tags of being ‘frivolous’ and ‘trivial’. So, obviously, when men who are supposed to be ‘rough’, ‘tough’ and generally nonchalant about their appearance, partake in the extensive womanly sartorial tradition, they too are looked down upon for being ‘womanly’ and ‘feminine’, like it’s a bad thing.
I have a (conspiracy) theory as to why our society makes such a laughing stock out of men dressing up like women. So the society has a patriarchal idea of gender and family which ensures its smooth functioning which is further propagated in the future generations and hence an ‘order’ is set. Now to make sure that their male population doesn’t deviate from the path that is set for them, they demean and laugh at any kind of digression from this rigid set of ideals. In other words, if you make men think that they look funny and will be laughed upon for wearing womanly clothes, it is almost natural that men are wary of doing anything like it. Patriarchy now takes it further and makes it look as though being feminine is bad and demeaning and inferior – hence funny.
Aside from all this, I hoped that this trope of cross dressing would someday go further and include women equally, and then even normalize the transgender in a country like ours. But nothing of that sort is at large right now, which is a shame considering it is an agenda of art to liberalize people’s mindsets, and cross-dressing is a kind of art too. Instead of helping transgender people achieve their rights, these acts only make it more difficult for them to live an ordinary life.
What is your take on this issue? Do leave a comment.
Top image is of Sunil Grover as ‘Gutthi’ on the Kapil Sharma show
New Delhi, India I like to read, write, and talk. A feminist through and through, with a soft spot for chocolate. read more...
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
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