A lot has happened since the Earth came into being. Dinosaurs have come and gone, monkeys have evolved, and so have humans. We have discovered fire, we have discovered the concept of hunters and gatherers, we have sourced different food, constructed different languages, indulged in intricate architecture, and discovered gravity, the theory of mind, and the value of pi. We have discovered technology, learned how to make it pocked-sized, and we now stand before the expansion of artificial intelligence. And amid all of this, one thing has remained constant. Men putting towels or dish rags they used to clean last night’s dinner plates on their heads to mimic women.
The parody of women dates back to notorious YouTubers who dominated the “comedy” scene from 2010-2016. One of these is Bart Baker, famously known to mock women in pop culture and bordered on extreme misogyny, racism, and overall bigotry.
These parodies allowed male content creators to be more comfortable in this intense portrayal of women to boost their engagement for their comedy skits. However, I will be narrowing my focus on male Pakistani content creators and how their parody of women has evolved through the years.
According to my trajectory, I can date
this phenomenon back to ZaidAliT and
Danish Ali dominating the comedy scene on multiple media platforms. I can admit I indulged in their videos and used to be thoroughly amused at how they were able to depict common quirks of desi women. Though exaggerated and borderline offensive in their mimicry, I know that not many people found offense to their portrayal, and these two YouTubers were fan-favorites of desi mothers, with their videos being shared on every other Facebook timeline.
However, as the years pass and we become more aware of the media we consume and become more critical of it, we can acknowledge that these parodies were often done in poor taste, with parodies that depicted how women talk in a certain pitch, reducing women to a monolith with the same obnoxious and annoying mannerisms, mimicking how women dressed by adorning headscarves and putting on wigs, and commenting on the different roles of women and how they filled them (such as mothers, wives, girlfriends, friends, the average desi girl). All of this is done by men, no less. I do not think I’d be reaching too far to say these had underlying tones of misogyny, and the “comedy” sketches were mostly done with little to no regard for their female audience.
But now that we’re more aware of the nuances that accompany these comedy skits and how they perpetuate stereotypes that are harmful and are done to mock women and see them through nothing but a satirical lens, one would assume that we no longer allow the space for men to continue indulging in this type of content. Right?
Wrong.
It has become even more common in the current day. Men are still adorning something to mimic a head full of hair to fill their role as the woman they are trying to make fun of.
On the off chance that I sound hypocritical, I do want to preface this by saying I do find myself enjoying this content more often than not. I know these skits portray certain behaviors I have seen in women around me. But that is the difference. I am a woman, and I know that while these behaviors exist, they do not constitute the entire being of the woman exhibiting them. However, when male content creators get to a point where their sole content is on mimicking just these behaviors that can be viewed through a comedic lens, I find it very on the nose.
Men being comfortable enough to make earn money off of their exaggerated portrayal of women should be something we should be a lot more critical of. I do acknowledge that being critical of light-hearted satirical skits is something that may seem miserable, especially when you’re consuming the content with no ill intent. However, I do believe the implications of it may become harmful as long as it goes unchecked. Not only does it reinforce the binary of feminine behaviors, but it also allows for reinforcing patriarchy when men are given the platform to make fun of women actively.
I think there is a much larger conversation to be had about this topic, and it doesn’t only end here. I’d love to hear your thoughts!