Agency, intimacy, and rape jokes: an ethnographic study of young women and sexual risk in Chennai
In this article, I examine the circulation of jokes about sexual violence among young middle class women in the South Indian city of Chennai. Drawing on ethnographic research with undergraduate students in this city, I locate the rape joke in an ambivalent discourse of risk that conflates the possib...
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| Format: | Journal article |
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Wiley
2015
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| Summary: | In this article, I examine the circulation of jokes about sexual violence among young middle class women in the South Indian city of Chennai. Drawing on ethnographic research with undergraduate students in this city, I locate the rape joke in an ambivalent discourse of risk that conflates the possibility of sexual assault with the perceived ‘risks’ of women’s sexual autonomy. In this context, I argue that humour about sexual violence functions as a form of lateral agency, facilitating a break from the task of reproducing middle class respectability. |
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