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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| _version_ | 1826296828158541824 |
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| author | Krishnan, S |
| author_facet | Krishnan, S |
| author_sort | Krishnan, S |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T04:22:21Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:cb7237d0-b55d-4fc6-a583-ef2c062dd381 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T04:22:21Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:cb7237d0-b55d-4fc6-a583-ef2c062dd3812022-03-27T07:14:53ZAgency, intimacy, and rape jokes: an ethnographic study of young women and sexual risk in ChennaiJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:cb7237d0-b55d-4fc6-a583-ef2c062dd381Symplectic Elements at OxfordWiley2015Krishnan, SIn 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. |
| spellingShingle | Krishnan, S Agency, intimacy, and rape jokes: an ethnographic study of young women and sexual risk in Chennai |
| title | Agency, intimacy, and rape jokes: an ethnographic study of young women and sexual risk in Chennai |
| title_full | Agency, intimacy, and rape jokes: an ethnographic study of young women and sexual risk in Chennai |
| title_fullStr | Agency, intimacy, and rape jokes: an ethnographic study of young women and sexual risk in Chennai |
| title_full_unstemmed | Agency, intimacy, and rape jokes: an ethnographic study of young women and sexual risk in Chennai |
| title_short | Agency, intimacy, and rape jokes: an ethnographic study of young women and sexual risk in Chennai |
| title_sort | agency intimacy and rape jokes an ethnographic study of young women and sexual risk in chennai |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT krishnans agencyintimacyandrapejokesanethnographicstudyofyoungwomenandsexualriskinchennai |