Do Brown Women Deserve To Laugh?
Zarna Garg's comedy exposes a serious side of South Asian patriarchal cultures.
I have been following, and cracking up, to Indian-American housewife turned stand-up comic, Zarna Garg for a year or so on Instagram. I am not kidding when I say she is laugh out loud hilarious.
Whether poking fun at Indian stereotypes by playfully imposing them on her kids, or joking with her husband about how his computer screens are more harmful to her health than the plants, it was clear that this housewife had a real talent to make people of all backgrounds crack up.
And now with her new Amazon Prime special, “One in a Billion,” the world is discovering how Garg is launching such an unconventional career for any woman, let alone a woman of color, all at the encouragement of her children.
But while out and about promoting her Amazon show, Garg said something I just can’t stop thinking thinking about that reminds women, especially us Desi women, that despite all the images of the “modern” South Asia, our cultures remain seriously patriarchal.
While this is not breaking news for anyone, with child marriage, dowry-related violence and domestic violence still oppressing too many women and girls, Garga’s comments were a real reality check.
Watch her “CBS This Morning” interview and ask yourself why we still hold women to this outdated “Bollywood” idea of the ideal South Asian housewife and woman? Why are brown women not encouraged to laugh in our cultures, be it in Pakistan, India, or Bangladesh?
Do brown women deserve to laugh? Hell yes, we do! But the fact that in 2023 we even have to ask that question, whether it’s posed by a comedian or journalist, says a lot.