‘Have You Not Got a Sense of Humour?’: Unpacking Masculinity Through Online Sexist Jokes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In this article, my focus is on normalisation of sexism that feeds a culture in which women victims are often blamed when the crimes are committed against them, or they are posited as dehumanised objects for male pleasures. I also emphasise the potential of sexist jokes for the othering and exclusion of women from virtual social spaces through silencing women and denying their right to freely express themselves online. Due to such a high level of women’s participation, the virtual social spaces can potentially offer some of the key features of a ‘public sphere’ in a more inclusive manner than as originally conceived by Habermas (1989). Though it is highly contested whether the Internet is a public sphere (Dean 2003), I argue here that it has, nonetheless, served as one during the COVID-19 period, mainly due to the disappearance of usual public sphere. This is partly why it requires careful consideration to assess how online sexism affects women’s online participation as well as their everyday life. Society and Culture in South Asia 7(1) 148–154, 2021 © 2021 South Asian University Reprints and permissions: in.sagepub.com/journalspermissions-india DOI: 10.1177/2393861720977632 journals.sagepub.com/home/scs