Radhika Vaz on being unabashedly politically incorrect – Femina

Radhika Vaz, who can make even the most straitlaced women and men guffaw at her ribald, unladylike take on everything from sexual identity to virginity and body hair, believes that its important to speak up in a country where a majority of women are asked to shut up the minute they express an opinion. Who else will tell our stories? The only reason feminism has taken root in so many countries is because of loud, proud politically incorrect women, who have stopped caring about what anyone thinks of them, she says.

Vaz, for one, stopped bothering about conforming to norms when she gave up a safe corporate job to become a stand-up comic, first in the US and then in India. I have never been politically correct. The moment I have felt the need to say or do the right thing, I have instinctively known its the wrong thing for me personally. Its just the right thing for whoever put the rules in place.

Challenging norms also meant playing with fire without being afraid of the consequences. But Vaz, who went naked on stage a couple of years ago to make a point about the objectification of women, has learnt to walk the tightrope with ease. Of course, people have gotten offended, but I have never felt threatened or got into serious troublenot yetbut that does not mean other women have not had that experience, she says. One time, someone tried to get a venue to cancel my show. The only reason I believe he didnt get very far was because he didnt try hard enough!

The writer and performer of Older.Angrier. Hairier and Unladylike, feels that our freedom of speech is being threatened like never before. We have never really had freedom of expression. There is not a radio station in India that wont give you the no-politics-no-religion brief. And its not their faultour government couldnt care less and if the station is attacked, the police cant and wont handle it. Freedom is a group effort. It takes a village to raise a child and it takes the whole damn country to then protect this child, she says.

Vaz expresses her views not just through her shows but also on social media like Twitter, which means that she has to deal with her fair share of trolls. The comedienne, however, is more than equipped to deal with it. I deal with trolls by being utterly obnoxious. They call me shameless, I get more shameless. They want me to talk nicely, well, I wont! Trolls are not the same as people who disagree with your point of view; they are pretty stupid people who have even less to do with their lives than I do with mineso in the grand scheme of things they are like an annoying in-law. You have to ignore them.

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Radhika Vaz on being unabashedly politically incorrect - Femina