During a public dialogue on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) recently, Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed made a pathetic attempt to lighten the atmosphere by cracking a tasteless, sexist joke – comparing the newly built MITI headquarters to marriage, he said “, before this we were at Jalan Duta, 30 years there. After a long time being married, dump the wife, marry a new one – Thirty years in Jalan Duta, it’s been a long, long time, so when it’s boring, fed up, (we) move here lah, so it’s our first day here,”
Although, the minister has since apologized for making such crass remarks, however, the damage has been done and this incident only amplifies the mind numbingly obtuse levels of gender chauvinism exhibited by some of our male politicians and other members of public who may not realize just how dangerous these jokes can be.
Point is, sexist jokes are no laughing matter, no matter how ‘innocent’ or how ‘harmless’ the one delivering the punch line may want you to believe. The context of such jokes often has damaging implications on a women’s place in society; the remark delivered by our esteemed minister pertaining to a women’s virginity and marriage really hits the bull eyes of offensiveness.
Such jokes are often tinged with misogynistic undertones and should not be taken lightly. This can affect our society’s perception and result to acceptance towards such appalling behavioral expressions which will definitely have a less than advantageous affect on societal progress.
According to research conducted by psychology experts based in Western Carolina University “exposure to sexist humor can create conditions that allow men – especially those who have antagonistic attitudes toward women – to express those attitudes in their behavior, thus, the acceptance of sexist humor leads men to believe that sexist behavior falls within the bounds of social acceptability.”
Sexist humor exploits the ignorance of human beings and encourages bigotry because humor misleads people into feeling comfortable with behavioral expressions that are hurtful. As a result, such incidences are somewhat allowed to escalate further because there is almost no censure or criticism from others.
This is now true to Malaysians because we are beginning to witness and experience situations where men (and sometimes women) say awfully sexist thing and fail to realize any wrong doings simply because there is a misconception that such remarks or jokes are socially acceptable.
If someone makes a joke about women and can get away with ease, those who are truly misogynist will see this as social sanction for their behavior and appalling attitudes towards women.
This is a highly precarious situation because these jokes can greatly reduce society’s willingness to take action against discrimination. Take for example how our society currently views matters involving child marriages, rape and other acts of violence committed against women. In other words, these jokes only reinforce existing bigotry and intolerance.
Is it too much to ask, that instead of belittling women, can some of our male elected representatives filter out offensive jokes and try to project themselves in a respectable manner? Maintaining positive attitudes and ideas about women are important in order er to preserve respect, social inclusion and equality (pillars of democracy, mind you); rather than indulging and approving such lewd behavior, these elected representatives should be leading the fight against elements that can destroy the harmonious ties that bind society together. Remarks and jokes like these are disrespectful to women and an embarrassment for our country; sexist jokes are downright hostile and no excuses can justify such an offense.