Being a South Asian Woman on Jonathan Ross, Celebrity Island with Bear Gryls and other shows

Being a South Asian Woman on Jonathan Ross, Celebrity Island with Bear Gryls and other shows

By Soul Sutras

"I feel pressure to produce perfect chapattis despite being a successful comedian!"

I speak with Shazia Mirza, a famous comedian and writer, appearing on Jonathan Ross, Celebrity Island with Bear Gryls, Celebs in Solitary & many more shows. Her new show ‘Coconut’ will be on tour in 2021. Shazia travels all over the world doing stand-up comedy, is hugely successful but still feels the pressure to be the perfect South Asian woman.


Shazia and I speak about some of the issues we’ve experienced in our culture:

• The expectation to always be the dutiful daughter, to be the quiet subservient one

• The expectation to get married, have kids, look after everyone around us

• How cultural conditioning carries on even with professional successful South Asian womxn

• Anti-blackness that pervades South Asian society, and what can be done to change it

• Getting our names mis-pronounced (Shazia being called ‘Shava Minza’ has got to be the funniest!)

• How all brown women are lumped into the same person (Shazia talks about being mistaken for everyone from Meera Syal to Malala to her local GP)


MORE ABOUT SHAZIA:


https://www.shazia-mirza.com/

Instagram: @theshaziamirza

Twitter: @shaziamirza1


RESOURCES

Want to explore more about the themes discussed in this episode? Here are some resources/social media accounts that you might find useful:


THE INDIAN FEMINIST

https://www.instagram.com/the_indian_feminist/?hl=en

ASIAN WOMEN FESTIVAL:

https://www.asianwomanfestival.com/

BROWN GIRL MAGAZINE

https://www.browngirlmagazine.com/

BURNT ROTI

https://www.burntroti.com/

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