Girliyapa’s ‘Brozone’ Video Takes A Sexist Dig At Tomboys

Who are tomboys? Tomboys are those girls who defy conventional notions of feminine behaviour and appearance, and prefer being sporty, athletic and 'boy'-ish in manner, appearance, behaviour and interests, because that is what they are comfortable with. This is presented as being unappealing to 'boys' in a recent video. Youtube channel, Girliyapa’s new video, “Why Girls Get Brozoned?”, is trying to establish that tomboys have no chance at wooing a man.

The video is part of Girliyapa's “Ladies Room Bakchodi” series and was released on April 28.

It starts with a tomboy girl excitedly telling her friend about how she proposed to a guy whom she had defeated in a competition of push-ups. Apparently, the man said, “I love you bro” as a response to the girl’s “I love you”. This leads her friend to assume that the tomboy girl has been ‘brozoned’. Brozone is an equivalent of friendzone but for a girl as explained in the video. In the video, it is described as, “A category of women who display qualities of a man. She is good at sports. She likes math. She is strong and she also abuses.”

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This gives way to the girl's friend explaining to the tomboy how she has been trapped into a sphere which will lead her to spend her life without a guy because she does not behave the way a girl is supposed to. During their conversation, she bluntly asks her to “stop behaving like yourself”.

Also, there is a weird comparison of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the 1998 movie about a tomboy’s life.

For one, Karan Johar, the director of the movie has himself apologised for his blatant portrayal of sexism in the movie.

His exact words were, “It was ridiculous of me to have done that. Shabana Azmi called me after she watched the movie and asked why was it that Anjali found only rejection when she had short hair and played basketball, and later, when she was shown as a sari-wearing, feminine woman with long hair, she finds love.”

There are many instances in the video which promote gender inequality by constantly promoting patriarchy.

The makers have even trivialized the idea of sportswomen who, according to them, can win a World Cup but not a man because of their ‘tomboy’ selves!

And I cannot even press on how outrageously a phrase like “bitches these days don’t die easy” can be used in a funny manner? This, in fact, is a core problem of patriarchy -- pitting one woman against another -- here of course for a guy.

Giving them the benefit of doubt, let's believe that it is satirical, but even then, the end result does not qualify for the satirical imagination. This video and a few others like this have broken down beliefs that Girliyapa is a liberal women-friendly project of The Viral Fever.

Watch the video here:

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Picture credit- The Timeliners