Times of India publishes sexist joke on Women's Day, faces backlash

Published March 9, 2015
A picture of the joke printed in TOI.
A picture of the joke printed in TOI.

Media outlets all over the world paid homage to women on Women's Day this Sunday — but one newspaper took a more antagonistic approach.

Times of India (TOI) published a sexist joke on International Women's Day, reported Buzzfeed India. The Q&A style joke asked:

"Why haven't they sent a woman to the moon yet?"

The answer? "It doesn't need cleaning."

Predictably, the backlash was swift and brutal.

Some people wondered if the paper had forgotten it was Women's Day altogether:

Some kept it simple:

For others the joke was a reminder of how the documentary India's Daughter, about Jyoti Singh's 2012 gang rape and murder, has been banned:

Interestingly, this isn't the first time the publication has come under fire for being sexist. In 2014 TOI had a very public row with Deepika Padukone, which began when TOI published a tweet that read "“OMG! Deepika Padukone’s cleavage show!” linking to a camera shot straining to look down the actress's shirt.

To this, Deepika replied "Yes! !I am a woman. I have breasts and a cleavage! You got a problem!!??" Later Deepika told the media that she felt "violated as a woman."

In a piece responding to Deepika's criticisms, the paper called her a hypocrite.

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...