4 Times Aziz Ansari Spoke the Feminist Truth About Harassment in His New Special

Impact

2014 was a pretty good year for feminism, but an excellent one for celebrity feminist epiphanies. Plenty of male celebrities embraced the term, arguably none more vocally than Aziz Ansari

Ansari notably "came out" as a feminist by mocking the stigma surrounding the term on The Late Show With David Letterman, but he hasn't stopped there. 

In his new Netflix special Live at Madison Square Garden, he skewers the harassment women face on a daily basis. Here are four of the many hilarious ways he uses humor to highlight how the sexist attitudes we've normalized are actually ridiculous.  

1. Women have to deal with "creepy" dudes all the time:

Image Credit (all): kelly-kapoor.tumblr.com

2. ...who often creepily follow them:

Image Credit (all): laughterkey.com

3. Women also routinely face sexual harassment:

Image Credit (all): rightpluswrong.tumblr.com

4. Street harassment is all too common too:

Image Credit (both): pabstblueribbonpapi.tumblr.com

Although Ansari, as well as other high-profile male feminists, have faced backlash in the past — some have questioned how wise or deserved it is to celebrate men simply for embracing the label — it's clear he's trying to incorporate feminist values into his work and raise awareness about the very real issues women face in a meaningful way. We should laud Ansari's efforts, especially given that they come from within a field notorious for its sexism, and use them to spark change, in the world of comedy and beyond.