What does female rage look like?

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. In her latest show, Divine Feminine, stand-up comedian Prashasti Singh remarks, “Bolti aurat kisi ko pasand nahin aati (nobody likes a woman with a voice)." Throughout her hour-long performance, her body language and sharp lines channel rage at a world that reduces women to potential wives or “crazy" spinsters. Women in the audience roar with laughter, cheering her; men chuckle at regular intervals.

“Growing up, I suppressed my anger, perhaps because the women around me withheld theirs instead of expressing it. Now, I process it and release it into the world through comedy," says the 37-year-old, speaking to Lounge ahead of her Mumbai show earlier this month. But good comedy isn’t born out of bitterness, she insists.

“You have to sit with anger until you can laugh at it yourself." Mumbai-based Singh believes her anger lands better now—her craft has sharpened in the seven years since she began her standup career, and more women are watching comedy. She calls Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby’s special Nanette (2017) a masterclass in turning personal trauma into sharp social commentary, using comedy to balance rage and release. Also read: Let women reclaim the right to rage by Swarna Rajagopalan Screenwriter Pranjali Dubey, 28, channels her anger into rant-filled reels on @prawnchilli, her Instagram account with over 21,000 followers.

“I was always angry growing up in response to everything I saw at home, in school, the world around me..." she says. Unlike Hulk, the Marvel Comics character whose “always angry" nature is met with roaring applause to date, Dubey quickly learned that her anger wasn’t welcome—not at home, not in social settings. The internet changed things for her.