CFP: This volume is currently under preparation for submission to Springer Nature, which has formally requested a detailed book proposal.
Submission deadline: September 15, 2025
Topic areas
Details
This volume is currently under preparation for submission to Springer Nature, which has formally requested a detailed book proposal.
Book Overview
Sex jokes are trending and they are making headlines in India. From awkward adolescence to arranged marriages, from porn bans to condom ads, Indian society has always had a complicated relationship with sex. It is taboo, sacred, censored, and silent everywhere. In recent years, stand-up comedians have stepped into this silence, picking up the mic and saying out loud what most people only whisper. And now, the sex joke is having its moment.
Sex jokes themselves are not new. What has changed is how boldly and explicitly they are now addressed. What once hovered politely around the institution of marriage has evolved into materials on masturbation, period sex, first orgasms, office encounters, watching porn with family, extra- marital affairs, pre-marital, one-night stands, hook-ups, seduction, incest (yes, really), breakups, kinks, cheating, sexual dysfunction, and the deep, relatable fear of simply being bad in bed. This growing popularity has made it easier, freer, and more acceptable for people to discuss sex, sexuality, preferences, desires, insecurities, and consent, topics that were once taboo and tightly guarded in public discourse.
But as these jokes go viral, they also get vilified. Comedians are getting banned, performances are being cancelled, social media content is routinely taken down, FIRs are being filed. Comedians face trolling, threats, and even physical attacks because of cracking jokes about sex in a country that can barely say the word out loud. This book is the first of its kind to examine the origin and cultural impact of Indian stand-up through the lens of sexuality. It asks timely questions: Who gets to joke about sex in India? What lines are comedians crossing and who draws those lines? Is this comedy liberating us... or simply testing the limits of what Indian society is willing to hear?
Objectives of the Study
This volume aims to critically examine the cultural, political, social, performative and affective dimensions of sex jokes in Indian stand-up comedy, with a focus on how humor navigates and negotiates social taboos around sexuality, gender, and desire. It seeks to trace the evolution of sexual humor in Indian comedy, exploring how comedians use the stage to challenge or sometimes reinforce dominant sexual norms. The study aims to understand how jokes about masturbation, menstruation, orgasms, kinks, queer intimacy, sexual dysfunction, etc contribute to a shifting public discourse on sex, while also provoking discomfort, outrage, or censorship. A key objective is to interrogate the complex idea of freedom- who gets to joke about sex, what can be said without consequence, and where the lines of "acceptable" speech are drawn in a society that both consumes and condemns sexual content. By analyzing the aesthetics, ethics, and risks of sexual humor, the book explores how stand-up comedy becomes a site of resistance, vulnerability, and contested expression. It also aims to situate Indian stand-up within broader scholarly conversations in sexuality studies, humor studies, performance, and media, offering interdisciplinary insights into how comedy shapes, reflects, and disturbs our understanding of sex and society.
Potential topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
The Evolution of the Indian Sex Joke
Why Sex Makes Us Laugh
Comedy as Sexual Awakening
Who Gets to Joke About Sex?
Orgasm Jokes
Incest Jokes
Masculinity Jokes
Masturbation Jokes
Periods Jokes
Disability, Desire, and the Comic Frame
Porn, Private Pleasures, Kinks jokes
Jokes on Sexual Health, Dysfunction
Queer Jokes
Comedy Across Class, Caste, and Language
Regional and Vernacular Sex Jokes
The Ethics of Sex Jokes
Social Media, Virality, and Cancel Culture
Anti-Patriarchal Humor
Jokes, Jurisprudence, and Judicial Sensibilities
A 300-word abstract, a 200-word biography and 5-8 keywords can be emailed to [email protected] Feel free to contact me with any questions!
Deadline for Abstracts: September 15, 2025
Notification of Acceptance: September 20, 2025
About the Editor
Ms. Sohini Datta is a Senior Doctoral Candidate in Political Science at the University of North Bengal, India. She holds an M.A. from Presidency University (India), a B.A. from Lady Brabourne College (University of Calcutta, India), and a Postgraduate Diploma in Human Rights from Jadavpur University (India). She has taught at various Indian institutions, including Visva-Bharati, F.M. University, Amity University, Hindi University, and Royal Global University. She has qualified for the National Eligibility Test (NET) for Assistant Professorship (twice) December 2019 and September 2020, as well as the 22nd West Bengal State Eligibility Test (SET) 2020.
Her research engages with questions of gender, labour, class, sexuality, and broader themes in cinema and popular culture. She has recently published Visible and Invisible Work of Women (ed. Sushmita Gonsalves & Varbi Roy), with forthcoming papers in Vampires and Fashion (Companion Series, Peter Lang, Oxford), The Handbook of Trans Cinema (ed. D. Vakoch), The Handbook of Indian Trans Cinema (Bloomsbury), Porn Studies (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group), Comedy Studies (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group), and Oxford Intersections: Racism by Context (Oxford University Press). She has presented her research at conferences and workshops hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), Villanova University (US), and Cal Poly (US), and will present at upcoming events at City University of New York (US), University of London (UK), and Chungbuk National University (South Korea). Her paper has also been selected for presentation at London School of Economics (UK) and IPSA 2025. She has served as a peer reviewer for the Journal of Gender-Based Violence (Policy Press, University of Bristol UK). She is also the coordinator of an academic support group The Footnote Society.