INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mark Knight's cartoon of Serena Williams faced severe backlash on social media.Australian cartoonist Mark Knight's caricature of Serena
Williams - showing her having a meltdown during the US Open final - has come under fire for being racist and sexist and one of the many
voices speaking out against it is that of mixed race designer Masaba Gupta
In a powerful Instagram post shared about 10 hours ago, Masaba criticised the cartoon for its "exaggeration of black women in shape, form
mannerism." The cartoon, published two days after Serena's heated exchanges with umpire Carlos Ramos during the US Open final on Saturday,
depicts Serena in exaggerated physical proportions, throwing a temper tantrum
Her opponent, mixed race Naomi Osaka, is depicted as a slim blonde.Serena's outburst - in which she called Mr Ramos a 'thief' after being
deducted a point - has sharply divided the Internet with leading tennis figures such as Billie Jean King calling out the umpiring on double
standards and pointing out that male players get away with similar or worse behaviour, and others condemning Serena's meltdown as childish
and entitled and defending the umpiring as fair and just.Masaba Gupta's post, however, is a critique not of what Serena Williams did on
court but of how it has been portrayed in Mark Knight's controversial cartoon
The cartoon has been severely and widely criticised for being racist as it depicts a "butch and fat-lipped" Serena having a tantrum on court
after she lost to Naomi Osaka
It has been accused into feeding stereotypes of the 'angry black woman' while also demeaning of physical appearance."This is exactly who we
Tough, unapologetic not afraid of being compared with men," wrote Masaba in her post, "I stand for the racket busting, angry-young woman in
its insinuation that women must be "elegant" and "delicate" while showing their displeasure."Did someone tell you that aggression was
reserved only for men" she asked.Since being shared online, her post has collected over 8,000 'likes' and dozens of supportive comments
"Thank you! It physically hurt the way people went after her that day
I knew it would give them fuel and a focus for hate because they're intimidated," writes one commenter
If it wasn't coming from such a dark,sad placeit was damn right
I am done with the exaggeration of black women in shape,form mannerism
This is exactly who we all are
Tough,unapologetic not afraid of being compared with men
Did someone tell you that aggression was reserved only for men Or that women are meant to be more 'elegant' or 'delicate' about their
displeasure This is not misrepresentation,it is power.Ofcourse,I am biased and why shouldn't I be for someone who has had to endure so much
to get here First,I stand for Naomi Osaka who beat her childhood icon at the US open,at the age of 20
And then, I stand for the racket busting,angry-young woman in the tutu who you are purely intimidated by,because she could crush your skull
like that racket lying beneath her
This is not an angry late-night rant,this is exactly how the elegant,polished powerful women of this day age feel.A post shared by Mufasa
(@masabagupta) on Sep 10, 2018 at 11:50am PDTMasaba Gupta's voice is especially relevant in this instance since this is not the first time
she has spoken out about her racial identity
The daughter of West Indian cricketer Viv Richards and Indian actress Neena Gupta, Masaba said in a 2016 interview to Times of India: "I am
half black, so no one can accuse me of cultural appropriation."Mark Knight's cartoon of Serena Williams was published in Melbourne's Herald
Sun newspaper on Monday and faced severe backlash online.Author JK Rowling criticised the cartoon for reducing women to racist and sexist
tropes.Here's what others on social media reacted to it:Mark Knight responded to the criticism by saying that his cartoon was about bad
"Don't bring gender into it when it's all about behaviour," he wrote on Twitter.Nobody seems to buying his argument - the Internet is deeply
