"I were not in stand up – if I was just another regular girl – I would’ve just broken. In a very strange manner, I’m glad this happened to me, and not anybody else — because I feel that I have really thick skin."

Sharul Channa might be a comedian, but she&rsquo;s not just here to make jokes. Channa made headlines earlier this year after she called out a former Nominated Member of Parliament for making &ldquo;inappropriate&rdquo; comments during an online interview: Viswa Sadasivan was said to have asked Channa why she was wearing a rose brooch; she said it was to distract from her patterned shirt. &ldquo;It would be more distracting if you were wearing only that rose,&rdquo; Sadasivan replied.

The innuendo shocked Channa. She proceeded to call Sadasivan out in a Facebook post: What followed was an online storm of virality, vitriolic comments, and a renewed discussion on the insidious misogyny that women face on a daily basis &ndash; even in Singapore.

<iframe frameborder="0" height="800" scrolling="no" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/CSbV9k3F4Fw/embed" width="100%"></iframe>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s warped &ndash; really warped,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I was upset to see how many middle-aged men were rattled. I got so many derogatory messages in my inbox.&rdquo;

But as Channa shows, she is not a woman who is easily cowed by pressure: She shows up to our interview wearing the same rose brooch that started it all.

&ldquo;I had to bear the brunt of certain things, and that created trauma for me,&rdquo; she admits. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve worked through it, and now I feel like: &lsquo;Bring it on.&rsquo;&rdquo;

<iframe frameborder="0" height="800" scrolling="no" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/CSOeaVvFc0I/embed" width="100%"></iframe>It&rsquo;s been a few months since the incident happened. Looking back, what are your thoughts on the way things panned out?

I think the negative part of it is that suddenly, the Indian community &ndash; for most part, middle aged men, so many middle aged men &ndash; came on my page and would either troll me or say negative things. They said things like, &lsquo;Well, what&rsquo;s wrong with what he said? You&rsquo;re a comedian. You can do dirty jokes on stage, but we can&rsquo;t say these things to you?&rsquo;

It&rsquo;s like this, I can touch myself, but you have to ask me permission. So it&rsquo;s something they just don&rsquo;t understand. I think Singaporeans struggle with basic consent, understanding it.

[Sadasivan] said other things also, during that interview. The last thing he said on the call was very interesting. He asked me: &ldquo;Would you like to say anything to people out there?&rdquo; So I said: &ldquo;Yeah, I think if I wasn&rsquo;t with Rishi, it would take a lot for an Indian man to accept me as their wife, because I think they are very backwards.&rdquo;

Now by this point, I was really angry. And he said: &ldquo;Yeah, you don&rsquo;t look like a woman who would serve your husband dinner on your knees.&rdquo; [scoffs] But men like that say these things.

So it&rsquo;s warped, really warped. And I was upset to see how many middle aged men were rattled: I got so many derogatory messages in my inbox.

<iframe frameborder="0" height="800" scrolling="no" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/CTGtS4PlFdP/embed" width="100%"></iframe>And how did you feel about that? Did you regret speaking out?

I had to bear the brunt of certain things, and that created trauma for me. But I&rsquo;ve worked through it, and now I feel like: &lsquo;Bring it on.&rsquo; But I know that if I were not in stand up &ndash; if I was just another regular girl &ndash; I would&rsquo;ve just broken. In a very strange manner, I&rsquo;m glad this happened to me, and not anybody else. Because I feel that I have really thick skin.

I feel so bad for all the other women who have been through this. What must they have been through? I will say that my career prepared me for what happened. But the good thing is that the conversation has moved up a notch. I think that&rsquo;s very good, for a start.

I think men, and people in general, need to understand that being a feminist doesn&rsquo;t mean you hate men; it just means that you&rsquo;re looking for equality. And it&rsquo;s about recruiting men into understanding that.

<iframe frameborder="0" height="800" scrolling="no" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/CP-OUv0FbxC/embed" width="100%"></iframe>Even before the controversy, you&rsquo;ve always been very open in speaking about social issues, whether in your stand up shows, or in other projects. Why&rsquo;s that?

Stand-up, as you know, is a very self-indulgent art form. So I really want to make sure that even if I&rsquo;m creating work, it&rsquo;s about a social cause. Because I think that art can make a huge difference. Art can be used for entertainment, but also education, to bring about social change. I think it&rsquo;s an artist&rsquo;s responsibility.

And as a comedian, you can say so many things and get away with it. There&rsquo;s so many things that make statements that are provocative at times, like, &lsquo;Every woman should experiment with their body and be able to try new things.&rsquo;

<iframe frameborder="0" height="800" scrolling="no" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/CSlgVadF7nl/embed" width="100%"></iframe>As it happens, sexuality &ndash; specifically, female sexuality &ndash; is also another big topic you bring up often in your shows. Why?

Because I&rsquo;ve been a prude all my life. Rishi was my only boyfriend. So I never really got to experiment with my sexuality. Later I realised: &ldquo;Maybe don&rsquo;t marry your first boyfriend.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s not that anything is wrong with him. You just feel like there&rsquo;s so much more to life &ndash; but I was just not aware of these options.

I was a prude because of my conditioning, because my mom drilled it into me that your virginity is your jewel &ndash; something you don&rsquo;t just give away. And these are things you get taught as a young Southeast Asian girl.

How I realised? It always begins when your friends start talking to you about their own experiences. And it&rsquo;s important to have these conversations, because it&rsquo;s also linked to female empowerment. Empowering a woman in one way helps to make them feel powerful emotionally, and mentally, and psychologically.

I hope by talking about these things, I can help open women up, to make them honest; not to everybody, but at least to themselves. To make them think: &ldquo;When was the last time I was happy? When was I given what I wanted? When was it when I was in control of the situation?&rdquo; Because so many women are not.

Photography Joel Low

Styling Gregory Woo

All jewellery Tiffany &amp; Co.

Styling Assistant Adelynn Wong

Hair Peter Lee using Wella Professionals

Makeup Wee Ming using Nars Cosmetics

Comedian Sharul Channa isn't just here to make you laugh

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