Gender and Society – Page 8 – NICKELED AND DIMED

Between Stigma and Incompetent Governance: Transgender Rights in India

This article is a constitutional analysis of the landmark judgement NALSA v. Union of India and the developments that followed after it. After the Supreme Court’s mandate of the need for a law that protects the rights of the transgender community in India, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act came out in the year…
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MIRROR: A Reflection of an Ideal Image of the Female Body

As an instrument of heteronormativity, body politics plays to these stereotypes to produce and reproduce an ideal image of femininity, exposing female bodies to marginalization and the ‘male gaze.’ In the evolution of feminism, where gender as an institution of ‘power’ is adopted, some light is shed on the precarity of women who are victims…
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Perpetuation and Reinforcement of Rape Culture in Print Media

The objective of this article is to examine how the print media, specifically English print media, shapes and upholds a toxic and misogynistic rape culture that violates women’s dignity and human rights, as well as how it affects society and shapes beliefs that see women as second-class citizens to men.
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Menstrual Leave: A not-so-sacred issue

The debates on menstrual leave have been facing backlash from the prevailing conventions on menstruation that constantly exclude people of different genders who also menstruate. Menstrual leave is an advanced talk concerning menstruation to the nation that is even now trying to cope with period talk and sanitary pads out of black covers. This article…
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Savitribai Phule: The Relevance of the Woman who Fought for the Annihilation of Caste and Patriarchy

Savitribai Phule made a significant contribution to literature and culture in addition to playing a pivotal role in the social movement for the emancipation of women via education and against oppressive caste systems. This article aims to explore the birth of intersectional feminism in India through the life and contributions of Savitribai Phule and how…
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Sofia Coppola’s Room of Pinks: The Isolation of Femininity

Critically acclaimed director Sofia Coppola has brought to screen the most sacred place of all– the room of a girl. But behind the pale pinks and gleams of trinkets, she places a world full of dissociation, loneliness and isolation. This article discusses three films by Coppola that materialised these buried aspects of girlhood.
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Discussing the Deficits in Decent Work

As a part of Interlinked’s sub-series, Kitabon ka Karwaan, we held a book talk that explores a recent report published by the ILO on the “Deficits in Decent Work: Employer perspectives and practices on the quality of employment in domestic work in urban India”. For this podcast, We are joined by Dr Neha Wadhawan from…
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Forced Beauty: Plastic Surgery and the Korean Compulsion

This article deeply delves into South Korea, the world’s plastic surgery capital. It explores how unrealistic beauty standards affect women’s self-image and compel them to pursue plastic surgery to access basic professional and social opportunities. It further analyses the cultural and historical background of South Korea and why women have been subjected to the minute…
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Centuries of Brahmanical patriarchy: How caste controls Women, and their sexuality

by Ananya Bhargava Controlling women and their sexuality has been the bedrock of the caste system, which has emanated and maintained a hierarchical social order dominated by upper-caste upper men. This social order is legitimised through various Brahmanical texts and rituals, which necessitate the domination and superiority of the Brahman male over other women and…
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Politics of Censorship: China’s Dangai, A Promising Money-Maker

In China, which has repeatedly been the site of surveillance and censorship, the Dangai genre of dramas has been able to introduce a large viewership to the nation. This article brings up the inconsistent stance of censorship, with prospects of worldwide commercial success being the overarching goal challenged by orthodox values.
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Choice or Tyranny: Body Hair Removal Through the Lens of Bollywood’s Iconic Unibrow

This article aims to map out the trajectory of the perception of body hair removal and how, over the years, a hairless woman has become the feminine ideal. This paper isn’t restricted to what has been but also brings to light the changing conversation around body hair, body freedom and femininity. One of the major…
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Where are Bollywood’s Working Women?

This article examines the portrayal of women in Bollywood films, in the specific context of women’s careers. Through several archaic and sexist tropes, Bollywood keeps reinforcing the idea of a reality or at least the aspiration of a society where women either only have certain socially approved professions such as teacher or nurse or have…
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