New Books in Sociology
Amrita Narayanan, "Women's Sexuality and Modern India: In a Rapture of Distress" (Oxford UP, 2022)
Jan 18, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Amrita Narayanan, a practicing Clinical Psychologist and author, delves into the complexities of women's sexuality in modern India. She critiques the absence of a sexual revolution and emphasizes the need to recognize female agency alongside their struggles. Narayanan addresses the emotional landscape of grief and empowerment in women's sexual experiences, stressing the importance of mourning lost freedoms. She also explores the nuanced father-daughter dynamics during puberty, highlighting their influence on women's self-acceptance and identity.
55:46
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Quick takeaways
- The lack of a sexual revolution in India has led to unspoken narratives around middle-class women's sexuality, highlighting the need for greater acknowledgement of their sexual agency.
- The complex relationship between fathers and daughters plays a crucial role in developing women's sexual identities, where active paternal involvement can significantly enhance their autonomy and self-expression.
Deep dives
Understanding Women's Sexuality in Modern India
The discussion highlights the absence of a sexual revolution in India, which has impacted the articulation of middle-class women's sexuality. It emphasizes that many Indian women's sexual narratives remained unspoken until recent explorations of their experiences. The speaker presents their book as a continuation of this conversation, utilizing twelve women's self-narrated sexual histories that reveal the challenges of sexual subjectivity under a patriarchal framework. This context, shaped by significant historical events such as Indian independence and economic liberalization, plays a crucial role in understanding how women's sexuality has been socially constructed and controlled.
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