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Full-Text Articles in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Brahma, Sukhdev Singh
Brahma, Sukhdev Singh
Journal of International Women's Studies
The poem ‘Brahma’, not Brahmā who is a god entrusted with the charge of creation, refers to creative element in general. A mahāvākya, or the great saying, “Aham Brahmāsmi!”, or I am Brahma, or the creative element, from the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, a Hindu scripture, deems, especially, the male human as the creator. The practical creative element with which males have been endowed is recognized as vīrya, or semen, throughout the Indian tradition. Since males are placed on par with the creator, who has been recognized above as god Brahmā, due to semen, the semen becomes an asset whose wasteful expenditure …
Eat Like A White Man: Meat-Eating, Masculinity, And Neo-Colonialism, Saphronia Carson
Eat Like A White Man: Meat-Eating, Masculinity, And Neo-Colonialism, Saphronia Carson
The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal
Gender Studies scholarship has argued that one significant way contemporary hegemonic masculinities are constructed and reinforced is through meat consumption. Conversely, plant-based diets such as veganism and vegetarianism are considered feminine. This paper builds on an emerging body of research that traces this gendering of meat and plant-based diets to British colonialism in India. Drawing on ecofeminist and postcolonial theory, it shows how British colonizers feminized Indian dietary cultures, specifically Hindu vegetarian diets, to reinforce their own sense of masculinity. Through critical analyses of marketing and media, it demonstrates how these colonial gendered food images continue to populate contemporary imaginations. …
Fire, Water And The Goddess: The Films Of Deepa Mehta And Satyajit Ray As Critiques Of Hindu Patriarchy, David F. Burton
Fire, Water And The Goddess: The Films Of Deepa Mehta And Satyajit Ray As Critiques Of Hindu Patriarchy, David F. Burton
Journal of Religion & Film
This article focuses on Fire (1996) and Water (2005), two films directed by Deepa Mehta that present patriarchal Hindu attitudes to women and sexuality as in need of reform. Mehta’s films have met with hostility from Hindu conservatives and have also been accused of Orientalist misrepresentations. While these objections highlight the contested nature of “authentic” Hindu identity, Fire and Water remain powerful indictments of male hegemony in Hinduism. Mehta has cited Satyajit Ray as a major influence on her work; there are interesting parallels between Mehta’s films and Ray’s film Devi (The Goddess, 1960), which explores the plight …
Woman Becomes Goddess In Bollywood: Justice, Violence, And The Feminine In Popular Hindi Film, Kathleen M. Erndl
Woman Becomes Goddess In Bollywood: Justice, Violence, And The Feminine In Popular Hindi Film, Kathleen M. Erndl
Journal of Religion & Film
What happens “when a woman becomes Chandika?” This essay contributes to an on-going discussion of the theme of “avenging women” in popular Indian cinema, with particular focus on the transformation of a woman into a fierce Goddess who avenges oppression and re-establishes justice. Analysis of the story line and selected song sequences from the Hindi language film Anjaam (“Outcome,” 1994) in light of themes from the Hindu Sanskrit text, the Devi-Mahatmya (“Greatness of the Goddess,” 5thc. C.E.) shows how traditional religious images and values are adapted and transformed in a modern context.