Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Book Review: On Women By Susan Sontag, Vaishali Saxena, Sangeeta Sharma, Sushila Shekhawat

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Review: The Tale Of Genji Through Contemporary Manga: Challenging Gender And Sexuality In Japan, Minae Savas

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Shadow Of My Shadow, L.M.S. Navodya

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Warrior Women And Trans Warriors: Performing Masculinities In Twentieth-Century Latin American Literature, Barirah Nazir

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Get It Out: On The Politics Of Hysterectomy, Amber B. Vayo

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Gone Feral: Unruly Women And The Undoing Of Normative Femininity, Ali Saha

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Review: The Politics Of Care Work, Henni Julia Citra Sitorus

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Film Review: The Soul Beneath Silence In The Skin I Live In, Nafisa Sanam

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Hushed Voices, Ayushi Raghuwanshi

Journal of International Women's Studies

This poem is an attempt to reflect the distressing reality of Afghanistan under the current Taliban rule (2021-present) and in particular the condition of women who have been stripped of their rights and freedoms. Through the use of poignant metaphors and evocative imagery, the author seeks to explore the rising struggles of women under the Taliban, which has turned the clock back and reversed all of the progress Afghanistan made after the first Taliban reign (1996-2001). Afghan women struggle to breathe as their voices are silenced and dreams buried beneath an iron rule based on patriarchal notions. Painting the image …

(What) If I Were A Woman?, Errol D. Bean

Journal of International Women's Studies

This piece is not intended to be a poem (although I categorize it as my brand of prose poem); rather, it is a painful out-flow of reflective imaginings—questions and reasoning from a man’s poetic mindset that tries to imagine and empathetically enter the space of the multifaceted experience of those of the human species who are born female and embrace the femininity associated with it culturally—the indomitable, unfathomable, irrepressible, monumental equal half of the universe of all humanity we call WOMAN!

The questions below do not capture the full range of experiences of every WOMAN; the reasoning includes those whose …

Mass Rapes In War And Peace: Reflections On Sofi Oksanen’S Same River Twice: Putin’S War On Women, Olivera Simic

Journal of International Women's Studies

In this essay, I reflect on the book Same River Twice: Putin’s War on Women by Ukrainian writer Sofi Oksanen, using it as a backdrop to discuss mass rape. I use Oksanen’s discussion of the war on women in Ukraine to examine the prevalence of gender-based and especially sexual violence during both armed conflict and peacetime. As a scholar of transitional justice, I am concerned about the collective blaming of women for mass atrocities committed mainly by men, both soldiers and civilians. I write this essay as an anti-militarist feminist, taking neither a pro-Russian nor an anti-Ukrainian stance. I also …

Unmarried Women In Bugis Culture: A Phenomenological Study Of An Indonesian Ethnic Group, A. Octamaya Tenri Awaru, Syamsu A. Kamaruddin, Agustinus Ufie

Journal of International Women's Studies

The population of single women, though still a minority in Indonesian society, has seen a significant increase in the last decade. This demographic trend is often attributed to shifts in lifestyle and higher levels of women’s education. This study analyzes the perspectives of unmarried women, focusing on the factors contributing to singlehood within the Bugis culture in Indonesia. Utilizing a qualitative phenomenological approach, this research involved seventeen single women aged thirty-five to fifty, which is beyond the average marriage age in Bugis culture. Informants were selected through snowball sampling. Data were collected through in-depth interviews to explore the narratives and …

Patriarchal Constraints In Everyday Lives: Gender Roles, Matrilineality, And The Status Of Contemporary Khasi Women, Mebarisuk Langstieh, Sudhansubala Sahu

Journal of International Women's Studies

The Khasi tribe from Meghalaya in northeast India practices a matrilineal system, which is believed to be more egalitarian than patrilineal systems. The women of the Khasi tribe are often regarded as having a higher status than other women in India. However, despite belonging to a matrilineal society, Khasi women still face challenges in their social lives stemming from patriarchal constructs. This qualitative study examines the social status and subsequent challenges faced by Khasi women in contemporary India. Using in-depth interviews and observations of thirty urban and rural Khasi women in the East Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya, the study …

The Local Outsider: Sleeping Sickness Drug Trials, Social Exclusion, And Responses Of Women In The Uyui District Of Tanzania, 1964-2005, Hamisi M. Machangu

Journal of International Women's Studies

Unethical practices in sleeping sickness drug trials conducted in the Uyui District of Tanzania from 1964 to 2005 resulted in physical and psychological disabilities among participants and contributed to the social exclusion of its women participants. Although these practices are understood to have caused disabilities, existing studies have overlooked their contribution to the social exclusion of women. Drawing from both primary and secondary sources, this article treats the impact of such practices as a window to examine the nature and dimensions of social exclusion of women with disabilities and how these women responded to social exclusion at the grassroots level. …

Bodies And Beyond: Reading Liminal Corporealities In Ambai’S Short Stories, Keerthana S

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article demonstrates how the Indian writer Ambai’s short stories construct counter-narratives to phallogocentric structures, opening up fresh avenues of theoretical engagement in the cultural context of Tamil Nadu, India. Despite advancements towards gender equality, cultural symbols and metaphors such as tali (ornament worn by Tamil women denoting their marital status), karpu (chastity), and veera tai (valorous mother), often govern the lives of women to a great extent. I argue that Ambai’s stories both resist the hegemonic constraints of such cultural symbols and also endeavour to reconfigure them. Ambai’s renderings of cultural semiotics enable women to experience their bodies removed …

The Liminal Socioeconomic Status Of The “Fallen Woman” In Elizabeth Gaskell’S Mary Barton, Şebnem Düzgün

Journal of International Women's Studies

Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton (1848) is an English social-problem novel that addresses sociopolitical and economic issues, most notably prostitution. The protagonist Esther’s position as a low-income factory worker forced by circumstance to engage in sex work grants her an ambiguous position in Victorian England’s patriarchal, capitalist society. Since she appears as an active economic agent by exchanging her body for money in the sex industry, Esther seems to have more socioeconomic freedoms compared to married women. However, her freedom as a sex worker is limited by patriarchal capitalism. She becomes an outcast in the capitalist market, where capital is possessed …

Art And The Good Neighbor Policy: Grace Morley’S Role In The Office Of Inter-American Affairs Art Committee During World War Ii, Andrea Matallana

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article examines the pivotal role of Grace McCann Morley in promoting Latin American art in the United States during the era of the Good Neighbor Policy (1933). As director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and a key figure in the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA), Morley challenged Eurocentric perspectives and advocated for Latin American art’s unique identity. The article focuses on her organization of itinerant exhibitions, highlighting the cultural diversity of Latin American art while navigating political and institutional obstacles. Using archives and correspondence, I reassess Morley’s contributions to the cultural diplomacy efforts …

Recasting The Sacred: Gendered Embodiments In The Shadow Puppet Theatre Of Kerala, V. K. Karthika

Journal of International Women's Studies

Tholppavakkoothu, traditional leather shadow puppetry from Kerala, a southern state within India, has long been performed in temples as a sacred ritual. This ritual art form was a male-dominated performance in which ideas regarding physical purity (in connection with menstruating female bodies) excluded women from participating. Such patriarchal codifications were challenged when Pentholppavakkoothu, an all-women leather puppetry troupe, emerged in 2021, as it not only took the art outside temple premises but enabled the participation of women in the making and performance of the art. This paper critiques the gender dynamics within Tholppavakkoothu, analysing how cultural rituals and body politics …

“I Painted It This Way Because I Belong Nowhere”: Using Body Mapping To Explore Gender, Subjectivity, And Resilience Among Afghan Immigrant Women In Iran, Mina Naji, Ali Mehrabi, Ehsan Aghababaeec, Treena Orchard

Journal of International Women's Studies

This qualitative study explores how second-generation Afghan women born and raised in Iran create belonging and identity despite gender, legal, and cultural barriers. Although they represent a large part of the Afghan community in Iran, their daily embodied experiences are rarely discussed in migration or gender studies. Using body mapping and semi-structured interviews conducted with four women aged 18–40, this study examines how displacement and everyday exclusion shape their feelings, identities, and coping mechanisms. The visual and narrative data show how inequalities in education, family life, and social position are felt and carried within the body. At the same time, …

Feminist Reflexivity In Practice: Addressing Positionality And Building Sisterhood Through Fieldwork With Black Migrant Sex Workers In Istanbul, Yeliz Kendir-Gök

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article addresses feminist reflexivity and researcher positionality in ethnographic fieldwork with undocumented Ugandan women sex workers in Istanbul’s Tarlabaşı and Aksaray neighborhoods. Drawing on fourteen months of immersive research, including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and reflexive journaling, the study examines how both the researcher and participants engaged in strategic forms of resistance within racialized and gendered urban spaces. The analysis is grounded in a feminist epistemological framework that draws on Kandiyoti’s notion of patriarchal bargaining and Scott’s theory of hidden transcripts. Findings reveal how participants and the researcher used subtle forms of resistance, such as strategic silence or performative …

Collective Memory Of Partition: A Study Of Trauma, Martyrdom, And Survival In Women’S Post-Partition Fiction, Abi Sarkar, Sandip Sarkar

Journal of International Women's Studies

Gender and the distortion of memory are two important aspects of Partition literature about the division of the Indian subcontinent into two nations, India and Pakistan. Women writers, such as Geetanjali Shree in Tomb of Sand (2022) and Anjali Enjeti in The Parted Earth (2021), delineate the collective trauma of the 1947 Partition of India through the theme of memory. This article will demonstrate two types of violence experienced by women during the time - political violence (perpetrated by Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs) and patriarchal violence and uncover how their memories haunt and shape their present, constructing and reconstructing their …

Rural Banditry In North Central Nigeria: The Experience Of Women In Affected Communities, Joseph Egidi Igbe, Tersoo Asongo, Evaristus Akpanke Ushie, William Okon Williams, Patrick Owan Bisong

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study examined rural banditry in North Central Nigeria, focusing on women’s experiences in affected communities. The study specifically looked at women’s experiences with poor health, sexual violence, and physical harm caused by rural banditry and militancy in the study area. The study employs Kate Millet’s feminist theory of patriarchal power and structure to frame its theoretical standpoint. Four hundred women informants were selected through stratified random and purposive sampling techniques, and data were obtained using a questionnaire and eight in-depth interviews. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as percentages and frequency tables, while simple linear regression was used …

Penal Protection For Women In Jordan: How Compatible Are International Agreements And Jordanian Legislation?, Hasan Altarawneh, Hamzeh Abu Issa

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article analyses the degree to which Jordanian penal legislation conforms to international human rights standards regarding the protection of women from violence, specifically the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the United Nations Bangkok Rules. Jordan has implemented legislative reforms targeting gender-based violence; however, these reforms are incomplete, disjointed, and frequently misaligned with international standards. This study employs a doctrinal methodology to analyse Articles 292–311 of the Jordanian Penal Code and associated procedural rules, assessing their substantive and procedural provisions in relation to international legal obligations. This analysis includes rulings from the …

Whose Rules, Whose Rights?: Conflict-Related Sexual Violence And Legal Protections In Wartime, Sadaf Shabbir

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article critically analyzes conflict-related systematic sexual violence (CRSV) within the frameworks of international humanitarian law, particularly the Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols. Moving beyond viewing CRSV as an isolated atrocity, it situates sexual violence within the historical and political roots of conflict, using case studies from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Syrian Arab Republic. The analysis demonstrates how sexual violence operates as a weapon within exploitative wartime economies, where institutional collapse and illicit resource networks enable the commodification and control of women’s bodies. Furthermore, the article introduces a sectarian lens to the study of CRSV, …

Migration Narratives Of Ukrainian Women In South Tyrol: A Comparison Of Pre- And Post-War Experiences, Giulia Isetti, Irem Güney-Frahm

Journal of International Women's Studies

Through qualitative interviews with Ukrainian women who migrated to South Tyrol, Italy before and after the 2022 Russian invasion, this paper explores the experiences, motivations, challenges, and integration strategies of these migrants. Findings highlight the gendered nature of migration, as Ukrainian women often face occupational downgrading, in which they are forced to work in low-skilled sectors due to language barriers, bureaucratic hurdles, and labour market discrimination. Social integration remains a challenge particularly among post-war arrivals. Unlike other Orthodox Christian migrant groups, respondents report weak communal solidarity, although individual acts of support from local organizations and colleagues mitigate isolation. Finally, the …

The Paradox Of Matriliny: Cultural Authority And The Political Marginalization Of Women In Meghalaya, Kasturi Bharadwaj

Journal of International Women's Studies

The global discourse on gender equality gained momentum after the 1975 United Nations World Conference on Women. It continued through a series of international initiatives and culminated in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which emphasized women’s rights and their participation in political, social, and economic life. Despite these normative commitments at the international level, women’s political participation and representation within administrative and decision-making structures continue to be uneven, limited, and structurally constrained across many societies. In this context, the study investigates the political participation and representation of women in Meghalaya, a tribal state in Northeast India characterized by …

Film Review: Marginal Voices In Taare Zameen Par, Ritwika Laskar

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Film Review: A Feminist Critique Of The Representation Of Women In 21st-Century Bollywood Sports Biopics, Amitabh Roy

Journal of International Women's Studies

This review critically analyses the portrayal of women in Bollywood sports biopics using a feminist perspective, with reference to three influential 21st-century films: Mary Kom (2014), Saina (2021), and Shabaash Mithu (2022). While these movies ostensibly celebrate women’s sporting achievements, a close reading discloses the durability of patriarchal currents in the narrative, visual composition, and character construction. Using feminist theories like Laura Mulvey’s “male gaze,” Judith Butler’s “gender performativity,” and bell hooks’s intersectionality, this work contends that these films simultaneously empower and limit their heroines. Exploring how femininity, family, and national pride are performed in these films, this review examines …

Men To Mars, Ayesha Perveen

Journal of International Women's Studies

The poem articulates apprehensions about the future reproduction of earthly misogynist structures if Mars is ever made inhabitable, as envisioned by some of the richest capitalist elites of the world. Such elites wish to have an army of sons to scaffold their capitalist dreams while relegating women to the level of child-bearing machines only. Exposing the earthly misogynistic behaviour of the elite men, the poem encourages women to pave way for their own adventures instead of compromising with patriarchal dreams—today and in futures near and far.

Revisiting “Autobiographical Reflections: My Story”: A Reflection On The Unspoken And Misconveyed, Ronak Karami

Journal of International Women's Studies

This piece revisits and reflects on my feminist essay, “Autobiographical Reflections: My Story” (2020), published in the Journal of International Women's Studies. With the benefit of years of growth and introspection, I return to that work and see more than the story I once told. I now notice the silences between the lines, the nuances I overlooked, and the unintended messages my words may have carried. This reflection is not an attempt to erase my truth but rather an effort to revisit and refine it—to provide, within the confines of a few pages, greater clarity, accountability, and context where …