Sexuality, Obscenity, Community: Women, Muslims, and the Hindu Public in Colonial India

Comparative Feminist Studies

by Charu Gupta

Through analysis of an impressive array of 'low' and 'high' Hindu literatures, particularly pamphlets, tracts, newspapers, and archival data, Gupta explores the emerging discourse of gender and sexuality, which was essential to the development of notions of Hindu communitality and nationalism in the colonial period. The book offers an exceptionally nuanced account of Hindi gender politics.

Genres: History, India, Queer, Hinduism

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 31, 2002

Reviews

[Ila · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

This was a difficult and rather shocking read for me. Charu Gupta holds no qualms about dissecting long-cherished opinions and historical figures and analyzing them to the T.

Several times I had to take a deep breath before rereading about persons I had come to respect, in particular, Dayanand Saraswati and Madan Mohan Malaviya since the book blasted my esteem for them into smithereens. It was quite something to know how incredibly complex and at times sheerly bigoted the situation was. To learn that so many of these reformists only supported women's rights because the "danger of Muslims" was more important is galling.

Ever since I read Tawaifnama, I knew that many male women rights activists actively stigmatized and shamed courtesans and prostitutes in an attempt to portray "respectability". But Gupta highlights how wedding songs such as gaari and kajri (thanks to YouTube I have an idea about how they were sung), erotic literature, participating in fairs, and the very festival of Holi came under the scanner.

It is also quite frightening to read about how rumors about abductions and conversions by Muslim men were reported in the media and led to communal riots since the present-day situation is eerily similar. A hard-hitting book and a must-read for every Indian.

[Neha Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I guess I’ll keep coming back to this one. Mind-boggling !

[Conrad Barwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent exploration of sexuality and gender in late colonial India. Only misleading bit is that it confines itself to the United Provinces and the Hindi public sphere.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for graduate school. Anthropological text.

[Ishaan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only had to read a couple chapters for a project but I ended up reading the whole thing. History really does repeat itself; who knew!

[Celeste · Rating 5 out of 5]

An activist history of obscenity laws, the Hindi-Urdu controversies, Partition violence, Sati, and other issues of gender in Colonial India.