Seeing Like a Feminist

by Nivedita Menon

But equally importantly, sometimes, a feminist will have to recognize that the defining factor at work in a particular situation may be race or caste, not gender; just as conversely, a Dalit activist or a Marxist will have to recognize the defining feature in some situation as gender, not caste or class.

Is one of the defining factors the oppressed section?

Thus we see that opening up the question of ‘prostitution’ from a variety of feminist perspectives reveals serious fissures in a range of concepts assumed to be stable and unquestionable—from ‘nation states’ to the idea of the ‘work’ itself.