Unveiling desire : fallen women in literature, culture, and films of the east / edited by Devaleena Das, Colette Morrow ; foreword by Nawal El-Saadawi ; contributions by Devaleena Das ; contributions by Colette Morrow ; contributions by Firdous Azim ; contributions by Paramita Halder ; contributions by Hafiza Nilofar Khan ; contributions by Amrit Gangar ; contributions by Naina Dey ; contributions by Louis Betty ; contributions by Lavinia Benedetti ; contributions by Tomoko Kuribayashi ; contributions by Meenakshi Malhotra ; contributions by Chandrani Biswas ; contributions by Radha Chakravarty ; contributions by Feroza Jussawalla ; contributions by Kuhu Sharma Chanana.

"In Unveiling Desire, Devaleena Das and Colette Morrow show that the duality of the fallen/saved woman is as prevalent in Eastern culture as it is in the West, specifically in literature and films. Using examples from the Middle to Far East, including Iran, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Japan, and China, this anthology challenges the fascination with Eastern women as passive, abject, or sexually exotic, but also resists the temptation to then focus on the veil, geisha, sati, or Muslim women's oppression without exploring Eastern women's sexuality beyond these contexts. The chapters cover instead mind/body sexual politics, patriarchal cultural constructs, the anatomy of sex and power in relation to myth and culture, denigration of female anatomy, and gender performativity. From Persepolis to Bollywood, and from fairy tales to crime fiction, the contributors to Unveiling Desire show how the struggle for women's liberation is truly global"--

"The Madonna/whore trope, familiar to anyone who is familiar with the Bible or really, any of the many centuries of cautionary tales written about women's sexuality, is usually seen as a Western construction. In Unveiling Desire,Devaleena Das and Colette Morrow show that unfortunately, the duality of the fallen/saved woman is also prevalent in Eastern culture, specifically in the literature and films of the culture. Using examples from the Middle to Far East, including Iran, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Japan, and China, this anthology challenges the fascination with Eastern women as passive, abject, or sexually exotic, but also resists the temptation to then focus on the veil, geisha, sati, or Muslim women's oppression without exploring Eastern women's sexuality beyond these contexts. The chapters, all original to the volume, cover instead mind/body sexual politics, patriarchal cultural constructs, the anatomy of sex and power in relation to myth and culture, denigration of female anatomy, and gender performativity. From Persepolis to Bollywood, and from fairy tales to crime fiction, the contributors to Unveiling Desire show how the struggle for women's liberation is truly global, and how, by focusing on a wider definition of women's sexuality and agency, the reader can gain a better understanding of how to read these Eastern works"--

Includes bibliographies and index.

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