Tracing the Adventures of Gender in History - By Astha Yadav “The roots will, now, narrate the stories of some detrimental trees of truths.” The wider scope of history and its base being anonymous with the present provides us with ample information on various aspects of modern life. Everything we see today is an imprint of yesterday’s life. Likewise, every social issue we face today has its roots in the past. Where did it all start from? What caused it? Why is it still respiring in the society? Nivedita Menon, introduces her book, ‘Seeing Like a Feminist’ by drawing a parallel between ‘nude makeup’ and the ‘socialization of girls and boys’. The way we apply nude makeup to look good but don’t necessarily want to reveal that makeup has been done, likewise, the way our society assigns the roles to respective genders has been accustomed to a ‘normal’ way of living where the changes made...
Book Review of 'Seeing like a Feminist' BY SANIYA SHEKH “…the maintaining of social order is like no makeup, makeup look. It requires faithful performance of prescribed rituals over and over again throughout one’s lifetime. Complex networks of cultural reproduction are dedicated to this purpose. But the ultimate goal is to produce the effect of untouched naturalness.” I had come to read ‘seeing like a feminist’ by Niveditha Menon, one of the finest works on feminism recently, which compelled me to question the so-called social life which is assumed to be the “normal” under the deeply patriarchal society where “in whichever ways women are different… their difference is considered to be an inferior difference, not just a difference, or not a superior difference.” The book is a critical and thought-provoking exploration of femin...