DOMESTICATING THE FERAL FEMME: Investigating the question, “What is a Woman?”

DESCRIPTION

What does the state need a “woman” to be? This course argues that womanhood (according to the state) is a socio-political construct produced to channel bodies into reproductive, economic, and social functions where they can be regulated. We map this production across three ontological stations of the reproductive axis of control: maiden, mother, and crone. Against this axis stands the “feral femme”: the figure who refuses domestication.

This course traces her across centuries. We encounter Mirabai, who refused Sati to become a wandering saint; Jodhabai, who commanded a massive trading ship from behind a veil; and Empress Dowager Cixi, who rose from concubinage to rule China, protecting its sovereignty against European trade interests and resisting colonization.

The course investigates how the state domesticates the feral femme through cultural reform. A newer research mapping the erasure of sex workers and hereditary performers during the social reform movements shall also be touched upon. We shall also explore how Victorian modesty was imposed on post-colonial bodies, replacing indigenous traditions of nudity as the norm. Finally, we deconstruct the gender binary through South Asia’s traditions of gender fluidity, from Kuchipudi’s Stree Vesham to early Indian cinema where men in drag set the standards for ideal womanhood, concluding with an analysis of India’s trans and non-binary communities and their ongoing legal battles.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. By the end of the session, attendees will be able to define the Reproductive Axis of Control and apply it to at least two historical case studies to analyze how womanhood is produced as a state instrument across the ontological stations of maiden, mother, and crone.
2. By the end of the session, attendees will be able to analyze the social reform movement’s impact on the curbing femme autonomy.
3. By the end of the session, attendees will be able to deconstruct at least two examples of “traditional” modesty norms in post-colonial societies, to trace their origins to colonial contact.

AVAILABLE ON

ErosCoaching	AASECT CE · Standard Access	Access Now
The Elsewheres	AASECT CE · Collective Access	Access Now
Forbidden Tickets	Community Access	Access Now
Eventbrite	Open Access	Access Now

Learn More about AASECT.

Access Key
Standard Access: Full course access with AASECT Continuing Education credits. Ideal for licensed clinicians and certified professionals fulfilling CE requirements (First-come, first-served).
Collective Access: Full course access with AASECT Continuing Education credits, offered at a lower price point to support decolonial participation across professional communities (First-come, first-served).
Community Access: Full course access without AASECT CE credits, designed for BIPOC, queer, kink+, and sex-positive community members engaging outside of a clinical or certification context.
Open Access: Registration open to all, including international students. No AASECT CE credits

EDUCATOR BIO