Reclaim, resist, reframe: re-imagining feminist movements in the 2010s

ABSTRACT

The study analyses the intersection of youth movements and feminist movements that has emerged in India since the 2010s. Focusing on five movements and campaigns, the study analyses the commonalities across them in terms of their mobilisation, methods of protest, and their goals. With their sites of mobilisation spanning online and offline spaces, these movements have had significant impact on public discourse on women’s rights and bodily autonomy, and systemic inequality and discrimination against women in university spaces. The study argues that we are currently seeing the real-time development of a wave of young feminist movements in India that is distinct in its methods and spaces of mobilisation, protest strategies, and membership, and has rapidly grown from feminism ‘lite’ into one that is highly political and conceptually nuanced in the face of significant backlash from oppositional forces as well as potential supporters.

Cette étude analyse l’intersection des mouvements de jeunes et des mouvements féministes qui ont vu le jour en Inde au cours des années 2010. Elle se concentre sur cinq mouvements et campagnes pour analyser les points communs entre eux sur le plan de leur mobilisation, de leurs méthodes de protestation et de leurs objectifs. Étant donné que leurs sites de mobilisation englobent des espaces en ligne et hors ligne, ces mouvements ont eu un impact considérable sur le discours public autour des droits des femmes et de l’autonomie corporelle, et de l’inégalité et de la discrimination systémiques à l’encontre des femmes dans les espaces universitaires. Cette étude soutient que nous assistons actuellement au développement en temps réel d’une vague de mouvements de jeunes féministes en Inde qui est différente sur le plan de ses méthodes et espaces de mobilisation, de ses stratégies de protestation et de sa composition et qui a rapidement évolué d’une forme de féminisme « allégé » pour se transformer en un mouvement extrêmement politique et conceptuellement nuancé dans un contexte de réactions violentes considérables de la part des forces d’opposition, ainsi que de synpathisants potentiels.

El presente estudio analiza la intersección de los movimientos juveniles y los movimientos feministas surgidos en India a partir de 2010. Centrándose en cinco movimientos y campañas, el estudio examina las características compartidas por estos movimientos en términos de su movilización, métodos de protesta y objetivos. Dado que sus sitios de movilización abarcan tanto espacios virtuales como reales, los mismos han logrado incidir de manera significativa en el discurso público sobre los derechos de la mujer y la autonomía corporal, así como también en el sentido de revertir la desigualdad sistémica y la discriminación de las mujeres en los ámbitos universitarios. El estudio sostiene que actualmente se está produciendo el crecimiento de una oleada de movimientos de jóvenes feministas en India en tiempo real; éstos se han diferenciado en sus métodos y espacios de movilización, sus estrategias de protesta y su membresía. En un contexto de fuertes contragolpes, provenientes tanto de sus contrincantes como de sus partidarios potenciales, dichos movimientos se han transformado rápidamente, dejando de practicar un feminismo “lite” para ejercer otro altamente politizado y conceptualmente matizado.

KEYWORDS:

• Feminist
• youth
• movement
• India

Notes on contributors

Esther Moraes works at The YP Foundation on communication and public advocacy around issues of health, rights, and youth leadership with a focus on young girls and adolescents. Postal address: A-16, Geetanjali Enclave, New Delhi, 110017, India. Email: [email protected]

Vinita Sahasranaman has worked with community-based, women-led organisations to build grassroots feminist leadership over the last 15 years. She currently works with the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Delhi. Email: [email protected]

Notes

1 Before we registered as an organisation in 2007, we were ‘The Youth Parliament Foundation’. Since then, our title has been officially truncated to ‘The YP Foundation’. For more information, see www.theypfoundation.org.

2 This term typically connotes an apprenticeship in political offices or parties wherein one learns about the workings of political bodies. Here, the term connotes a wider understanding of political apprenticeship – that is, opportunities to build or expand one’s perspective on the politics of social change. Inherent to the word ‘apprenticeship’, therefore, these opportunities also allow young people to experience the convergence of their own theoretical knowledge with on-ground practice and skills.

3 For more information, see ‘Outrage over Rohith Vemula suicide’, The Times of India, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/outrage-over-dalit-scholar-rohith-vemula-suicide/liveblog/50634069.cms?curpg=2 (last checked 2 October 2018).

4 For more information, see ‘#JNU row: why I stand with JNU’, India Times, www.indiatimes.com/news/world/jnu-row-why-i-stand-by-jnu-317348.html (last checked 2 October 2018).

5 The LoSHA is a List of Sexual Harassers in Academia that emerged on Facebook in late October 2017 as a response to the #MeToo movement online. It was inspired by Christine C. Fair’s article, ‘#HimToo: a reckoning’, that first appeared on the Huffington Post (21 October 2017), but later moved to BuzzFeed, see www.buzzfeed.com/christinefair/himtoo-a-reckoning?utm_term=.snLvLorxz#.aqE4W1K96 (last checked 2 October 2018).

6 However, connecting online is a challenge in many rural areas and this affects engagement with the forms of activism that rely on this (Shukla 2017).

7 We are using this phrase to refer to the methods of mobilisation, organising, issues addressed, and protest strategies that are employed.

8 The Besharmi Morcha (March of the Shameless) (2011) was the Indian leg of the SlutWalk. The name was changed after much discussion around the term ‘slut’ – which is described in further detail in later parts of this study.

9 For more information, see Pisharoty (2015).

10 The term ‘cis-gender’ refers to a man or woman whose gender identity matches the sex assigned at birth, i.e. a man who has male sex characteristics and identifies comfortably as a man in his particular society.

11 An additional point that we noted as researchers was that, in our conversation with Why Loiter, the focus was unconsciously, but surely, on the participation of exclusively cis-gendered women.

12 From the Reclaim the Night website, see www.reclaimthenight.co.uk.