Seeing Like a Feminist

Abstract

Nivedita Menon combines a highly complex conceptualization of feminist theories and practices with a wonderfully engaging and perfectly lucid style of writing. She frames the debates within a rich understanding of larger socio-political processes, and reveals the interfaces between the two. For Nivedita Menon, feminism is not about a moment of final triumph over patriarchy but about the gradual transformation of the social field so decisively that old markers shift forever.

From sexual harassment charges against international figures to the challenge that caste politics poses to feminism, from the ban on the veil in France to the attempt to impose skirts on international women badminton players, from queer politics to domestic servants' unions to the Pink Chaddi campaign, Menon deftly illustrates how feminism complicates the field irrevocably.