International Journal For Intersectional

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International Journal for Intersectional Feminist Studies

The Journal of Project Monma Research Centre
Volume 2, Issue 1, September2016
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International Journal for Intersectional Feminist Studies, Volume 2, Issue 1, September 2016,
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Contents
Editorial collective report ............................................................................................................iii
Standing Tall: Mapping Step by Step Metamorphosis of Janie Crawford in Zora Neale
Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God .................................................................................. 1
Portrayal of Sexuality in the Age of Solemnity .......................................................................... 19
Obergefell v. Hodges and the Judicialization of Same-Sex Marriage in America: Legalizing the
Impossible ................................................................................................................................. 33
Book Review of Unni Wikan, In Honor of Fadime: Murder & Shame. Translated by Anna
Paterson. 2008 [2003]. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 305 pp. $24 ....................... 52
Social Commentary: Not all victims of rape will be recognised as such in the eyes of the law 56
Social Commentary: Rehabilitation of Mentally ill Women in India ......................................... 62
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Editorial collective report

This is the first editorial collective report of our second volume. It is good to see the journal
expanding in the context of new authors submitting their work for publication. We also have
three new members on the editorial collective. The editorial members are from diverse
backgrounds and have added to the richness of the journal.
In this issue we have published different articles, social commentaries and book reviews
touching different aspects of gender. The first article is written by Surinder Kaur. It is an
interesting feminist analysis of the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Salma Javed is the author of the second article, Portrayal of Sexuality in the Age of
Solemnity. This is a very interesting article providing an in-depth analysis of the renowned
Urdu writer Ismat Chugtais work. The article examines how gender norms have changed over
time and how women sexuality has been subject to the patriarchal gaze.
The third article is written by Dr. Alo Ojilerey. It provides a legal perspective from a religious
angle on the subject of gay marriages in USA.
Further, Fareeha Ali has written a book review of Unni Wikans In Honor of Fadime: Murder
& Shame. Though the book was written a few years back, the issue of honour killings around
the world and among the diaspora communities in the West cannot be ignored even in
contemporary times.
We also have two social commentaries. One is written by Wenulan Chi on the issue of nonrecognition of marital rape in China. The other is written by Suman Ramavat and it focuses on
sexual abuse of homeless mentally ill women in Delhi, India. Both of these commentaries
provide an insight into the marginalisation and sexual abuse of women, and leave the debate
open with provoking and insightful thoughts.
The editorial team looks forward to receiving new submissions for our next issue. In closing, I
would like to thank all our contributors, our peer-reviewers and our editorial collective team.
For any inquiries regarding the journal please contact:
Ambika Kohli at ako35@uclive.ac.nz
Kind regards
Ambika Kohli
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Standing Tall: Mapping Step by Step Metamorphosis of Janie

Crawford in Zora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God
Surinder Kaur
Abstract
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel written by African-American novelist Zora Neale
Hurston. Janie Crawford is the black female protagonist of the novel who dreams of reaching
far horizons and for a relationship of equality in marriage. The novel is a saga of Janie
Crawfords journey towards enlightenment and developing an independent feminist identity.
The present paper aims at analysing Janies struggle from a follower of patriarchy to
becoming a self- asserting woman with Downing and Roushs five stages of feminist identity
development. I posit that Janie defies the stereotypical gender roles and breaks the
conventional patriarchal boundaries that keep a womans movement in check i.e. within the
four walls of a house. Although suffered degradation and humiliations in her attempts to
realise her dream marriage, she is successful in the end. A step by step analysis of Janies
journey reveals how she gains her voice, how she builds her identity and how ultimately she
reaches the far horizons, the destination of her dreams. In the first phase of her journey, she
accepts passively the accepted notions of gender roles and follows the well-trodden path of
marrying a wealthy man to have shelter and financial security. Unable to establish any
emotional connection with her husband, Logan Killicks, she leaves him for Joe Starks. With
Joe Starks, Janie becomes aware of her further degradation. She is reduced to the status of the
possession. Slowly and gradually she gathers strength inside her to raise a voice of protest
against this sexual oppression. This revelation helps Janie to integrate her fragmented self and
she learns to maintain a separate public and a separate private self. In the person of Tea Cake,
she has a self-fulfilling and reciprocal loving relationship. Janie learns to acknowledge herself
and her strengths. She becomes conscious of her own individual identity. She does not hesitate
to shoot Tea Cake as an assertion of her identity. As a mature woman, full of Tea Cakes love
and remembrance, Janie is satisfied with her life.
Keywords: Assertion, emotional connection, equality, horizon, identity, marriage,

oppression, passive, possession.
Introduction
Glorified as the bible of black womens liberation, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)
traces the metamorphosis of Janie Crawford from a mute object to an active subject (Jordon,
1988, p. 115). Hurstons novel examines with a great deal of artistry the struggle of a black
middle class woman to escape the fetters of traditional marriage and the narrow social
restrictions of her class and sex (Jordon, 1988, p. 115). The novel is set in the central and
southern Florida in the early 20th century. It deals with the oppression of black women who
are doubly oppressed one because they are women and second because they are black. It
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narrates the story of Janies bloom from a docile worshipper of patriarchy to a self-sustained
woman. Janie Crawford, the black female protagonist of the novel, who marries three times
and only in third marriage she has her ideal partner, is a paradigm for womenheroically
attempting to assert their own individuality (Bloom, 2009, p.2). Hurston through her heroine
not only debunks the orthodox ways of society that treats a woman as mere an object to be
possessed, to be used and to be kicked when no longer fulfilling its assigned role of inferiority
and unquestioning submission to patriarchy but it also questions womens acceptance of
societys biased manners and urges them to awaken their dormant souls to affirm their status
as equal beings and to see the beauty of love and life.
In the beginning, novel was poorly received but today it is regarded as a representative work
of Hurston in both African-American literature and women literature. Praising the author and
her work, Bloom writes, Essentially, Hurston is the author of one superb and moving novel,
unique not in its kind but in its isolated excellence among other stories of the kind (2009,
p.1). Janies three marriages reflect her journey towards liberty and recognition, love and
happiness. For Janie, a true marriage must involve love and happiness and she searches for an
unconditional fulfilling love which she finally finds with her third husband Tea Cake, but
only after she has passed through the wasteland of being a possession before entering the pear
tree garden of her actualized dreams of love and happiness, a dream of reaching far horizons
(Wiedemer, 1998, p.5). Janies plight represents the thrives and experiences of black women.
It is not easy for Janie to pass through three marriages and move from town to town and from
one man to another in such a conservative and conventional society as it does not allow
woman to exercise her free will and expects to abide a woman to the orthodox ways which
means men are superior and women are inferior and likewise in marriage, male is more
important because he is the breadwinner and his orders should be carried out with an
unquestioning submission. But to Janie each marriage is an experience, a harbour where she
can anchor the ships that carry the dreams of love, happiness and equality (Hubert, 2001, p.1).
Through her struggle and sufferings, she achieves a sense of identity as a self-fulfilled
woman and through her own self-realization becomes a leader of women and of her
community (Jordon, 1988, p. 108).
In Janies growth from the young girl to a handsome woman, a self-formation occurs and
this has been the dominant critical approach to the novel. Different critics have interpreted the
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novel focussing on Janies psychological and emotional self (Halloway, 1987; McKay, 1990 ;
Silber, 2003; Wall, 1982; Weems; 1989; Wolfenstein, 2008), physical self (Castaneda, 2010),
folklore elements (Carby, 1990), feminism (Barbara Johnson, 1987; Dabee, 2008;
Deffenbacher, 2003; Racine, 1994), linguistic (Gates, 1989), and spiritual self (Kubitschek,
1983; McMillan, 2005). However, in the analysis of novels discourse of self-formation,
Feminist identity development has not been paid attention. Thus, in the paper at hand, I aim at
exploring Janie Crowfords successful journey of becoming an autonomous being with the
application of Downing and Roushs five stages of feminist identity development approach. A
step by step analysis brings out Janies ripening from an enthusiastic but voiceless girl into a
self-asserting woman who can exercise her free will and build her destiny and make her
dreams a living reality.
Methodology: Five Stages of Feminist Identity Development

Nancy Downing and Kristin Roush (1985) proposed a conceptualizing model for womans
feminist identity development. This model is based on the premise that women in
contemporary society must acknowledge, then struggle with repeatedly work through, their
feelings about the prejudice and discrimination they experience in order to achieve an
authentic and positive feminist identity (p.1). Downing and Roush (1985) state that a woman
may move through these stages in any order, stay in one stage or may return to first stage.
Environment, womans readiness and interpersonal factors determine a womans progress.
The following figure summarizes the five stages of feminist identity development.
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Passive Acceptance stereotypical sex roles.

Sexual oppression and
Prejudice. Man is
superior. Negative selfconcept
Active Commitment consolidation of feminist

identity. Commited
action for social benefit.
Aims at forming a
nonsexist community.
Synthesis - Development
of integrated positive
self-image. Sex-role
transcendence. Adoption
of pluralistic perspective.
Revelation - Precipitated
by profound events.
Questioning of self.
Anger and guilt. female:
positive, male : negative.
EmbeddednessEmanation - Social
connectivity with other
woman. Affirmation and
Strengthening of rigid
new identity.
Fig.1 Downing and Roushs five developmental stages of female identity development.
Identity formation process is a gradual one. So it is imperative to define these five stages on
the onset. A summary of Downing and Roush stages is as follows:
Stage 1: Passive Acceptance describes the woman who is either unaware of or denies the
individual, institutional, and cultural prejudice and discrimination against her (Downing and
Roush, 1985, p.669). Woman has an unquestioning attitude. She accepts her stereotypical
gender role as an inferior to man. She is totally dependent on man and thinks that she has no
identity without man.
Stage 2: Revelation is catalysed by a sequence of consciousness-awakening crisis that puts to
question the previous accepted notions and perceptions of gender roles. This precipitates anger
at male oppression and guilt at womans own dormant nature followed by a dual thinking
perceiving male as negative entity and female as positive. Woman form a pseudo-identity
(Downing and Roush, 1985, p.700). Although considered as positive stage, woman here turns
against man instead of strengthening their newly formed feminist identity.
Stage 3: Embeddedness-Emanation describes womans immersion process. Woman immerses
in woman culture. She connects socially and emotionally with another woman. Woman forms
a sisterhood bond with other women. As women emanate from this stage, they relinquish their
polarized position and begin to reintegrate themselves into a new personhood (Worell and
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Remer, 2002, p.314). Women affirm to and strengthen their new identity but this transition is
difficult because they cannot avoid male culture wholly. As Gurin (as cited in Downing &
Roush, 1985) stated, no other subordinate group [has] such an intimate relationship with the
dominant group (p. 701). Upon embedding themselves within the feminist culture, women
may reach emanation. Emanation, as described by Downing and Roush (1985), occurs when
women realize that their pseudo-identities (p. 700) are as rigid as the identities they
assumed during Passive Acceptance.
Stage 4: Synthesis characterises womans integration of herself as having an independent
identity together with freedom of making choices based on her personal views. Man is
evaluated as an individual. Woman does not attribute all events to sexist oppression but make
accurate attributions (Downing and Roush, 1985, p.702). This stage develops a more
positive identity and a flexible relationship with man.
Stage 5: Active Commitment defines womans dedication for social change. She strives to end
sexual oppression. She takes rational actions. This stage aims at ending all discrimination and
forming a gender transcended society. Woman commits herself to take meaningful actions for
the benefits of whole woman community.
The charting of Janie Crawfords fulfilment as an autonomous imagination, Their Eyes Were
Watching God is a lyrical novel that correlates the need of her first two husbands for
ownership of progressively larger physical space (and the gaudy accoutrements of upward
mobility) with the suppression of self-awareness in their wife. Only with her third and last
lover, a roustabout called Tea Cake whose unstructured frolics centre around and about the
Florida swamps, does Janie at last bloom, as does the large pear tree that stands beside her
grandmothers tiny log cabin (Gates quoted in afterword to text, p.140-141). The next section
of the article analyses the protagonist Janie Crawfords movement from ignorance to
recognition of sexual oppression, raising her voice against it and gaining her independent
identity.
Analysis: Mapping Janies Journey Step by Step

Regardless of their ultimate success or failure, men dream of great accomplishments of
working on and changing their external worlds (Editors, 2007, p. 29). Janie also dreams of a
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relationship of understanding based on mutual love, respect and equality, a relationship which
blossoms her personality, a relationship with complete physical and emotional connection, a
relationship helping her reaching far horizons. Suffering humiliations in her earlier two
marriages, she finally learns to stand on her own and set an example for others to achieve
freedom from congested traditional social conventions. All of this doesnt happen suddenly,
Janie goes through different phases in her life in order to build her individual independent
identity.
Passive Acceptance: As a young girl, Janie is docile. She internalises social conventions of
gender differences. She accepts how society defines her and her stereotypical gender role, a
role of inferiority, a role of dependency. She is reminded again and again that a woman is a
pitiful thing, she needs a man to complete her. Simone de Beauvoir comments, Marriage is
traditionally the destiny offered to woman by society (quoted in B. Bergoffen, 2006, p.94).
Similar fate awaits Janie. The moment Janie ushers into womanhood by kissing a young boy,
Nanny, her grandmother, seals her destiny by marrying her off to Logan Killicks, a wealthy
middle-aged farmer. Despite the age differences between Janie and Logan, Nanny views
Logan a suitable match for Janie for he can provide Janie a place of security, which she herself
has only dreamt of. Preparing Janie psychologically ready for marriage, Nanny voices
societys degrading notion of coloured women, she says that black women are the mules of the
world and she doesnt want Janie to be a mule.
Nanny sees marriage as a haven from indiscriminate sexual exploitation (as opposed to the
particular abuse of a loveless marriage) and as a shelter from financial instability (Jordon,
1988, p.109). Nannys account of hardships she and her daughter Leafy have faced in their
lives softens Janies heart and she passively gives her consent for marriage thinking love will
come naturally after marriage. Unconsciously, Nanny puts Janie up on the auction block of
marriage (Bone,, p.59). To Nanny, Logan represents an ideal husband because he is well-off
and in a harsh world, he offers shelter and physical security. Janie searches for deeper kind of
fulfilment. To her, a relationship should offer not only physical passion but also an emotional
connection. Although Janie compares woman with a tree that passively wait for an active bee
but love embrace is reciprocal. Both complement each other and create a perfect union in a
mutual embrace (Editors,2007,p. 13).However her reality is different from the expected
marriage concept. Patriarchy clips the wings of Janies imagination. Her married life is stale
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and couples daily conversation is limited to living activities- chopping and potato peeling.
Janie calls Logan ugly and that he is not meant to be loved. He has big belly and he remains
dirty and he dont even never mention nothing pretty (Hurston,1937, p.17). Like a true
patriarch, Logan considers he has done Janie a favour. He tells her, a whole lot of mens will
grin in yo face, but dey aint gwine tuh work and feed yuh (Hurston, 1937, p.22). Logan
buys a mule for Janie to help him in the labour. Janie could do nothing but oblige to the
wishes of Logan. Logan places Janie on his patriarchal pedestal. This pedestal confines Janies
movement within the four walls of house. Rightly Tyson writes that the wrong by being
placed on a pedestal is that for one reason pedestals are small and leave a woman very little
room to do anything but fulfil the prescribed role...for another thing, pedestals are shaky. One
can easily fall off a pedestal (2006, p.90). Madsen too highlights women plight in the
following words:
Women internalise patriarchal values to perfect their obedience; they conform to the
stereotypes, they display unwavering loyalty, they do not betray any sign of dissatisfaction or
resistance to male control. (2000, p.161)
Though Janies stay with Logan is short but one can observe the basic pattern of male
oppression. He exploits her knowing that she has nowhere to go. He silences her whenever she
tries to confront him and he even threatens to kill her. He insists on Janies complete
obedience to him and to conventional sex roles. Janie feels no connection with Loganphysical nor emotional nor intellectual. Joe Starks infuses fresh hope in Janies life. His grand
dreams dazzle Janie. Joe awakens Janies dormant dreams of a comfortable life. Praising
Janies beauty, he says, a pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and rock
and fan yo self and eat ptaters dat other folks plant just special for you (Hurston, 1937,
p.20). Once again Janies hopes for love come alive. After two weeks of clandestine affair
Janie leaves Logan and marries Joe.
The pattern of passivity continues in second marriage too. Janie is attracted by the power Joe
offers and believes that it can grant her a better life. His talks of future prospects, victory and
travels wins Janies heart and these ideals seem to Janie as a medium of reaching far horizons.
Once they are married, Joe shows his true colours. He treats Janie as a trophy wife. He
controls each and every movement of Janie. When Joe is elected as Mayor in Eatonville and
town people request Janie to say few words, Joe answers on her behalf, Thank yuh fuh yo
compliments, but mah wife dont know nothin bout no speech-makin. Ah never married her
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for nothing lak dat. Shes uh woman and her place is in de home (Hurston, 1937, p. 31). Joe
reduces Janie to an enviable possession. As a possession, she is denied any self-defined goals
and even the expression of her own opinions (Jordon, 1988, p.109).
Joe subjugates and suppresses Janie. Janie is hurt and stunned. Her marriage ideals are once
again broken. Although she feels anger in her heart, she has not gathered enough strength to
raise her voice against this oppression. She remains silent and Joe is happy with Janies
obedience. Janie has to wear a head rag under the wishes of Joe and she is not allowed to talk
to her community members. Giving the logic of his status, he calls common folks as trashy
people and who only play and waste their time. Joe tries to make Janie an angel in the
house1 (cited in Bressler, 2007, p.178). He wishes her to conform to the virtues associated
with patriarchal femininity (passive resignation and acceptance of patriarchy and
unquestioning obedience). Thats why Helen Cixous writes that in patriarchys binary thought
of activity/passivity, subject/object, women always occupy the right side of binary
oppositions, that patriarchy considers inferior (cited in Tyson, 2006, p.100). Janies patience
runs out. She starts retorting Joe, ah know uh few things, and women folks thinks sometimes
too (Hurston, 1937, p.52). Though she is silenced once again but a wave of rebel rises in
Janie. Joes unceasing demand for total submission has left her life empty and mechanical,
the bed was no longer a daisy-field for her and Joe to play in. It was a place where she went
and laid down when she was sleepy and tired (Hurston, 1937, p. 52). Slowly Janie enters the
second stage of identity formation i.e. Revelation, an assertion of positive female self and
anger for man community.
Janie realises that Joe didnt represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees (Hurston,
1937, p. 21). He is only a symbol for masculine aggression and power; he attempts to
purchase, control and dominate the world around him (Editors, 2007, p. 14). Her dream of
marriage with Joe as her renascent is shattered into pieces by Joes conservative ways. Janie is
now hopeless and disheartened to see that her marriage with Joe has not helped her to realize
her dreams. In fact, the threat of violence under Killicks turns into Joe Starkss actual
angel in the house is a concept introduced by Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar in
Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-century Literary Imagination
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979). This concept denotes womans unassuming, selfsacrificing and nurturing nature. She makes the house a safe heaven for husband. She is
satisfied by serving the family. She has no needs of her own.
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violence. Joe always enjoys Janies cooking. One evening the food is not tasty and Joe slapped
Janie. The slap stabs her heart. She is petrified and stands still until
something fell off the shelf inside herthen she went inside there to see what it was.
It was her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered...she had no more blossomy openings
dusting pollen over her manshe found that she had a host of thoughts she had never expressed
to him and numerous emotions she had never let Jody know about: (Hurston, 1937, p. 52).
Here Janie becomes conscious of her sexual identity. According to Kristeva2, women are both
producers of culture and reproducers of species. They are not evil creatures but need to learn
to join inside them fragmented pieces together. Janie feels her other self, she had an inside
and an outside now and suddenly she knew how not to mix them (Hurston, 1937, p.52).
Janie stays patient and quiet until one day when she challenges Joes authority publicly with
her voice. With one cutting sentence she shakes Joes throne:
Stop mixin' up mah doings wid mah looks, Jody. . . . Yeah, Ah'm nearly forty and you'se
already fifty. . . .Naw, Ah ain't no young gal no mo' but den Ali ain't no old woman neither. . .
. But Ah'm uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat's uh whole lot more'n you kin
say. You big-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag, but 'taint nothin' to it but yo' big
voice. Humph! Talkin' 'bout me lookin' old! When you pull down yo' britches, you look lak de
change uh life: (Hurston, 1937, p.57-8).
This humiliation shatters Joes public image and he strikes Janie with all his might. Joes
health starts declining but he is unrepentant. His death opens the doors of freedom for Janie.
Janies first act of liberation after Jodys death is to release her hair from the shackles of the
head-rag. She reasserts her identity as beautiful and arousing womanan identity that Jody
had denied her by trying to suppress her sex appeal and making comments about her aging
appearance ( Editors, 2007, p. 19). She "let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the
glory was there. She took careful stock of herself, then combed her hair and tied it back up
again. Then she starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see."
Then she opened up the window and cried, "Come heah people! Jody is dead. Mah husband is
gone from me" (Hurston, 1937, p.63-64).
The structure is a psycho-symbolic. Kristeva asks us to internalize this structure, From that
point on, other is neither an evil being foreign to me nor a scapegoat from the outside, that is, of
another sex, class, race, or nation. Iam at once the attacker and the victim, the same and the
other, identical and foreign. For more details see McAfee, 101-102.
2
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Janie moves one step further in her journey towards developing an independent female
identity. She feels released and joyous. Now that she is alone, she begins to examine her
feelings and realises that she hates Nanny for the values with which Nanny has raised her.
Nanny taught her to seek superficial prizes such as wealth, security, and status instead of
chasing her dreams (Editors, 2007, p. 19). Suitors approach Janie but she values her
independence more and rebuffs all advances. She only confides in Pheoby, forms a female
bond of friendship with her.
In the third stage of Embeddedness-Emanation, the woman feels strongly connected to other
women and she may choose to surround herself with a self-affirming women community in
order to strengthen her new identity (Boisnier, 2003 p.212). Lorraine Bethel defines the
importance of relationships between African-American women in the following words:
Black women identificationis most simply the idea of Black women seeking their own
identity and defining themselves through bonding on various levels- psychic, intellectual, and
emotional, as well as physical- with other Black women. Choosing Blackwomenidentification isthe process of identifying ones self and the selves of other Black women as
inherently valuable (p.17).
Due to Joes strict rules of not mixing up with common people, Janie does not have many
friends. Pheoby is her only friend and secret-sharer. Janie loves talking to Pheoby as this talk
relieves Janies heart of unexpressed burden of emotions. Pheoby acts as a link between Janie
and townspeople, on the one hand, she is Janies woman-identified friend and companion, on
the other hand, she is the conveyor of information both to her friend and to the porch
community. Pheoby informs Janie that there are rumours that Janie herself poisoned Joe and
thats why she is not sad for Jodys death. Janie doesnt feel bad about this negative talk and
tells Pheoby she loves her new independence. She does not care for what people say or think
because she cant pretend to be miserable if in reality she isnt. Janie further tells Pheoby that
Tea Cake is her dream partner. She reveals to Pheoby her plans of selling the store, marrying
Tea Cake and leaving the town. Like a true friend Pheoby warns Janie of Tea Cakes low
status and that he might be only interested in her wealth. Janie has a clear idea of what she
desires in her life and who she herself is. She confides in Pheoby that until now she has
followed mutely the traditional ways but now she will create her own path. She adds that
augmented status seems like the ultimate achievement to a former slave like Nanny but that
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she Janie, is searching for something deeper. Pheoby shares Janies newfound happiness.
Hence by conversing with Pheoby, Janie is able to articulate the complex, previously
inexpressible ideas and emotions (Editors, 2007, p. 21). Janies quest for self-discovery is
literally a quest to find her own voice (Editors, 2007, p.22). Janie has finally begun to take real
steps toward the horizon and Tea Cake is a catalyst in helping Janie living her dreams.
The fourth stage is Synthesis and it occurs when the woman achieves an authentic and
positive feminist identity in which gender role transcendence is coupled with the evaluation of
men on an individual basis (Boisnier, 2003, p.212). This level of identity begins when Janie
comes in Tea Cakes contact. S. Jay Walker views Janies romance with Tea Cake as a
blurring of sex-role stereotypes within an intensely sexual relationship (p.188). in her earlier
two marriages, Janie is either treated as a domestic slave (Killicks) or as an ornamental object
(Starks). In both marriages, she is humiliated and oppressed. Her fighting spirit is exhausted
but she never gives up on her dreams. Her relationship with Tea Cake is liberating and
egalitarian. Claire Crabtree
writes in her article "The Confluence of Folklore, Feminism and Black Self-Determination in
Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eves Were Watching God" that "Tea Cake expands Janie's
horizons both literally and figuratively" (57). Later in the article she writes, "The sense of
sexuality and shared roles found in Janie's relationship with Tea Cake is another aspect of
Janie's development as a person. ...It is in her life 'on the muck of the Everglades with Tea
Cake that Janie achieves equality with men" (60). Maria Tai Wolff echoes Crabtree when she
states, "Tea Cake gives Janie the world, from which they will make a 'dream' together. He
offers her experience" (31).
Janie has realized that her quest for the horizon involves a pursuit of the mystical and
unknown mysteries. Tea Cakes creativity appeals to Janie. Through his respect for her and his
vibrant nature, Tea Cake seems to Janie the man who will complement her and take her
toward the horizon for which she longs. In this marriage, Janie flourishes in love and
experience the respect of an equal that she so desired in her earlier marriages (Racine, 1994,
p.288) Tea Cake treats Janie as her equal. He respects her personal space, both ideas absent in
first two marriages. Nellie McKay writes, Tea Cake shows her a non-materialistic, day-today existence of love and respect between people who are not in constant state of competition
and control (Quoted in Racine, 1994, p.288). Tea Cake teaches Janie the game of checkers,
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driving, coon-can. Together they go hunting, and fishing. They dance and go to cinemas. All
this strengthen Janies confidence and she discovers that women have their own identity. They
dont need man to complete them but to complement them. Janie is happy that Tea Cake cares
for her needs and desires. Janie begins to acknowledge herself and her beauties. She is now
free from the pressures of maintaining a fake social status. In Everglades life is dancing,
fighting, singing, crying, laughing, winning and losing love every hour. Work all day for
money, fight all night for love (Hurston, 1937, p.95). She starts working side by side Tea
Cake in the fields and gets the opportunity to mix with common people. To Janie, Tea Cake
seems an angel send by God. Her dreams of happy and content life are now reality. She has
her own identity and a reciprocally rewarding relationship. For the first time she feels what it
is to be jealous when she sees Tea Cake with a local girl Nunkie in the fields. Janie like an
authoritative wife, tries to beat Tea Cake:
They fought from one room to the other. . . . They fought on. . . . They wrestle on until they
were doped with their own fumes and emanations; till their clothes had been torn away;
till he hurled her to the floor and held her there melting her resistance with the heat of his
body, doing things with their bodies to express the inexpressible; kissed her until she arched
her body to meet him and they fell asleep in sweet exhaustion. (Hurston, 1937, p.99)
Similarly, when Tea Cake slaps Janie out of jealously, she does not feel her spirits broken, she
feels more strength and courage now. On the muck, a slap is socially accepted as an
expression of possessive love and authority (Racine, 1994, p.289). Michael Awkward reads
Tea Cakes slap as an act of unmotivated violenceintended to exhibit to others the extent
of his authority over
Janie" (as cited in Racine, 1994, 289). He beats Janie because he does not know how to
verbalize his fear of losing her to someone else (Racine, 1994, p.289-90).
Tea Cakes love, companionship and his acceptance of Janie further pushes Janie along the
journey toward self-actualization. Natural forces overpower the couple. They are able to
survive a devastating hurricane but a rabid dog bites Tea Cake. Tea Cakes health starts
deteriorating and he becomes excessive violent and Janie has to shoot him in self-defence.
This event constitutes the final leg of Janies spiritual journey, and she suffers a great deal.
The narrator notes that real gods require blood, (Hurston, 1937, p.104) and Janies trials
here represent her final sacrifices on the path toward liberation and enlightenment. The
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moment of Tea Cakes death, though horrible for Janie to endure, reflects how much she has
grown as a person and how secure she has become. Although Tea Cake means everything to
her, she is able to kill him to save herself (Editors, 2007, p.27). Emma Dawson suggests that
Janie kills the one who represents her "self-fulfillment and self-assertion" (as cited in Racine,
1994, p. 291). Racine notes that shooting Tea Cake is Janie's assertion to the world that she
has a life worth living whether married or single (1994, p.291). Wolfenstein suggests, when
Janie kills him, she splits off this mad dog from the loving man who was unable to keep a
leash on it and that she killed the maddened beast which took possession of the man she loved
(Quoted in Racine, 1994, p. 291).
Her relationship with him has brought her along the path of enlightenment, and now that she
has achieved the horizon, she is strong enough to live on her own. She faces ostracism in the
courtroom but It was not death she feared. It was misunderstanding. She does not need the
superficial acceptance in the gossip culture of the porchshe has already dismissed that
worldbut she needs the community to recognize the strength of her bond with Tea Cake as
well as her own fortitude (Editors, 2007, p.28).
The final stage is Active Commitment to meaningful feminist ideals. Janie, a mature and
experienced woman, returns to Eatonville. She is satisfied with her life. She is full of Tea
Cakes love and remembrance. She shares her whole life journey of self-fulfilment with
Pheoby. Janie voices Ulyssess message of to strive, to seek, to find and never to yield to
her community (Tennyson, 1891, L.70). One must suffer to achieve his/her goals and should
never accept defeat. Continuous efforts always yield success, strength and knowledge. She
allows Pheoby to narrate to others her story so that they can also free themselves from the
shackles of patriarchy and stand on their feet. For Janie, language is a vehicle of exploring and
asserting oneself and also a mean to enjoy human interaction. She tells Pheoby that she has
experienced true love, love is lak de sea. Its uh movin thing, but still and all, it takes its
shape from de shore it meets, and its different with every shore (Hurston, 1937, p.138). Tea
Cakes support and encouragement helps Janies transition from a nave girl to a selfaffirming and confident woman. As she reflects on her experiences, the day of the gun, and
the bloody body, and the courthouse . . . commenced to sing a sobbing sigh, once again,
impersonal forces harass Janie. But the memory of Tea Cake vanquishes the sadness and fills
Janie with an understanding of all that she has gained and become (Hurston, 1937, p.139).
Giles comments on this situation, she "will now develop a new method of coping with time
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14
reflective hedonism. She will cultivate memories of sexuality and drama. She needs no new
experience because her cup is full" (as cited in Howard, 1982, p.412).
Conclusion
The woman identity model describes the experience of women and how the evolution happens
from external, societal definitions of womanhood to an internal, personally salient definition
of womanhood (Boisnier, 2003, 212). Janie Crowford is a womanist3. She transforms from a
passive follower of patriarchy to an independent woman. Despite male oppression, she not
only survives the hardships and humiliations but also explores her independent identity. Janie
learns that she is not what patriarchy defines. Her experience defines her and gives her voice,
her separate individual self. This internal self gives her a feeling of realness. As a young girl,
she has a romantic, superficial notions of life and love. As she matures, she learns the only
being she need to know about is herself, her roots, her emotional fluidity and her strength.
Both Nanny and Leafy are the victims of patriarchy, but more because they dare not think
beyond accepted thoughts. Janie dares to challenge the norms and consequently attained
desired goals. Janie though suffers hugely but her steadfastness yields success and she is able
to liberate herself from oppressive cultural forces and reaches at a level of self-fulfilment, selfassertion, becoming a role model for other black women.
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Surinder Kaur is from Punjab, India. She holds an M.A. and M.Phil (English) from GNDU.
Currently, she is affiliated with S.G.A.D. Government College, Tarn Taran (English
Department), India. She has six years of teaching experience and has presented her papers in
national and international conferences. Surinders research papers have been published in
different national and international journals. Her research interest includes feminist studies,
gender studies and African-American women literature. Her email is
sandhu.surinder85@gmail.com.
Surinder Kaur, 2016

2016, by Surinder Kaur. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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Portrayal of Sexuality in the Age of Solemnity

Salma Javed
Abstract
Ismat Chugtai was Urdus most dauntless and contentious woman writer of the twentieth
century and surely the leading figure of the Progressive Writers group. This group of Urdu
writers produced various influential works between 1935 and 1955. With the help of her
works, Ismat made prominent presence by writing on areas which had not been earlier
discussed or explored. She spoke for the exploited lot of the Indian society- the women. She
gave to their feelings words and wrote many such works which discuss various issues which
were hidden behind a veil. She wrote in a time when women in orthodox Muslim families
were supposed to obey quietly the instructions given to them by their elders. Her stories had
female characters which gave a blow to the dominant patriarchal ideology that a woman is the
sanctum sanctorum of the home and therefore she is restricted from exploring various
dimension of active sexualities. This paper deals with prevailing definition of sexuality in the
backdrop of patriarchal society and the protagonist's deviation from this dominant definition in
the short stories by Ismat Chugtai. The paper has a close focus on two short stories, Gharwali
(The Homemaker) [1940] and Til (The Mole) [1950]. The paper makes an attempt to explore
the different incidences in these two stories which shed light on how Ismat discusses the
sexuality of the Indian women in the age of sobriety.
Keywords: Doughty, explore, gender, outrageous, rebel, sanctum, sexuality, shy, sobriety.
women.
Introduction
We are living in the year 2016, a time when women in India have come out of the closet and
have started writing on the tabooed subject of female sexuality. Its the age when women
writers have steered away the stereotypical projection of themselves as meek and submissive
human beings in beds. The contemporary society has finally accepted women as subjects of
desire and not just objects of desire. But what about our past? Have we ever imagined how the
subject of womens sexuality was treated earlier? Well, Ismat Chugtai was one such women
writer who openly explored the theme of female sexuality in her several works between 193555. Her works talk about Indian women dealing with the crisis of identity. She sheds light on
the factor that women, belonging to any religion or community, who openly discussed about
the sexual desires through their words and actions, were regarded as women with low morals
in the society.
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Ismat Chugtai was Urdus4 most dauntless and contentious woman writer of the twentieth
century and surely the leading figure of the Progressive Writers group. The Urdu name of this
organization was Anjuman Taraqqi Pasand Musannifin and it was a progressive literary
movement in the pre-partition British India. The Urdu writers belonging to this group
produced various influential works between 1935 and 1955.(Batra, 2010).These left leaning
writers inspired people through their literary pieces to understand the importance of equality
and social justice. Their works reflected the Marxist theory and were anti-imperialist. With the
help of her works, Ismat made prominent presence by writing on areas which had not been
earlier discussed or explored extensively in colonial India. She spoke for the exploited lot of
the society- the women, and gave words to their feelings and discussed various issues which
were hidden behind a social veil5. Ismat wrote in a time when women in orthodox Muslim
families were supposed to obey quietly the instructions given to them by their elders. Her
stories had female characters which gave a blow to the dominant patriarchal ideology that a
woman is the sanctum sanctorum of the home, and, therefore, she is restricted from exploring
various dimension of active sexualities (Naqvi, 1993).
My paper deals with prevailing definition of sexuality in the backdrop of patriarchal society
and the protagonist's deviation from this dominant definition in the short stories by Ismat
Chugtai. The paper has a close focus on two short stories, Gharwali (The Homemaker) and Til
(The Mole). I have made an attempt to explore the different incidences in these two stories
which shed light on how Ismat discusses the sexuality of the women in the age of sobriety.
Women in India in the 1940s

The Indian concept of sexuality has emerged over time which can be very well seen in the
literary pieces written in every age. A number of literary works highlight the changing concept
of Indian female sexuality over the time period. Works like Kama Sutra by Vatsyayana,
Upanikesh by Dr.Sarojini Sahoo, Gender, Sex and the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry1780-1870 by
4
Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language. The origin of this language is in the 12 th century, during the early Muslim
invasion. It developed due to the intermingling of the occupying armies and the local people. It is also said that
Urdu developed from an ancient dialect called khariboli. A lot of Urdu vocabulary comes from Persian and Arabic.
It is the national language of Pakistan. It is also spoken in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Fiji,
Germany, Guyana, India, Malawi Mauritius, Nepal, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand,
the UAE, the UK and Zambia.
5
Earlier women had to face various barriers in living a normal life, for example they were not free to choose their
spouse, they were not allowed to work and discussing sexuality issues was considered a grave sin. So, social veil
here refers to the social sense and not hiding manually.
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Ruth Vanita and A Pleasant Kind of Heavy and Other Erotic Stories by Aranyani6 are some
good examples of this change.
Indian sexuality is manifested specifically in the female section of the society, in their attire,
behaviour, literature and sports. Historical analysis reveals a distinct degeneration in womens
status. Starting from the childhood to their deaths, women faced various situations where the
gender played a very important role. Numerous superstitions like untouchability and women
being impure while menstruating were imposed on them which had worsened their lives. The
girl child was not sent to school, whereas the boy was. Distinction was made even while
feeding them. The boy was offered rich, healthy and tasty plates of meals whereas the girls
were told that they dont need that.
Several practices like the purdah system7, dowry8, the sati tradition of immolating the wife on
husbands pyre and child marriage are significant examples to prove the stature of women in
India (Chakraborty & Thakurata, 2013). A respectable woman was one who followed all these
practices without questioning them. Since a long time, patriarchy has been dominant in most
parts of India, these rules were laid down for women and no men. The females were instructed
to wear a veil in front of males (other than their own husbands and maternal male family
member) whereas, the men could lay their eyes wherever they wished to. Basically men in all
patriarchal societies in India were expected to take care of their wives and feed them while the
wives looked after the whole family. So the scenario was the exchange of women as caretakers and men as protectors who controlled womens choices and sexuality.
Womens sexuality is a prominent indicator of their families and communities honour. For
instance, Kanyadanam (kanya refers to daughter and dana means gift) is an important part of
Hindu marriages and it means giving away of a virgin daughter in marriage. Not only this,
Aranyani is the pseudonym of the author of the book A Pleasant Kind of Heavy and Other Erotic Stories. She is
probably a woman who took this pen name to protect herself from being judged by family and society upon writing
sexual content. Her identity is not disclosed so most of the critics assume she is a woman.
7
Purdah system is a religious and social custom practiced by females which is of two forms: woman covering her
entire body with some cloth to conceal her form and skin, and physical seclusion from the other sexes. Purdah
practicing women can face only close male family members. Religiously purdah system is designed to protect
women from being frazzled but patriarchy leads this practice to subjugate women and put limitation to their
freedom.
8
At the time of Indian marriage, the brides family gives durable goods, cash, real or movable property to the
grooms family (his parents, relatives), this is referred as dowry. Earlier dowry was regarded as the wedding gift to
the bride but later it became a form of insurance so that her in-laws dont mistreat her. Dowry is illegal in India
under Dowry Prohibition Act 1961.
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while marrying the daughters, the parents have to pay a large amount of dowry to grooms
family. This is not the case in Indian Muslim marriages; they use the Arabic word jahez for
dowry. The Muslim classify dowry in two categories, jahez-e-Fatimi i.e. jahez of Fatima9 or
giving of valuable goods, clothes, jewellery and money to the grooms family.(Sinha,
2008).On the other hand, the boy marrying was just there to receive loads and loads of dowry,
the giving away system was not his business. In the medieval India, the conditions of the
widows were even worse, their sexuality, their mobility and even their dietary regimen
remained under the patriarchal gaze. In certain states of Bengal, the upper caste Hindu women
had to follow the tradition of Sati. According to the Sati tradition, when the husband dies, the
wife was supposed to sacrifice herself on his pyre whereas if a wife dies no such rule was
there for the husband. Even after the introduction of Bengal Sati Regulation, 182910 and the
Hindu Widows Remarriage Act 185611 the widows were kept in seclusion, and were rarely
allowed to remarry or live regular lives by their communities and families. They were
regarded cursed, the reason of their husbands death. They were socially not allowed to spend
a regular life they were not even allowed to eat any rich or spicy food and were only expected
to wear white dresses and were not allowed to dress fancy (Lamb, 2000). Despite being so old
such traditions still exist and are observed by women in certain parts of Bengal, India (Lamb,
2000).
The mental makeup of the Indian society those days was that women are only fit to stay at
home to perform the household chores and take care of their affinal families, and they should
not go to schools, not play on streets. Their sexuality and decisions were controlled by their
families and they were not even free to choose their life partners. Whosoever was bought by
their family, whether old, ugly, unemployed- they had to marry him. They were forced to wear
burkhas12 and were not free to roam about freely. They were taken as commodities with which
the males used to fulfil their sexual desires. Unlike the women, if they were bored of their
wives, they could easily think of marrying again. It was a male modulated society in which
they were forced to live the way the men wanted (Kaur & Singh, 2014). The men were
9
Fatima was the youngest daughter of the Prophet Muhammad who received some essential things in the name of
dowry- a cot knitted with jute wires, a leather mattress stuffed with date leaves instead of cotton, flour grinder, two
pitchers, one big and one small leather bag used for carrying water.
10
This regulation declared the practise of Sati illegal and punishable.
11
Widows among the higher castes were socio-culturally forbidden to marry. This Act legalised the marriage of
Hindu widows in India. However, no such socio-cultural imposition ever existed on a widowers marriage.
12
Burkha is a long loose garment which is worn by Muslim women to cover the whole body from head to feet.
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allowed to visit prostitutes even after marriages whereas a number of restrictions were
imposed upon the females. They openly visited the brothels leaving their wives to take care of
the family. The women dare not speak about their sexual preferences., and they just existed to
obey. (Khanna, 2014)
A number of novels written by Indian author Munshi Premchand depicted this common scene
of husband beating his wife and becoming a hero in doing so. The novel God of Small Things
by another Indian author Arundhati Roy, says that usually whenever men returned back home
late at night, drunken and without senses, they beat up their women.(Roy, 2002).Similarly, in
the medieval and colonial period women were largely made to believe that no matter what
happens their husband was their god (Pati Parmeshwar).
The subject of female sexuality in the Indian colonial era was first taken up by famous male
Indian writer Sarat Chandra Chottapadhays novel Shesh Prashn (The Last Question)
published in 1931. This was the first book which challenged the patriarchal values by
underlining the relevance of a females sexuality. However, the topic of female sexuality was
never taken up by a female writer until then. Tahira Naqvi, a well-known translator of Ismat
Chugtais work, explained in a lecture, in Seattle in 2004 that the editors of the magazine that
published Lihaaf (The Quilt) mistook the name Ismat Chugtai as a male author writing
under a pseudonym. As this story depicts a lesbian relationship, nobody was ready to believe
that a woman had sent this kind of work which challenged the patriarchal dominant sexual
norms. After some investigation when the world came to know that it was written by a female
author, Lihaaf created the most astounding furore(Patel, 2001).
Gharwali (The Homemaker)

It was 76 years ago, in 1940s that Ismat Chugtais short story Gharwali (The Homemaker)
came out. This story was a heady satire on the institution of marriage as well as on the
etiquettes of the 1940s society. In the Indian society, marriage is considered as an essential
step of any individuals life, especially a woman. At a socio-cultural level it is often observed
that a very few women remain single and those who do, are socially looked down. Ismat
Chugtais Gharwali questions the notion of marriage being the prerequisite to womanhood.
Gharwali depicts a story of Lajjo, an orphan woman who comes to realise, as she reaches
womanhood that her biggest asset is her body. She solicits her body for money, sometimes for
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cash, sometimes on credit and other times on charity. When she grew up, her body proved to
be her only asset. (Asaduddin, 2009, p. 79). Lajjo is not at all doubtful or uncertain about her
liking towards coitus acts, a stranger to bashfulness or the sense of shame (Asaduddin,
2009, p. 79). She works as a maid servant who serves food in the dining room and serves her
master in the bedroom. She doesnt have a good reputation13 in the neighbourhood but at the
same time she is desirable to the male section of the society. The men see her as an object with
which they can fulfil their sexual desires. They are not ready to give her respect in the day
light, they will not accept her in the society but will not leave a single chance to share bed
with her, an irony.
The story depicts that Lajjo comes to work in a man called Mirzas house, who is a strait-laced
bachelor. As soon as she enters his house she starts charming the young man with her
coquetry. Sweet and simple Mirza starts to yearn for Lajjo but is scared of the society. The
same society which has laid down a rule which states that a man and a woman can get intimate
with each other only after marriage. He is scared of the society which will point fingers at him
for operating against the social norms of sexuality before marriage. He fears to violate this
rule. Mirzas quandary finds a solution when one night Lajjo makes a move; she herself grabs
Mirza and seduces him. He becomes quite fond of Lajjo, making him insecure towards her
and soon proposes her for marriage. Lajjo doesnt find this a good idea and pleads him to
change his mind but Mirza has made up his mind and is not ready to change his firm decision.
Certainly, Mirza loses interest in Lajjo soon after the marriage. On the other hand, Lajjo who
has a continuous greed for sex finds a substitute to fulfil her libidinousness. All hell breaks
loose when this is no more a secret and comes in Mirzas notice. He takes out his anger in
beating her black and blue, instantly gives her a divorce and throws her out. Lajjo is back in
her former self, again out on the streets, flirting with every second man she comes across.
The story ends at the time when both realize that they need each other. They think that they
were in a better deal before getting married to each other. They were enjoying a better
relationship before the tag of husband and wife. So when Mirza thinks of finding a maid for
his house, he allows Lajjo to take back her old position. Once again Lajjo sleeps in his kitchen
and Mirza feels the same urge towards her, the feeling which had lost in the social contract of
13
The definition of a reputed Indian woman in the time when Ismat Chugtai wrote was a woman who was ready to
sacrifice her needs and desire for the family, society and almost anyone in the world. A woman who was socially
viewed to be promiscuous was not respected.
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marriage. Lajjo knows this patriarchal world, where men try to control a females sexual
desire. She is relieved about the fact that she no more has to carry the burden of marriage on
her head. For her the marriage was a cage in which her free spirit was locked (Mitra, 2013).
Though she has been defined as a tractable character by Ismat Chugtai, she is not at all soft
spoken like the women of those times. She is well aware of her sexual desires and she doesnt
hide them, she is bold enough to flirt with men. She is frank about her physical needs and
takes them as basic human needs which need to be fulfilled. She likes to wear a lehnga14 and
cannot bind herself with the string of a shalwar15 which Mirza asks her to wear. Lajjo is not a
woman who is confused about her basic need, she gives priority to them without getting into
complicated opinions of modesty and morality laid down by the patriarchal world (Katoria,
2011).
She had a very large hearted concept of the man-woman relationship. For her,
love was the most beautiful experience in life. After attaining a certain age, she
was initiated into it and since then her interest had only grown.: (Asaduddin,
2009, p. 82).
Til (The Mole)

In the story Til (The Mole) Ismat Chugtai has taken a younger female protagonist, Rani and
a male artist, Ganeshchand Choudhry. Choudhry is trying to draw a masterpiece of an
adolescent village girl who happens to be Rani. Right from the beginning of the story the
readers can see Rani making efforts to sexually titillate Choudhry. Choudhry is now and again
announcing infront of Rani that he is of her fathers age so she should stop trying to excite
him. All the endeavours by Rani are childlike and nave but finally prove to be successful to
grab Choudhrys attention. Rani plays with his emotions, she takes names of other men like
Ratna or Chunan who give her a lot of attention, which fills Choudhry with jealousy and
makes him angry.
The narrator describes Choudhry as a famous artist for whom women from far-off countries
had requested to pose for, both with clothes and even without clothes. But Rani was one such
poser who was extremely out of control. She was a girl, whom Choudhry had selected among
other villagers to become his model; she was given an honourable position. On the other hand,
14
15
Lehnga is a long skirt which is usually embroidered and pleated.

Shalwar are a form of baggy trousers.
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Rani controlled the men in her village by a mole which she had in her cleavage. She was
offered kheel16 and gurdhani17 by Chunan just to get her in his shack at late hours at night.
Another man, Ratna used to accompany her to the nearby pond to catch a glimpse of her mole
while bathing. She narrated these stories to Choudhry which infuriated him,
The question now was whether he should endeavour to paint or surrender to the
madness that was going to envelop him (Asaduddin, 2009, p. 72).
The result is that Choudhry forgets his social status and rushes to Ranis hut at night which is
empty. Choudhrys sexual appetite that had been aroused by Rani goes in vain.
Rani then vanishes without informing anybody about her whereabouts. Choudhrys painting
then remains incomplete and his dream of winning the five thousand rupees award at the
exhibition shatters. Soon Rani is found hiding a blood-soaked bundle on the road and the
villagers blame Choudhry for violating her. He was sure that his innocence will be proved
soon infront of the whole village. He knew he has not committed any sin but he was guiltyTruth always triumphs. But how he wished he were guilty! Well, he was guilty anyway
of being born into this world. (Asaduddin, 2009, p. 78)
The story end when Rani clears all the accusation on Choudhry by stating him to be impotent.
Hearing this, Choudhrys castration anxiety turns into a neurosis. (Mitra, 2013). This
leaves Choudhry in a state of complete shock and in the end he is seen drawing long,
conical, round lineslike a singed mark.
Discussion
Ismat Chugtai is a renowned woman writer of the modern Urdu literature and a prominent
figure of the Progressive Writers Movement who was always vociferous to the causes of the
female emancipation. In a time when the women were thought to be the submissive angel of
the house and thus were confined within the four walls of harem she not only fought for their
socio-political rights but also gave vent to the myriad feminine experiences. An iconoclast
Ismat Chugtai spoke against the dominant ideology of patriarchy and its complex power
relation in which males occupy the centre and thus women always inhabit the periphery. In her
16
17
Puffed paddy rice

Unrefined brown sugar
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stories like The Lihaf, Masooma, Til and Gharwali and many other such writings she has tried
to expose the hypocrisy and doubleness under the veneer of so called middle class sobriety
and gentility. (Fleming, 1995)
It is quite interesting to note that Ismat Chugtai has the power to make her female characters
face the class struggle. A girl belonging to gutters has the potentials to bring a famous artist on
streets. An adolescent girl has the ability to destroy a renowned painter. Like the character of
Lajjo in Gharwali, she also defies the patriarchal values set by the society. Both the
characters are not scared to show their freebooting sexuality and they refuse to accept the rules
laid down by the patriarchal authorities.
In both the stories Ismat Chugtai tries to showcase how strong her female characters are, they
are aware of their sexual appetite and they dont want to hide them. They are carefree, bold
and frank about their liking towards sexual activities. Her stories are set in a time when
women were repressed in every manner, socially, economically and sexually. But her
character sketches are so powerful that when we read it in the present century we are forced to
think how difficult it would have been for her to publish such stories back then.
The Homemaker unravels the corruption, hypocrisy of the middle class gentility. It depicts the
predicament of its female protagonist Lajjo, she is treated as a commodity which can be easily
bought and used for sexual fun. Her existence in the unsavoury world ruled by men equated
with her body; a commodified body which becomes a mode of enjoyment to various people.
But when it comes to marriage, several boundaries are drawn around her. She is deprived of any
individual identity as a woman in the complex binarism of sacred and profane.
In the story The Mole, Rani is shown as a girl who uses her mole in the cleavage to lure men.
We can see that though Ismat Chugtais female characters are quite strong and rebellious even
if they are looked down by the so called honourable section of the society. They can make men
fall for them, whenever they want to. Lajjo makes a religious maulana18, who is a devoted man
and extremely dedicated towards his religious, fall in for her. He forgets his sacred vows taken
by him in the light of his religion of not getting intimate with a woman before marriage. This is
18
A Muslim man revered for his religious learning or piety
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haraam19 according to Mirzas religion, but the power of Lajjos coquetry skills makes him
forget everything. Next we have Rani because of whom an artist, who was renowned for his
sketching skills in faraway lands, turns mad by the end of the story. He is the same artist who is
shown as the one who will soon win a great prize for his artistic piece but in the end he is seen
on road drawing conical round lines. This paper seeks to make a feminist study of the stories
The Mole and The Homemaker and throw light on the deeper complex mechanism of power
relations which lead to the objectification the protagonists in both the stories.
Ismat Chugtai wrote in the times when even picking up such issues was a great sin and taboo.
Her stories reflect how different the times were when she wrote. We step into the world where
women are turned into commodities, totally disposable, totally dispensable, to be used and
discarded. (Kudchedka, 1997).Even after so many ages and so much advancement we have
the present population of two kinds-one who has stepped out boldly to speak on female sexuality
and the other who still frown upon when such topics are picked up for discussion. For instance,
according to Sreemoyee Piu Kundu, author of the novel Sitas Curse:The Language of Desire
in an interview to journalist Shilpa Raina for The New Indian Express, published 3rd August
2014, Its about time we shed these prudish pre-conditioned layers and talk and deal with
sexual explicitness in our books and films with a certain degree of refinement and maturity
(Kundu, 2014) but at the same time when the short story Gharwali is read out in Urdu, there
are some people who are offended and give expressions like tsk tsk. For such reactions Ismat
Chugtai had said quite earlier only;
In my stories, Ive put down everything with objectivity. Now, if some people
find them obscene, let them go to hell. Its my belief that experiences can never
be obscene, if they are based on authentic realities of life. (Asaduddin, 2009, p.
xi)
The present century has women who can openly discuss these issues, in fact they can even
come out to fight for their rights. We have girls who are challenging the taboos which in early
times women had to face. Earlier the girls were not allowed to think about playing sports but
now we have some leading ladies in the field of sports. Here I would like to quote a recent sexist
interview on the news channel India Today TV on 14th July, 2016, which took place between
19
The word Haraam refers to anything or act that is prohibited in the Holy Quran. It refers to a great sin when
committed by a Muslim. Along with sex before marriage other examples of haraam are adultery, murder or
money obtained through cheating or stealing. It also refers to consuming pork or drinking alcohol.
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the famous Indian female tennis player Sania Mirza and a journalist, Rajdeep Sardesai. (Mirza,
2016).
Sardesai: Amidst all the celebrityhood, when is Sania going to settle down? Is
it going to be in Dubai? Is it going to be in any other country? What about
motherhood building a family I dont see all that in the book, it seems like
you dont want to retire just yet to settle down.
Mirza: You dont think Im settled?
Sardesai: You dont talk about retirement, about raising a family, about
motherhood, whats life beyond tennis is going to be
Mirza: You sound disappointed that Im not choosing motherhood over being
number one in the world at this point of time. But Ill answer your question
anyway, thats the question I face all the time as a woman, that all women have
to face the first is marriage and then its motherhood. Unfortunately, thats
when were settled, and no matter how many Wimbledons we win or number
ones in the world we become, we dont become settled. But eventually it will
happen, not right now. And when it does happen Ill be the first one to tell
everybody when I plan to do that.
Sardesai: I must apologise, I framed that question very badly. I promise you,
youre right, I would never ask this question to a male athlete
Mirza: Im so glad, youre the first journalist to apologise to me on national
television.
Its just that today we have men who at least have the decency to apologize for such questions.
But still we can analyse the situation here that though the player being number one in the world
is not considered to have achieved full settlement, until she gives birth to a child. Essentialist
ideas of marriage and motherhood are still articulated as dominant social discourses.
Conclusion
The suffering of Indian women remained unheard for thousands of years. Culture, age old value
systems and manipulated religious scriptures ensure their marginalized position. The biased
writers, philosophers exclude women from the arena of literature and silent about women issues
and problems. Around 1940 Ismat Chugtai produced certain works which shook the world. Her
writings shifted the focus from the male perspective to female perspective and raised women
related issues through her female protagonists. Her stories challenged all the patriarchal
institutions which worked for the marginalized status of the females. Emergence of women
writers writing about female sexuality reversed the traditional mode of writing. Among the great
Urdu writers Ismat Chugtai holds a distinct position. She through her writing skills explores
how patriarchy affects the inner world of Indian women. This paper takes into account two
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works of Ismat Chugtai Gharwali and Til. These two stories present a microcosm of India
society with its all social and cultural beliefs. This paper highlights the various forms of female
defiance women choose for generating an identity in a male governed society. It, also presents
a brief account of feminism with the help of the two stories. This paper also sheds light on the
strong character selection done by Ismat Chugtai in her stories. Though she wrote in times when
her writing style was criticized by many people, but her female characters were quite rebellious
who were not ready to be subjugated. Though her stories are set in patriarchal social setup but
her protagonist are quite repressive and are able to escape the situations controlled usually by
the males. The stories belong to the time when women were repressed economically, socially
and sexually but her so called misbehaving female characters are successful in facing these
repressive forces.
Though slowly and steadily but we are moving towards a society which is not just ruled by the
males. We have females who are not ready to get married at a young age, there are women who
prioritise their education and career over marriage and motherhood. In contemporary times large
numbers of women joining paid workforce have the courage to face different forms of
discrimination on a daily basis in this male dominant society. This paper focuses mainly on how
low the females were regarded, if they spoke about their sexuality. It makes us realize the
difference between the world today and the one in which Ismat Chugtai wrote. The scenario is
no more the same as it used to be, women are coming forward with their issues and they want
them to be solved. They are not shy to speak about their sexuality and choices. The timid
behaviour which was imposed upon them is slowly fading as they are being bought up in ways
which make them bold enough to face horrific situations. Women are achieving good positions
and respect at work-places, they are doing wonders in the field of sports, science and technology
and medicine. Even in thankfully, we are moving towards a better world as compared to the one
which her stories depict.
References
Asaduddin., M. (2009). Lifting the Veil: Selected Writings of Ismat Chugtai. Penguin Books.
Batra, K. (2010). The Home, the Veil and the World:Reading Ismat Chugtai towards a
'Progressive' History of the Indian Women's Movement. Feminist Review .
Chakraborty, K., & Thakurata, R. G. (2013 January). Indian Concepts on Sexuality. India J.
Psychiatry , 55.
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Colebrook, C. (2004). Gender. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Fleming, L. A. (1995). Out of the Zenana: New Translation of Ismat Chugtai's Work. Annual
of Urdu Studies .
Haque, S. T. (2014, August). Prevailing Non-Normatives:Exploring GenderNorms,
Transgressive Desires and Identities in Literature by Muslim Women Writers of the
Subcontinent. Master's Thesis on Prevailing Non-Normatives:Exploring GenderNorms,
Transgressive Desires and Identities in Literature by Muslim Women Writers of the
Subcontinent . Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Katoria, M. (2011). Woman and Sexuality:Gender-Class Interface in Selecetd Short of Ismat
Chugtai. The Criterion: An International Journal in English .
Kaur, H., & Singh, A. (2014). Intensification of Female Resistence in Ismat Chugtai's "The
Rock". International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities , 175-180.
Khanna, T. (2014). Gender, Self Representation and Sexualized Spaces:A Reading of Ismat
Chugtai's Lihaaf. International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Literarture , 4954.
Kudchedka, S. (1997). Feminist Spaces: Cultural Readings from India and Canada. Feminist
Voices from India and Canada. Ed. Malashri Lal. New Delhi.
Kundu, S. P. (2014, August Sunday). Between the Sheets: Sex and Sensuality in Indian
Literature. (S. Raina, Interviewer)
Lamb, S. (2000). White Saris and Sweet Mangoes. University of Califronia Press United
States of America.
Mirza, S. (2016, July 14th). India Today News Channel. (R. Sardesai, Interviewer)
Mitra, S. (2013). The Politics of Power: A Study of Gender and Sexuality in the Short Stories
by Ismat Chughtai. Indian Journal of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies , 76-88.
Naqvi, T. (1993). Ismat Chugtai- A Tribute. The Annual of Urdu Studies .
Patel, G. (2001). An Uncivil Woman:Ismat Chugtai. The Annual of Urdu Studies .
Roy, A. (2002). The God of Small Things. Penguin: India.
Sinha, A. K. (2008). New Dimensions of Women Empowerment. Deep and Deep Publications.
Salma Javed is a Research Scholar in the Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh U.P., India. She has received her M.A and B.A from, Aligarh Muslim University and
completed her primary education from St. Agnes Loreto Day School, Lucknow U.P., India.
Lucknow is Salmas hometown, but she is currently staying in Aligarh for her research. She
has presented her papers in international and national conferences in institutes like I.I.T,
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Delhi and O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonepat. Her previous publications have been
published in the International Journal of English Language, Literature and Translation
Studies and International Journal of Indian Psychology. Salmas email address is:
salmajaved08@gmail.com.
Salma Javed, 2016

2016, by Salma Javed. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution
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Obergefell v. Hodges and the Judicialization of Same-Sex Marriage in

America: Legalizing the Impossible
Dr. Aloy Ojilere
Abstract
In Obergefell et al. v. Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health, et al (Obergefell), 2015,
the US Supreme Court supposedly legalized same-sex marriage across America, thus, resting
the right to marry advocacy in America post-United States v. Windsor. The Court premised
its decision inter alia, on the quest for expansive protection of the rights to marriage and equality
under the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. Nonetheless, Obergefell still
generates mixed pro-love discussion in legal, academic, sematic, socio-cultural, religious, and
political circles inside and outside America. This paper distinguishes civil union from
marriage and argues that logically, socio-religiously, scientifically, grammatically or
otherwise, same-sex marriage is a mere jargon because marriage is naturally and practically
impossible between persons of the same biological sex. The paper concludes that Obergefell is
a judicial endorsement of an impossibility, and a somersault of human dignity. It may seem
afro-centric, but it certainly furthers scholarship on marriage and the other side of Obergefell.
Keywords: Obergefell v. Hodges, judicialization, Same-sex marriage, America, The

Impossible.
Introduction
In Obergefell et al. v. Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health, et al, 576 U. S. (2015)20,
the US Supreme Court held that a lawful valid marriage can be legally licenced and celebrated
between men and women of the same sex. This paper disagrees with this decision. It argues
instead that for all intents and purposes, same-sex marriage is a misconception of the obvious,
an impossible clich and a mere jargon which, at best, describes an imaginary marriage. Simply
put, marriage is not possible between persons of the same biological sex. This paper
corroborates the recent conclusion that judicial decisions which legalize same-sex marriage or
otherwise place them at par with heterosexual marriage. Because this will create inequality
rather than solving it, with a strong possibility that social forces will operate to restore equity in
ways that may increase social dysfunction(Schumm 2015).
20
Obergefell et al. v. Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health, et al. Certiorari to the United States Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit No. 14556. Argued April 28, 2015Decided 26 June 2015. (Consolidated together
with the following three cases: Tanco et al. v. Haslam, Governor of Tennessee, et al., No. 14562; DeBoer et al. v.
Snyder, Governor of Michigan, et al., No. 14571; and Bourke et al. v. Beshear, Governor of Kentucky, No. 14
574, also on certiorari to the same court. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf
(29/6/2015). For precision, this paper also refers to the case as Obergefell v. Hodges.
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This paper is as much pro-human cum marriage rights as it is pro-nature, that is, legal as well
as human, and it tries to strike a balance between the legal and the natural of marriage.
The plague of impossibility of same-sex marriage is also amplified by the lacuna in the Marriage
(Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 applicable in England and Wales which makes no provision for
consummation or desisting from adultery as integral obligation and incidence of marriage
especially in lesbian marriages (Beresford 2015). Nonetheless, adultery and the inability to
consummate are valid grounds for voiding a marriage. Certainly, this lacuna is beyond any
logical or legal remedy. Suffice to say, that equality and intimacy rights in marriage properly
so-called, goes far beyond legislative or judicial declarations, otherwise, such marriage law will
continually perpetuate both formal and substantive inequality resulting in irredeemable
repression for women who marry women (Beresford 2015).
Truly, the Obergefell decision illustrates the power of the judiciary in influencing legal and
constitutional process in America. (Frost 2015). This does not detract from the final conclusion
of this paper that the legalization of same-sex marriage in the America or elsewhere, is a strange
new dimension of respectability politics (Matsick and Conley 2015).This will distort both the
marriage institution and the right to marry, and therefore, will be incapable of realistically
securing the rights to marriage equality, life, or human dignity. Precisely
Crux of the Obergefell Decision

The Obergefell decision legalized same-sex marriage in the whole of the United States of
America. Indeed, this case is a date with history. It marks the end of several years of agitations
of pro-love spouses, activists and groups in the United States with its ripples felt around the
world, even though historically, Netherlands was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage
(Karsten 2014)21. It equally marks the reawakening of serious academic, legal, socio-political
21
Same-sex marriage had earlier been legalized in the following countries pre-2015, that is, The Netherlands (2000);
Belgium (2003); Canada and Spain (2005); South Africa (2006); Sweden and Norway (2009); Portugal, Iceland and
Argentina (2010); Denmark (2012); Uruguay, New Zealand, France, England / Wales and Brazil (2013) and
Luxembourg and Scotland (2014). (See CNN World Report of February 10, 2015, Same-sex marriage: Where in
the world is it legal? by Monica Sarkar and Inez Torre. http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/10/world/gay-marriageworld/index.html (8/11/2015), citing Pew Research Center, January, 2015 as their source of information.
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and religious discuss for and against same-sex marriage in and out of America(Beresford 2015,
Christiansen 2015, Deboyser 2015, Garrett 2015, Igi 2015, Meyers 2015, Pollack 2015, Sez
2015, Strauss 2015, Yilmaz 2015). This includes the suggestion to adopt new religious right
paradigm to respect and protect deep commitment to religious freedom. It therefore provides
appropriate exemptions for religious objectors and removes fundamental legal barriers that
would require them to respect or otherwise facilitate a same-sex-marriage (Knauer 2015).
Obergefell v. Hodges is a consolidation with three other cases on writs of certiorari to the United
States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. It arose from same-sex petitioners seeking to
marry or to have their marriage recognized by the States of Tennessee, Michigan and Kentucky
respectively.22 In those states, and in Ohio (from where the Obergefell case ensued), marriage
is defined per Hyde v. Hyde, that is, a voluntary union of one man and one woman to the
exclusion of all others.
The petitioners were 14 same-sex couples and two male same-sex widows. They filed writs
in the Federal District Courts in their respective States alleging that relevant State authorities
denied them the right to marry or give legal recognition to their marriages lawfully performed
in other States within the United States. This according to them, violated the Fourteenth
Amendment of the US Constitution.
In each of the three cases, the District Court ruled in favour of the petitioners. On appeal to the
Sixth Circuit, the cases were consolidated23 and certiorari was narrowed to two major issues,
namely, whether the Fourteenth Amendment obliges a State to license a marriage between two
people of the same sex, and whether the Fourteenth Amendment requires a second State to
recognize a same-sex marriage performed and licensed in a first State where the practice is
lawful. The Court of Appeals reversed and set aside the decisions of the three District Courts
and held that a State is not obliged by the constitution to license same-sex marriages or to
recognize same-sex marriages in any other State.
22
Valeria Tanco, et al., Petitioners 14562 v. Bill Haslam, Governor of Tennessee, et al;DeBoer et al. Petitioners
14571 v. Snyder, Governor of Michigan, et al. and Bourke et al. Petitioners 14574 v. Beshear, Governor of
Kentucky.
23
DeBoer v. Snyder, 772 F. 3d 388 (2014).
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On further appeal, the US Supreme Court ruled for the petitioners and held that the Fourteenth
Amendment protects the right of same-sex couples to marry and that the State is obligated to
license their marriage and to recognize any such marriage already lawfully licensed outside the
US. This judicial endorsement of same-sex marriage has consequently been described as a legal
innovation(Karsten 2014)which ends all previous agitations for marriage equality in America.
It also highlights the power and influence of the American judiciary to in making such critical
decision on really sensitive issues. (Frost 2015).
Earlier in the June 2013 case of United States v. Windsor, [570, U.S. 2013]24 the US Supreme
Court had struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) 1996, 25which defined marriage
simply as a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife thereby
preventing recognition of same-sex marriages. Although Windsor marked the initial dramatic
change in judicial and political attitude towards LGBT rights in America, Obergefell finally
made possible what was once thought to be impossible (Encarnacin 2014).
Premises of Obergefell v. Hodges

The judgement is premised on the supposed quest for compound, latitudinal and expanded
protection of human rights, especially the rights to marriage; equal protection and equality
before the law; non-discrimination and human dignity in America Nonetheless, Obergefell v.
Hodges still leaves some thoughts which the US Supreme Court, in its wisdom, probably did
not foresee or rather, saw differently.
Firstly, the court described marriage as a dynamic institution which is subject to continuity and
change which invariable altered aspects of marriage once viewed as essential and that these
changes have strengthened, not weakened, the institution. The court noted that these new
insights and changed understandings of marriage are characteristic of a Nation where new
dimensions of freedom become apparent to new generations.26This has ensued public discussion
of LGBT issues as well as open agitations and litigations for the protection of equal
constitutional rights to marry. However, from a religious point of view, this so-called dynamism
24
Docket No. 12-307.

110 Stat. 2419
26
These phrases are contained in and culled from Page 2 of the Syllabus of the judgement in Obergefell v. Hodges.
25
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of the marriage institution does not in any way justify the judicialization of a manifest
impossibility, that is, legalization of marriage between persons of the same biological sex.
Nonetheless, being a secular country of people of different religions including atheists some of
whom may be opposed to same-sex relationships, the US is not bound to take religious
objections to homosexuality into consideration.
Obergefell creates the fear that in future, the law may be further stretched to protect the intimate
choices or right to marry between a son or daughter and their biological mother or father (or a
boy/girl with his biological brother/sister, or even twin brothers/sisters) under the Fourteenth
Amendment. 27 It is equally socially feared by many religious and non-religious groups and
individuals that in future, the US may even witness the licencing of polygamy and polyandry in
consequence of protecting right of marriage, individual choices, equality and nondiscrimination, thereby moving marriage, as jokingly and wryly put, from square one to square
two (Igi 2015). The future possibility of such social dysfunction justifies the view that the
judicialization of same-sex marriage institutionalizes inequality in marriage rather than equality,
and that over time, the inherent mechanism of a realistic society will itself resolve this inequality
(Schumm 2015).
The Obergefell decision is also premised on a misconception which equates union to
marriage without distinction. It therefore emphasises a new concept of marriage as a union
formally recognised by the State, whether or not it is sanctioned by religion. On the contrary,
this paper contends that a homosexual marriage should only be a union. Even in India where
the Special Marriages Act, 1954 recognises inter-caste and inter-religious marriages which are
not accorded sanction by religions, such special marriages are usually between opposite sexes
and not same-sex couples. It can thus be rightly argued that the misconception that every union
The reality of this kind of scenario was reported on November 3, 2015 under the caption: Couple seeks right to
marry. The hitch? They're legally father and son, when Evan Perez and Ariane de Vogue of CNN Politics wrote
thus: The legalization of same-sex marriage has given way to a new problem for a Pennsylvania couple, who
technically are father and son Nino Esposito, a retired teacher, adopted his partner Roland "Drew" Bosee, a former
freelance and technical writer, in 2012, after more than 40 years of being a couple. Now, they're trying to undo the
adoption to get married But Judge Lawrence J. O'Toole, of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County,
ruled against the couple. ..He was "sensitive to the situation" but noted that despite the fact Esposito and Bosee desire
to marry, "they cannot do so because they are legally father and son." (See CNN Politics,
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/03/politics/same-sex-marriage-adoption-father-sonpennsylvania/index.html?sr=fbCNN110715same-sex-marriage-adoption-father-sonpennsylvania0300AMStoryGalLink&linkId=18575030 (8/11/2015).
27
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may be legalized as marriage must have beclouded the Courts vision from realizing the natural
impossibility of marriage between persons of the same biological sex, or that marriage is
possible only between opposite sexes (Abe 2014).No known Holy Book contemplates or
otherwise recognizes marriage between persons of the same sex, even though recent studies
show subjectivity and attitudinal differences among various spiritual and religious adherents
(Jones, Cox et al. 2014, Shipley 2014, Gay, Lynxwiler et al. 2015, Harrison and Michelson
2015).
Obergefell is further premised on the denial or query, albeit erroneously, of the unchangeable
and undeniable historical fact that man and woman are the principal partners in every marriage.
This is the truism affirmed by Lord Penzance in the old English case of Hyde v
Hyde(1866)which rightly defined marriage as the voluntary union of one man and one woman
to the exclusion of all others. Incidentally, the so-called legal dynamism inherent in the
Obergefell decision seem to have redefined marriage and raised it beyond the 1866 imagination
of Lord Penzance.
Heterosexual or opposite sex marriage (as distinct from same-sex marriage) is therefore to be
construed without prejudice to, different from, and not be confused with, but rather
distinguished from other types of unions or relationships (Weller 2015).This includes bonding
between close friends(Ikpe 2004) or woman to woman marriage28 which is valid under certain
Nigerian and African customs(Oboler 1980, Cadigan 1998, Tamale 2011).But which definitely
is not a homosexual relationship (Krige 1974, Achebe 2011, Nwoko 2012), or relate to the
concept of male daughters or female husbands recognized in traditional Nigerian Ibo
(Amadiume 1987) and Yoruba (Osiki and Nwoko 2014) societies.
The uniqueness of these so called forms of African same-sex marriages is that unlike the
American or western-style same-sex marriage, they are unlicensed, unknown to law and does
Woman to woman marriage in African societies, including Nigeria, is considered as marriage for the primary
purpose of furthering procreation and begetting a heir for a man who is either impotent and incapable of having
children by himself, or whose wife could not bear children, or where a man is deceased and his widow being unable
to bear children from the outside, decides to marry another woman in the name of her late husband and who
will thus be considered as wife (or second wife of the deceased, bearing in mind that polygamy is an acceptable form
of African native customary marriage) for the deceased husband for the primary purpose of bearing children who
would be heir to the deceased man. These heir can also validly inherit the private and personal estate of the
deceased under native customary law but they cannot assume communal public throne as Eze (traditional kings)
or Nze (traditional kindred representatives), even if their deceased father earlier held such positions. Such
marriage is NOT registerable under the Marriage Act and CANNOT be formalized in church because it is simply an
improvisation to sustain patriarchy.
28
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39
not permit of physical sexual relationships. It is immaterial that reports claim that women in
same-sex relationships enjoy as much affection (Borneskog, Lampic et al. 2014, Frost and Gola
2015) or even greater relationship satisfaction than married women in heterosexual relationships
(Meuwly, Feinstein et al. 2013).
A union or relationship or fraternity or friendship or affair, even between extremely
close friends or neighbours of the same biological sex, may be common, possible, rightly
permissible, respected and accepted as part of ancient, modern or emerging human society.
However, it cannot in any correct way amount to, translate into, or be judicialized into a proper
legal marriage for purpose of securing legal protection or other benefits or obligations inherent
in legislation and consequent upon a lawfully licenced marriage. Otherwise, we would as well
be bound to accept that everything that glitters is gold!
The problems with Obergefell v. Hodges and matters incidental thereto

Obergefell is fraught with certain direct and remote, immediate and imminent problems and
consequences. First, the premise of dynamism applied by the US Supreme Court is an unrealistic
judicial over-stretch. It distorts the meaning, content and understanding of change in marriage,
even though one Indian scholar expressed an undeniably persuasive view that juristically, and
even in Islam, marriage is a contract and not a sacrament (Devi 2015). Even so, the true character
and essence of marriage still places pre-conditions on capacity to enter into a valid contract of
marriage in law, namely, that parties thereto must not be of the same biological sex. Islamic
jurisprudence also acknowledges the facts of irregular and void marriages and emphasises that
batil (void) or fasid (irregular) marriage does not create the relationship of husband and wife
(Niazi 2015).
Secondly, the judgement reaffirmed that rights are comprised of certain personal beliefs, as well
as individual choices of intimate partnerships and interests central to individual dignity and
autonomy.29It also underlined the States obligation under the Fourteenth Amendments Due
Process Clause to identify these interests and protect them constitutionally, and in this case, by
recognizing marriage between two persons of the same sex and granting them marriage licence.
Interestingly, the court did not say that the mere grant of marriage licence makes the couple
husband and wife as this may have upset the common prefixes of Mr and Mrs used in
29
Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U. S. 438, 453; Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479, 484486.
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40
relation to husband or wife in a proper legal marriage. The court did not also consider logical
reasoning that protecting personal choices of intimacy may as well cover intimate choices
of incestuous partnerships and relationships which are presently prohibited as criminal acts.
And by the way, all human or individual choices cannot be interpreted within the confines of
the Fourteenth Amendments Due Process Clause. For instance, the right of choice of a pervert
or extremist religious fanatic who feels convinced or believes that his act of terrorism is a
personal obligation, religious injunction or just individual choice can by no means be
protected by law or the Fourteenth Amendment. In the Obergefell case, the US Supreme Court
ought to have simply left the issue as open or closed as it has been without necessarily and
positively legalizing it. The US is therefore faced with marriage prefixes such as Mr and Mr
or Mrs and Mrs which cannot truly represent so-called new insights and changed
understanding of marriage, but rather a clear distortion of common truisms of English clichs.
Obergefell rightly restated the general truth endorsed earlier in Lawrence v. Texas 30 that
decisions about marriage are among the most intimate that an individual can make. Nonetheless,
it is unacceptable, and therefore unreasonable to apply this truth to all persons, and in all cases,
whatever their sexual orientation.31
Same-sex marriage therefore represents a deinstitutionalization of marriage and a weakening
of the social norms that define partners behaviour(Treas, Lui et al. 2014). It erodes the agelong natural content, concept and contextual dynamics of marriage, albeit some American
conservatives claim that it rather resolves the differences between broad libertarianism and core
religious traditionalism (Keckler and Rozell 2015).
Understandably, most discourse on same-sex marriage are usually based on law proper, and
hardly on morality, moral evaluation or any Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) (Graham, Haidt
et al. 2012, Wojcik, Ditto et al. 2013, Graham, Meindl et al. 2015, Schumm 2015).
The foregoing arguments may seem Afrocentric but they are really not addressing same-sex
marriage as un-African, immoral, reprehensible or criminal act, albeit this is the common notion
in most African countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia and Uganda
(Smith, Tapsoba et al. 2009). In these countries, same-sex relationships are generally viewed as
30
539 U. S. 558, 574.

See Page 3 of the Syllabus of the judgement in Obergefell v. Hodges
31
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41
manifestation of western decadence or Euro-American perversion(Bleys 1995) seeking to

contradict the sanity of African morality (Mugabe 2015).32. And in about 38 African countries,
same-sex relationships are criminalised, with punishments ranging from extortion, blackmail
and imprisonment to death penalty (Thoreson and Cook 2011, Finerty 2013, Schwartz, Nowak
et al. 2015).
In Obergefell, the US Supreme Court narrowly missed the golden opportunity to properly
distinguish the meaning and character, albeit relatedness, of civil union and marriage. This
paper concedes that a civil union is a permissible relationship of consenting adult males or
females who may even live together or relate to one another as best friends or couples (Powell,
Quadlin et al. 2015). It further conceded that even though same-sex marriage is marriage-like
(Strasser 2001),it certainly lacks legal imprimatur of a proper marriage because both concepts
are at best, separate but unequal (Cox 2000).
Obergefell also failed to distinguish between best friend and spouse in relation to marriage,
as well as inheritance by a friend or other beneficiaries under a will and inheritance as spouse
of a marriage with the testator.
The Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary and Thesaurus defines spouse in both British
and American English simply as a persons husband or wife. 33It also defines wife as the
woman that you are married to34 and husband as the man that you are married to.35
More elaborately, the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of British and World English
defines wife as a married woman considered in relation to her spouse36 and husband as a
married man considered in relation to his spouse.37 It also defines spouse as a husband or
wife, considered in relation to their partner.38
32
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe showed open rejection and abhorrence to same-sex relationships when, at
the UN General Assembly in New York on 28 September 2015, he referred to same-sex marriage as new rights
that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions, and beliefs and exclaimed, We are not gays!
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/09/28/zimbabwe_s_mugabe_u_n_speech_on_gay_human_rights.html
(20/8/2015).
33
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/spouse (28/10/2015).
34
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/wife (28/10/2015).
35
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/husband (28/10/2015).
36
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/wife (28/10/2015).
37
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/husband (28/10/2015).
38
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/spouse (28/10/2015).
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Consequently, with respect to the right of inheritance, best friends or partners in a civil union
may validly and legally inherit each others estate as appointed next-of-kin or by virtue of the
express provisions of a valid will or codicil. Such inheritance is also possible under a
nuncupative will (that is, a will that is delivered orally to witnesses rather than written), but
certainly not in consequence of marriage, or as spouse, that is, husband or wife. Above all,
recent changes in social and family ideologies in the past half century make it clear that the
domination of the nuclear family consisting of a married heterosexual couple and their children
is over (Harrington 2015). It is therefore unrealistic to even suggest that legalizing same-sex
marriage guarantees non-discrimination, and equal protection of the rights of marriage and
inheritance for same-sex lovers, because marriage is not the only basis for inheritance, even
upon intestacy.
Suffice to say, that Obergefell indeed, over-stretches the rights of choice and marriage under
the Fourteenth Amendment by judicializing and endorsing a manifest impossibility. It
contradicts the age-long traditional definition of marriage which limits it between two persons
of opposite gender in the gender binary (Abe 2014), and as common in most other jurisdictions
(Matsick and Conley 2015).
The legalization of same-sex marriage also distorts grammar and lexicon. For instance, it
changes the fact of husband as male and wife as female, ditto widow as wife of a deceased
man and widower as husband of a deceased wife. It also alters the concept and context of
common historical clich in the prefixes, Mr and Mrs. It also diminishes the seriousness with
which widows are classified and treated as a special or vulnerable group, alongside women,
children and the disabled. And quite interestingly and funny enough, Obergefell has moved
society from the popular, You may kiss the bride to the new You may kiss the groom
(Gwartney and Schwartz 2016).
The right to marry under the Fourteenth Amendment ought therefore, to have been protected
within the confines of a proper marriage and not otherwise. This is to ensure that this new
learning does not necessitate other distortions or future socio-grammatical and legal
impossibilities such as a tall short woman or a small big man or a white black woman etc.
In Obergefell, the US Supreme Court simply put a round peg in a square hole!
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43
Obergefell further distorts or rewrites the previous basics of a valid civil law marriage, namely,
monogamous union; heterosexual union; union for life; and voluntary, albeit some scholars
strongly disagree that these factors, especially monogamy, is synonymous with opposite-sex
marriages only (Conley, Ziegler et al. 2012, Frost and Gola 2015, Frost 2015).
In spite of these arguments against Obergefell, some people still propagate the view that the
legalization of same-sex marriage by the US Supreme Court is one of the most celebrated in the
history of equal protection of rights in America (Fetner 2016). The controversies raised by
Obergefell justify the doubt of some scholars on the propriety of placing same-sex marriage as
a subject under the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution (Soulby, Kennedy et al.
Summer 2015).
Some
have
identified
certain
robust
stigma
associated
with
consensual
non-monogamous relationships as well as a halo surrounding monogamous relationships

(Conley, Moors et al. 2013). Others like Schmitt argued much earlier and quite logically too,
that human beings are not even capable of consistent or strict long-term mating (Schmitt 2005)
otherwise cases of divorce and infidelity, visiting prostitutes and keeping of mistresses and
comfort women would not be common across cultures and jurisdictions (Schmitt 2005).
Nonetheless, it is the absence or non-conformity to fundamental legal requirements that actually
sets licenced marriage apart from other forms of marriage including Asian and African
polygamous marriage, child-marriage, forced involuntary marriage(Devi 2015, Saidon, Adil et
al. 2015, Scolaro, Blagojevic et al. 2015). This also applies to woman to woman marriage in
African customary law, and now, the new changed understanding which is, same-sex
marriage a la Obergefell v. Hodges. Suffice to say that these forms of marriages are yet valid
under native law and custom only. They are accepted or rather excused, and considered
convenient and socially permissible within their existing peculiar socio-cultural cum religious
order as well as in the emerging new socio-legal cum expansionist human rights order. However,
it will not be strange if the legislature or the courts licence these native/customary marriages
as legal marriages under the law. Simply and mildly put, Obergefell failed to realise that every
marriage is a union but not every union is a marriage!
The so-called dynamism of marriage in Obergefell utterly distorts the notion of family,
especially in relation to the status of children. It invariably creates new forms of children who
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44
would no longer have father and mother as parents but instead father and father or mother
and mother. And with respect to human dignity, these new class of children would have been
grossly dehumanised and demeaned and their rights to life and dignity severely violated, even
out-rightly denied, by the sheer consequence of Obergefell v. Hodges.
A strict application of the Obergefell decision may equally invalidate or eliminate the existing
legal requirements which prohibit marriage of persons within certain degrees of affinity and
consanguinity, thereby promoting or permitting some degree of incestuous or interfamilial
sexual activity or marriage which are prohibited in America and almost universally(Sackett
2015). And in the words of Bosnia and Herzegovina physician, Rajko Igic: In contrast to the
heterosexual marriage of man and a woman, same sex marriage does not produce children, thus
eliminating the dangers of inbreeding. Same sex marriage could become legal among close
cousins, brothers, sisters, uncle-nephew, and aunt-nice provided that the social, moral, and
religious restraints would permit. If Marcus Tallius Cicero were alive, he would certainly shout:
O tempora! O mores!(Igi 2015)39.
A realistic and natural understanding of these salient distinctions would have certainly
prevented the US Supreme Court from legalizing same-sex marriage, and yet securing the rights
to life, equality or dignity of persons in same-sex relationships. This is without prejudice to
certain Public health research which, though failing also to recognize the distinction between
same-sex relationship and same-sex marriage, suggests certain advantages of legalizing samesex relationships. For instance, that discriminatory environments and prohibition of same-sex
marriage are detrimental to health, and that legalizing same-sex marriage contributes to better
health for LGBT people. Furthermore, that it led to fewer mental health care visits and
expenditures for gay men and reduced psychological distress among lesbian, gay, and bisexual
adults in legally recognized same-sex relationships (Gonzales 2014).
39
"O tempora o mores" is a sentence by Cicero in the fourth book of his second oration against Verres (chapter 25)
and First Oration against Catiline. It translates as Oh the times! Oh the customs! (Oh what times! Oh what
customs! or, alternatively, Alas the times, and the manners): See Ottenheimer, I. & M. Latin-English Dictionary
1955. This sentence is now used as an exclamation to criticize present-day attitudes and trends, often jokingly and
wryly.
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45
One wonders if a further expansion of Obergefell may not someday define, expand and authorise
legal marriage (by legislation, judicialization or judislations),40 between a human and animal
couple under another possible interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, even though
animals cannot volunteer requisite consent. At such repressible but irreversible point the truth
may then become manifest that judicial decisions that make same-sex marriage legally or
otherwise equivalent to heterosexual marriage will create inequality rather than solving it. This
will underscore the strong possibility that social forces will, indeed, operate to restore equity in
ways that may increase social dysfunction (Schumm 2015). Alternatively, while marriage will
continue to be important to people of faith and in certain cultures, civil marriage will gradually
become little more than a means of registration of intimate partnerships (Parkinson 2015).
Conclusion
This paper has argued to what extent it considers Obergefell v. Hodges as a judicialization of
the impossible. Whatever plausible arguments supporting this view may only be relevant for
their scholarship value with respect to the United States since judgement has already been
pronounced by the highest court in the land, and must therefore be obeyed. Nonetheless, this
paper remains severally significant having explored the proper meaning, true character and
content of marriage, as well as the proper distinction between marriage and union. It further
shows that the quest to secure marriage equality right, non-discrimination or human dignity
under the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution has been unnecessarily overstretched
and misplaced. It therefore concludes that a same-sex marriage is naturally impossible despite
its legalization by judicialization. Most of all, this paper provides alternative legal scholarship
upon which the US Supreme Court may deem fit to reverse itself and set aside the Obergefell
decision in future.
This phrase refers to a law made by the court. It was formulated and used to describe the uncommon judislative
role of judicial creativity and activism of a court, especially the Supreme Court of India, in assuming and exercising
(and without usurping, but rather complementing) the traditional law-making function of the legislature. (See
Aloysius Ndubuisi Ojilere (2015). Quest for a Sustainable Legal Framework for the Protection of Womens Right to
Dignity in Nigeria: Lessons from India and South Africa, PhD Thesis, Faculty of Law, University of Malaya,
Malaysia.
40
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Addendum
True, Obergefell v. Hodges may have created an almost general presumption/belief that the US
Supreme Court has legalized same-sex marriage across the United States. This seems untrue! In
January 2016, Chief Justice Roy S. Moore of the Supreme Court of Alabama, issued an
administrative order insisting that the ban on same-sex marriage in Alabama (earlier upheld by
the Supreme Court of Alabama in March 2015) still stands.
The judge ingeniously argued, and this paper agrees with him, albeit technically, that Obergefell
v. Hodges invalidates the marriage bans in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee only
that is, the specific laws named in Obergefell but not necessarily in Alabama.41This further
confirms that both within and outside the judiciary, the last has not been heard of the legalization
of same-sex marriage in the United States of America (Culhane 2016).
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Smith, A. D., P. Tapsoba, N. Peshu, E. J. Sanders and H. W. Jaffe (2009). "Men who have sex
with men and HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa." The Lancet 374(9687): 416-422.
Soulby, D. M., S. B. Kennedy, E. J. Meli and L. Orlando (Summer 2015). "Do the Liberty and
Equality Principles of the Fourteenth Amendmdnt Embrace Same-Sex Marriage?" Benefits
Law Journal 28(2): 29-61.
Strasser, M. (2001). "Same-Sex Marriages and Civil Unions: On Meaning, Free Exercise, and
Constitutional Guarantees." Loy. U. Chi. LJ 33: 597.
Strauss, G. (2015). "Why the State Cannot Abolish Marriage: A Partial Defense of Legal
Marriage." Ind. LJ 90: 1261.
Tamale, S. (2011). "Researching and theorising sexualities in Africa." African sexualities: a
reader: 11-36.
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Thoreson, R. and S. Cook, Eds. (2011). Nowhere to turn: blackmail and extortion of LGBT
people in sub Saharan Africa, New York, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
Commission.
Treas, J., J. Lui and Z. Gubernskaya (2014). "Attitudes on marriage and new relationships:
Cross-national evidence on the deinstitutionalization of marriage." Demographic Research 30.
Weller, P. G. (2015). Religion and State in Marriage, Cohabitation and Civil Partnership:
Examples, Typologies and Contestations from the United Kingdom. The Changing World
Religion Map, Springer: 3303-3319.
Wojcik, S., P. Ditto, M. Motyl, R. Iyer, S. Koleva, J. Graham and J. Haidt (2013).
"Conservative self-enhancement and the happiness gap." Unpublished manuscript.[MM].
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Secular Official Law and Unofficial Sharia. The Sociology of Sharia: Case Studies from
around the World, Springer: 51-65.
Aloy Ojilere, LL.B (Hons.), BL, LL.M, PhD, is an attorney. He lectures in the Faculty of Law,
Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria. He is a University of Malaya Excellence Awardee for
outstanding achievement in PhD completion in less than 3 years. His research interest is in the
judicialization, globalization and constitutionalization of fundamental rights in Nigeria, India
and South Africa. Some of his recent publications include: Aloy Ojilere, & Gan Ching Chuan,
(2015). Learning from the Indian Judiciary: New Directions for Securing Nigerian Womens
Right to Dignity. Asian Women, 31(1), 81-106; Ojilere, A., & Gan, C. C. (2015). The Protection
of Womens Dignity and Sexual Rights in International Law: Basic Lessons on Core Thematic
Human Rights Documents. Orient Law Journal, 2(January), 61-81, Nigerian Bar Association,
Owerri, Imo State; Aloy Ojilere, & Gan, C. C. (2015). Where There Is No Law: Judicial
Guidelines for Protecting Nigerian Womens Sexual Dignity at the Workplace: Lessons from
India. Imo State University Journal of Public Law, Vol.1, No. 2, pp. 11-21, Department of Public
Law, Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria; Aloy Ojilere & Gan C. C. (2015). Globalization
and Judicialization of Socio-economic Rights in India and South Africa: Catalysts for New
Directions in Nigeria. Comparative Constitutional Law & Administrative Law Quarterly
(CACLQ), Vol. 2 Issue 4, pp. 4-27, National Law University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. The
author may be contacted at aloyojilere@yahoo.com.
Dr. Aloy Ojilere, 2016

2016, by Dr. Aloy Ojilere. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution
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Book Review of Unni Wikan, In Honor of Fadime: Murder & Shame.

Translated by Anna Paterson. 2008 [2003]. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press. 305 pp. $24
Fareeha Ali
Introduction
The writer Unni Wikan, a Norwegian by nationality is a social anthropologist who has worked
at various universities a professor of social anthropology. Wikan has also worked as a consultant
with international organisations such as United Nations International Children's Emergency
Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP).
In this book, the author tried to explore Fadimes (a Swedish girl of Turkish origin) honour
killing case under the light of different socio- cultural traditions and immigration issues. Honour
killing is one of an extreme act of violence against women which highlights their subordinated
position within patriarchal societies. Since last few decades Anthropologists, social scientists,
journalists and NGOs in different parts of the world have started to raise this issue seriously
through exploring case studies, writing books, articles and several projects.
According to Human Rights Watch (2001), honour killings are acts of vengeance. These types
of killings are usually carried out by male members against female members of the family.
These female members have been deemed to bring dishonour upon the family. Honour killing
goes across various cultures where family honour is extremely important and women are
considered as a keeper of family honour.
In recent years, the issue of honour killings has risen to prominence in Europe among the
diaspora community (Dogan, 2016). However, mostly honour killings are argued to have their
origin in patriarchal societies where traditional, cultural, and social norms have been used to
explain the occurrences of honour killings. Unni Wikan tried to explore this brutal act while
examining a case study of a Turkish girl Fadime Sahindal who was murdered by her father at
the age of 25 in the year 2002 on her visit to her home town of Uppsala. Fadime belonged to a
Kurdish family that emigrated from Turkey and was living in Sweden for the last twenty years.
Fadime fell in love with a Swedish man Patrick Lindesjo and refused her arranged marriage.
This act was highly unacceptable by her father and brothers. She was accused of refusing her
families traditions when she stood by her love Patrik in spite of going for forced marriage. She
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was labelled as a bad girl in her family who had brought shame and destroyed their family
honour. She left her home and received life threats from her father and brothers. At last, she
was killed by her father in front of her mother and younger sisters. Her family took away her
life to wash the shame and humiliation that was tagged to them because of her refusal to follow
the family traditions. Killing her seemed a way to restore lost honour for the family.
The major focus of the writers analysis is based on the life of immigrants living in European
and Western countries like Sweden. These immigrants not only have to struggle for their social
integration, but they also have to defend their native culture. In these situations, a woman suffers
a lot and in this case, it was Fadime.
The book is written in simple language that includes various chapters which offer its reader to
critically analyse Fadimes killing. Unni Wikan has tried to raise all the questions that can arise
in a readers mind. Such questions include the insufficient Swedish policies for the social
integration of immigrants and the way the culture of Turkish community was blamed for her
murder. Unni Wikan drew her analysis after interviewing friends and family members of
Fadime. She also attended two court trials of her father.
Fadime story is all about her individual rights, about her strength, fearlessness and her love for
life. Unni Wikan not only explains the sufferings of Fadime but also touches the agony and pain
of her family because of this conflict. Fadimes family lived in Sweden for about 20 years. They
were Kurdish and migrated from Turkey/Upsala when Fadime was only seven years old. From
the research, it has been found that the family was Muslims but were not strict followers. She
was raised under a totally different atmosphere, unlike her native country where womens
subordination and cases like honour killing were not unusual. The social circle of this family in
Sweden was immense as lots of family members lived there. Fadimes father had worked for 16
years in Sweden.
Discussion
This case study had been discussed within various dimensions in seven parts of the book. In an
early section of the book, Wikan presented a discussion to understand the lives of Swedish
immigrants while presenting case studies of Sara and Pela. These women were also victims of
honour killing. In next section, the writer discussed Fadimes case and explained honour and
shame of the community and its association between with controlling womens sexuality and
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decision making. She highlighted that poor integration and inclusion amongst immigrants in
western countries bring such clashes. These incidents are linked to womens freedom, and there
is a dire need to solve these conflicts.
Unni Wikan also differentiates between honour Killing and crime of passions. According to her,
the agenda behind both the killings is different. Honour killing is all about controlling women,
under the structural systems and norms of society. She raised an intriguing point that honour
killing indicates the dominant ideology of following collective norms over individual choice.
Wikan deliberately avoids mentioning any particular religion or culture but on the other hand,
she explains a few more case studies of other women who happened to be Muslims.
Wikan has repeatedly given too sweeping statements to highlight Exile in her discussion as an
option to prevent honour killing. I do not find this option as a solution since, there are lots of
cases where women who ran away and hid from their families in such conditions where Fadime
was caught in. Their immediate ancestors or male members of their family haunted and killed
them even after many years. The solution is always in discussion rather that running away from
a problem, which usually could increase the urge of revenge for ruining the family name and
honour (as associated with these womens).
In the last two parts of this book Wikan tried to convince her readers that this brutal killing by
her father could be justified with the theology of emotions and love. She tried to find out some
humanity in this brutal honour killing while giving value to the emotions and feelings of her
family. This is disturbing because it is true that the family members might feel rejection and
dishonour from their communities but they could choose some other options than killing their
daughters or sisters. No law could support this act; no one has the right to kill a woman.
I agree with Wikans point of view stating that it is not any particular religion like Islam that is
responsible for such killings rather its the culture and the power of collective groups which
promotes and clear pathways for such brutality. Wikan argues that Fadime and her family were
victims of inhuman traditions. However, in my analysis, it is Fadime who was victimised
multiple times, the decision was in her fathers hand, and she was judged in her family court
within the boundaries of their cultural mores. I agreed when Wikan said that Individuals right
and integrity come first then that of culture.
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The book offers solutions to the gaps related to law and structural issues responsible for this
brutal act. Labelling honour killings and honour crimes could lead changes in policies and laws
about violence against women. I agree with her explanation that most of the immigrant girls live
with a risk of forced marriages. Their refusal to these marriages leads to honour killings. The
girls should be given the right and freedom of choice. Cultural integration of immigrants by the
western world can be the solution to minimise such incidents.
Honour killing is a form of extremism, and it cannot be justified by any reason, the responsible
person should be punished by law. Wikans practical work out along with theoretical
discussions related to honour killing in this book should be taken into account by policy makers
especially for the diasporic communities in the West.
References
Dogan, R. (2016). The dynamics of honor killings and the perpetrators experiences.
Homicide Studies, 20(1), 53-79.
Human Rights Watch (2001). Integration of the human rights of women and the gender
perspective: Violence against Women and Honor Crimes. Access from <
https://www.hrw.org/news/2001/04/05/item-12-integration-human-rights-women-and-genderperspective-violence-against-women>, access on 20th August 2016.
Wikan, U. Department of Social Anthropology, Access on 22nd August 2016.
from http://www.sv.uio.no/sai/english/people/aca/uwikan/index.html
Fareeha Ali is originally from Pakistan. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Human Services
from University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She is an Anthropologist with a double master,
one in Anthropology (Pakistan) and second Masters is in Gender and Development
(Australia). She also holds an MPhil degree in Anthropology from Pakistan. Fareeha has
been working in international and local NGOs for six years as a qualitative researcher and as
a project manager for multiple community based projects in Pakistan. She has also received
two international scholarships within her field. Her email id is: fareeharana@gmail.com.
Fareeha Ali, 2016

2016, by Fareeha Ali. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License. To view a copy of this license, visit
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Social Commentary: Not all victims of rape will be recognised as such

in the eyes of the law
Wenluan Chi
Abstract
This social commentary discusses the contemporary stance of the Chinese government and
Chinese society on the issue of marital rape in China. I have focused on this issue from a feminist
perspective and the discussion is based mainly on my observations which are based on ideas
from a selection of academic readings. When I came to New Zealand to take gender studies
courses, I first understood marital rape as a form crime. After this I was able to understand that
the marital rape exemption is a reflection of patriarchal legislative system and socio-cultural
mores of contemporary Chinese society.
Keywords: China, domestic violence, marital rape, violence, women, sexual violence
Introduction
According to Encyclopedia Dictionary on Roman Law, the word rape originally derived from
the Latin verb "rapere", which means "to seize or take by force" (p.667-768). Rape can be
defined as a crime in the criminal statutes of most countries and the criminalization of rape
under international law (Abegunde, 2013). However, a search of the Statistics New Zealand
website reveals that only nine percent of rapes are registered by police. The U.S Department of
State has reported that China had 31,833 rapes in 2007 (Marquez, 2009). This is twice as were
recorded in the 2005 statistics (15000) (Marquez, 2009). The crime of rape is an enormous
criminal problem in China.
There are different classifications of rape, including: war rape, gang rape, child rape and marital
rape. Marital rape is one form of rape that largely goes unrecognised in many countries both at
a legal and socio-cultural level since sex is often viewed to be an important basis of a marriage.
Marital rape is also known as spousal rape, and it includes non-consensual sex committed by
victims partner or wife. Under international law, marital rape is considered to be more
damaging than rape committed by a stranger (Abegunde, 2013).
However, there are significant differences around the world concerning the question of
legalisation around marital rape as legislating in this area is viewed to be a strong threat to the
traditional collective and patriarchal basis of the institution of marriage (Kohli, 2012). For
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example, in North and South America, in the whole of Europe, in South Africa, in Australia and
New Zealand, marital rape is a crime. On the other hand, in many patriarchal societies such as
China, India, and many countries of North and Central Africa, and in the Middle Eastern Islamic
countries, the act of marital rape is not criminalised
It is important to note that the phenomenon of criminalising marital rape is quite contemporary.
In the past, most Western countries did not consider marital rape as a form of crime. For
instance, in Europe and in the United States, following the Biblical teaching, husbands were
exempted from the belief that they could commit rape against their wives. This was known in
law as the marital exemption.
Since the 1980s, major shifts in institutionalised patriarchal ideologies started taking place. The
United States established Marital Rape laws in all its States from the early of 1990, State by
State (Bergen, 2006). By 1993 all States in the USA had such laws. In England, the residual
common-law rule that a man committed no offence by forcing sexual intercourse on his wife
was abolished by the Court of Appeal in 1992 (Bergen, 2006). A decision that has made marital
rapes an offence in all, rather than in exceptional, circumstances. New Zealand criminalised
marital rape in the year 1985. All these countries have criminalised marital rape, but this only
took place reasonably recently; however, this represents a victory for feminists and symbolises
a significant achievement in promoting increased public awareness in the area of womens
personal autonomy over their bodies (Ross, 2015), In this context, China has a long way to go
to challenge the patriarchal notions of wife being a husbands property.
Marital rape in China

I chose to discuss Chinas stance on marital rape because I was born there and grew up there.
Until I moved to New Zealand to do studies in gender I was never able to question or think of
marital rape as a form of crime. I believe this was because of gender socialization in a patriarchal
society where married womens bodies are viewed as the property of their husband.
In China, there is no legislation that specifically outlaws marital rape; however, it might be
viewed as a form of domestic violence under certain circumstances (Li, 2015). For example, a
legal doctrine in the Chinese highest court in 2001 (Li, 2015) declared that husbands cannot be
charged for raping their wives, unless the couple has previously filed for divorce (Criminal
Division One of the Superme People's Court, 2001). There remain problems of unclear
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guidelines for assessing evidence related to domestic violence, evaluation intimation, or

allocating damages (Li, 2015). Even if a wife is forced to have sex unwillingly, this does not
break the law in China. In patriarchal societies the power to make decisions over almost
everything, including sexuality and how it is exercised and legalized, belongs to men.
Reiterating the earlier stated argument, I will say that patriarchal culture and history of China
has influenced its current legal processes. The framing of womens rights in China is largely
under the control of male leaders. Earlier under the Chinese government and the Republic of
China (1912-49), women were legally slaves, who were bought or sold under the guise of
domestic servants (Smedley, 1976). However, in 1949 the Republic of China was overthrown by
Mao Zedong, and the Peoples Republic of China was founded in the same year. In the middle
month of 1950, the Peoples Republic of China established the New Marriage Law to stop the
sale of women into slavery. The New Marriage Law also claim to raising the legal age of
marriage to men 20s and women 18s. As a result, there was an important part women are no
longer legally be sold and bought by landlords and men and women were officially declared to
be equal (Noboro, 2010).
However, it is important to note that a majority of women in China are not only dependent on
men for financial survival but also for their social acceptance. A woman without her husband is
often viewed as promiscuous and too threatening for patriarchal structures for the society.
Therefore, women often put up with different forms of abuse within their marital lives. For
instance, a survey conducted by Tianjin Normal University in 2013 reported that 50% of Chines
men have sexually or physically abused their partners, and 20% had forced their partner to have
sex (Shanghaiist, 2013). These overwhelming figures explain the urgent need to have a law
dealing with the marital rape problem.
In contemporary China, both socio-cultural norms and current legislation encourage women to
not to report marital rape; instead it should be viewed as a familys private matter that needs to
be confined within the four walls of the home. A wife is socially and legally expected to not to
bring such family scandals up in public as it will be a matter of shame for the whole affinal
and maternal family on both the husbands and wifes side. This creates a vicious cycle of sexual
abuse, for the victims of marital rape in China rather prefer to keep the secret away from public
eyes.
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Marital rape is a form of legalised sexual slavery where the victims have no voice and no help.
This makes it one of the most precarious forms of rape and the victims may not be able to
recover as they continue to live with their perpetrators under the same roof. The offender is in
a position to repeat the crime on a regular basis practising his power and control over the victim.
Conclusion
In this commentary, I have examined the reproduction of patriarchal ideology in China by not
legalising marital rape as a form of crime, and wives as victims of sexual violence. I explored
the fact that China has no legal protection and social recognition of the victimisation of for
marital rape victims. Even though marriage law is introduced the legal system in the area of
domestic violence, there is still a lack of clear guidelines for assessing evidence connected to
domestic violence, evaluating victimization, or allocating damages. Also, culture and history
affect the development of the legal processes in China. On the other hand, other countries
have laws prohibiting marital rape. In future, Chinese law and society must continue to work
and improve the rights of those who have experienced marital rape, at the very least, to have
the victims of rape recognized as having equal rights in the eyes of the law.
I now have a better understanding of gender based violence, womens oppression and
subordination within patriarchal cultures, such as China. I am able to question these deeply
ingrained gender scripts. A major shift and transformation of patriarchal ideology is
indispensable to change womens subordinate position within Chines society. This social
change will aid in the framing of women friendly legislation.
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References
Abegunde, B. (2013). Re-examination of rape and its growing jurisprudence under international law. Journal of
Politics and Law , 6 (4), 187-199.
Bergen, R. k. (2006). Marital rape: New research and directions. VAWnet: The National Online Resource Center on
Violence Against Women , 1-13.
Criminal Division One of the Superme People's Court. (2001). Criminal Division One of the Superme People's
Court. Criminal Trial Guide .
Encyclopedia Dictionary on Roman Law.
Jordan, C. (2011). The University of Kentucky center for research on violence against women: Bringing women's
stories to the advancement of science. Violence Against Women , 17 (9), 1137-1158.
Kohli, A. (2012). Gang rapes and molestation cases in India: Creating mores for eve-testing. The Journal of Te
Awatea Violence Research Centre , 10 (1&2), 13-18.
Li, K. (2015). What he did was lawful: Divorce litigation and gender inequality in China. Law & Policy , 37 (3),
153-178.
Marquez, P. (2009, July 05). Rape in China. Retrieved June 17, 2016 from US-China Today:
http://www.uschina.usc.edu/w_usct/showarticle.aspx?articleID=13037&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Noboro, N. (2010). Land reform and new marriage law in China. The Developing Economies , 48 (2), B5.
Ross, J M, 2015, Making marital rape visible: A history of American legal and social movement criminalizing rape
in marriage, Dissertation, University of Nebraska.
Smedley, A. (1976). Portraits of Chinese Women in Revolution. New York: The Feminist Press .
Shanghaiist, 2013, Survey: Half of Chinese men abuse their partners. Retrieved from
http://shanghaiist.com/2013/05/10/50_percent_of_chinese_men_abuse_partners_1_in_4_admit_to_rape.php
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Wenluan Chi has her BA in Gender Studies at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. She has
an immense passion for womens rights. Her research interests include domestic violence, marital rape,
violence, women, sexual violence, in China.
Wenluan Chi, 2016

2016, by Welunan Chi. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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Social Commentary: Rehabilitation of Mentally ill Women in India

Suman Ramavat
Abstract
In my recent visit to India (summer 2016) I visited a mental health hospital which cares for both male
and female patients from a range of backgrounds and age groups. These patients suffer from a
combination of psychological, physical and social problems. My encounters with the patients, including
rape victims with mental illness, inspired me to write about their situation. In this social commentary I
will raise several concerns regarding the rehabilitation of rape victims. The information is based on my
personal observations and conversations and interactions I had with the doctor of the mental health
institution. I have also used data from secondary sources in order to provide a better insight into the
situation facing contemporary India. Many of the women in the hospital I visited had been homeless
before they were picked up from the roadside by government bodies and NGOs; many of these women
had been staying in the hospital for many years. My observations show how different factors such as
homelessness and a lack of adequate resources for mentally ill women lead to their victimisation and
marginalisation from society. I will make recommendations for the rehabilitation of these destitute
women that will help them to break this vicious cycle of marginalisation. Some of these
recommendations are: involvement of different agencies for the resettlement of women, providing them
with government jobs and ensuring they have adequate housing.
Keywords: beggars, destitute, homeless, mental health, rape, women

Introduction
This social commentary discusses the victimisation of homeless female beggars who are suffering from
mental illness in Delhi, the capital of India. A lack of adequate housing, sexual abuse, rape, rejection by
society and concerns for their rehabilitation are some of the issues that are faced by these women; these
issues are discussed in this commentary.
In India, as in most parts of the world, beggars are often homeless. The Indian census defines homeless
people as those who are not living in census houses, that is, a basic structure with a roof (Chaudhry et
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al, 2014). Therefore, homeless people are forced to live on footpaths, roadsides, drainage pipes, outside
religious institutions, and platforms (Indian Census, 1994). An increased homeless population is quite
visible in urban areas in contemporary India.
Urbanisation has resulted in the increase of urban homelessness by 21% whereas rural homelessness has
declined by 30% (Rukmini, 2013). According to Indian census figures Delhi alone has a homeless
population of 46,724 (Rukimini, 2013). However, it is highly likely that the actual numbers are much
higher: it is claimed by some activists that not every homeless individual was enumerated in the census.
Indeed, it is not possible to enumerate the entire homeless population since they do not have permanent
shelter.
Irrespective of the accuracy of the figures, it is a fact that homeless people are vulnerable: they are
deprived of their basic human rights and are subjected to different forms of crime. Women and girl
children are even more vulnerable and they often suffer from hunger, physical and verbal violence,
sexual assault, rape, health risks, sexually transmitted infections (Chaudhry et al, 2014; Kumar, 2014).
Among these groups of females, the most marginalised are the ones with mental illness. Because they
often fail to protect themselves from hunger and aforementioned abuses. Further even when they suffer
sexual and physical abuse there are high chances of their not being able to identify the perpetrator or
even able to address the abuse they have gone through. For their basic survival, similar to other beggars,
homeless females with mental health issues often beg on the roads and they might be fed by the passerby out of mercy.
Mental illness is quite common among the homeless population. A few NGOs, police and magistrates
are often involved in the process of rehabilitation of the mentally ill homeless population. In order to
have a deeper insight into the overall situation I decided to visit a mental hospital which looks after this
population.
My field visit
I visited a mental health hospital in Delhi, India, in the summer of 2016 where the majority of inmates
suffer from Severe Mental Illnesses (SMIs), Common Mental Disorders (CMDs) and Alcohol & Drug
Abuse Problems. This health institution is spread across more than 70 acres and cares for both male and
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female patients. A lot of the patients there are homeless (especially women). Around 50% of the
homeless population suffer from mental disorders. The problems commonly found were substance
abuse, severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, and personality disorders (Desai &
Shivalkar, 2008).
All inmates were wearing neat and clean dresses, some were playing in the grounds, a few were busy in
talking to themselves, and a few were playing board games. While observing them I experienced a mix
of feelings: I was happy to see them in a secure and safe environment, yet on the other hand, I felt sad to
view their inability to live normal lives.
I am not sure whether my experience of the hospital was representative or whether it was staged as the
hospital authorities were aware that somebody was visiting them from overseas. I had these dubious
thoughts because of comments I had read in case studies discussed in the article (on generic conditions
of mental health patients) Treated worse than animals Abuses against women and girls with
psychosocial and intellectual disabilities in Institutions in India (Barriga, 2014) which included quotes
from patients, such as: we are treated worse than animals, and another inmate stated she feels
suffocated there and wanted to go home.
While visiting the various buildings of the hospital I was curious to know how people get admitted. I
was told that most of them are admitted by their relatives and a few get picked up by police from the
roadside. Those homeless mentally ill people that are picked up are taken into court where they are
assessed by judges and many are referred to mental health hospitals such as the one I visited.
Another thing that I observed was there were significantly more women inmates than men. I asked about
this and the doctor responded that gender plays an important role in rehabilitation Almost equal numbers
of males and females get admitted on monthly basis but many times women were not taken back to
home by their family even after they get better because of the social stigma (many of them are sexually
abused) and poverty (families are not financially well to do).
It was quite interesting to learn that some of the patients had been residing in the hospital for 40 years;
in all that time nobody had come to take them back home. All this raised a couple of questions in my
mind: did these women already have mental health problems because of which they become homeless
and their families abandoned them? Or did their sexual exploitation accompanied with homelessness
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cause their mental health condition? Serious mental illness affects peoples daily lives they are not able
to take care of themselves, make decisions for themselves, are unable to form strong relationships with
others, and are capable of harming themselves and others (Kumar, 2014). This results in family,
guardians, and care-givers withdrawing their support, eventually making the person homeless (Kumar,
2014). Being homeless is not only the absence of a roof; it carries an implication of belonging nowhere.
This vulnerability may not be able to be understood by people who enjoy robust mental health.
During my visit I was taken to a ward for mothers and children. There were around 10 beds. A few of
them were occupied by rape victims who were also suffering from mental illness. This prompted me to
ask about the rehabilitation process for these women. The doctor told me that the patients stay under
hospital care until they are fully recovered, but in most cases nobody comes to take them back to home
as a lot of stigma is attached to accepting a rape victim with mental illness, especially those with a child.
In such cases women stay at a hospital until an NGO assumes custody of both them and their children.
But there are many who stay at the hospital for a prolonged period and often their children are given
over for adoption.
This all made me realise that mentally ill female homeless beggars are more vulnerable and
marginalised than other female beggars. These women are not capable of taking care of themselves, and
are sometimes not able to judge right or wrong done to them due to cognitive impairment.
What I have come to know through my field experience is that good medical care and proper residential
care is only available in bigger cities. This was apparent even in the uniform worn by residential patients
in larger centres. In many smaller cities there is a lack of doctors and proper residential care in the
mental hospitals. There could be many more reasons for the lack of facilities in the hospitals. However,
my concern was how long they stay in care and what happens after they get better? How do they get
back their self-esteem and confidence? What are their chances of getting married and what are their
chances of getting a job and achieving financial stability?
I asked many more questions of the doctor who was with me throughout my visit. He gave me answers
to many of my questions but he even could not give me a satisfactory response in regards to
rehabilitation of these women.
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66
I told him that I was really concerned about their rehabilitation as, after living in these hospitals for a
long time under excessive medication, how they could get better? I asked the doctor if they offered any
employment opportunities for these women as part of their recovery process. The doctor did not have
any answers but he did admit that if these women got jobs as per their capabilities they would recover
quickly; especially those of them who need to live among normal people to get better. This would
facilitate their empowerment process, helping them regain their self-esteem and motivation to take care
of themselves. Interaction with the outside environment would be healthy for their children too; it would
allow them to interact with other children and go to school with them.
But the question remains: who will take the initiative to reshape the care offered to these women?
Conclusion and recommendations

Homelessness and mental illness are closely linked (Kumar, 2014). Adequate safe housing, jobs and
other efficient rehabilitation programmes are a few initiatives that are paramount for these womens
recovery and empowerment. Further, society also needs to be educated to not to stigmatise these
victims; rather they should be able to acknowledge their situation and society should support them.
The different NGOs and government bodies who are involved in resettlement and rehabilitation of
mentally ill homeless female beggars need to respond more actively.
I conclude my commentary with a few questions which I am not able to answer:
If NGOs and government bodies are there to look after destitute women and children, then why are there
still so many on the roads of Delhi?
Do these organisations not get enough funding to provide support services to these destitute women?
What measures need to be taken to remove the taboo regarding mentally ill women, especially those
who are victims of sexual assault?
Why does the government not provide safe houses to these homeless women?
References
Barriga, S R. (2014). Treated worse than Animals Abuse against women and girls psychosocial or
Intellectual disabilities in Institutions in India. Retrieved August, 20, 2016, from
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https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/12/03/treated-worse-animals/abuses-against-women-and-girlspsychosocial-or-intellectual
Chaudhry, S., Joseph, A., Singh, I. P. (2014). Violence and Violations: The Reality of Homeless Women
in India. New Delhi, India.
Desai, G., & Shivalkar, R. (2008). Situation analysis of Homeless Women in Delhi with special
reference to Mental Health and Psychosocial Aspects. New Delhi, India.
Kumar, P. (2014). Homelessness and Mental Health: Challenging Issue in an Indian Context. American
International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, 7 (2), pp.160-163.
Rukmini, S. (2013, 7 December). Homeless population falls to 18 lakh. The Hindu. Retrieved 19 August
2016 from
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/homeless-population-falls-to-18lakh/article5432253.ece
Suman Ramavat is a law graduate of MDU, India and holds a post-graduate Diploma in Counselling
from Unitec, Auckland, New Zealand. Suman has worked in various fields including marketing, finance,
HR, law and domestic violence and Counselling. She has immense passion for marginalised people and
has been working with them for the past 17 years. Suman has represented them in various courts in
India as a lawyer. After migrating to New Zealand her desire to work for needy and marginalised
people prompted her to work as a counsellor and community worker. Suman has recently started her
NGO KRESN (Kind, respectful, empathetic to Socially Neglected) in India to provide care, protection,
education and information to the socially neglected strata of the society. She can be contact
at:suman.ind2072@gmail.com.
Suman Ramavat, 2016

2016, by Suman Ramavat. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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International Journal for Intersectional Feminist Studies

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Active Commitment consolidation of feminist

Analysis: Mapping Janies Journey Step by Step

Boisnier, Alicia D.(2003). Race andWomens Identity Development: Distinguishing

Johnson, Barbara (1987). A World of Difference. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP.

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Suman Ramavat, 2016

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