Domesticating the Feral Femme

Hypothetical Q

In Kerala, India (until 20th c.), if a sex worker walks into a temple bare-breasted & an upper-class woman walks into the same temple clothed, who is perceived as immodest? Join me as I explore the lives of Temple Sex Workers.

How does the state define “women”? This course argues that womanhood (according to the state) is a socio-political construct produced to channel bodies into reproductive, economic, and social functions where they can be regulated. We map this production across three ontological stations of the reproductive axis of control: maiden, mother, and crone. Against this axis stands the “feral femme”: the figure who refuses domestication. The course will investigate how the state attempted to domesticate the feral femme through cultural reform and legal battles.