Female Pleasure and the Gender Politics of “Girliyapa”

in Girlhood Studies
Author:
Shailendra Kumar Singh Research Scholar Shailendra.cat09@gmail.com

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Abstract

In this article, I examine the discursive portrayals of gendered experience and subject positions through Sarjita Jain's “Girliyapa,” an online entertainment channel (on YouTube) for female-oriented content in India. I demonstrate how the question of female pleasure that the channel repeatedly foregrounds by way of introducing relatively censored topics of discussion (such as girls buying condoms or articulating their orientation toward same-sex love) is inextricably intertwined with a gender politics that never turns a blind eye to the existing conventions, stereotypes, or structural inequalities that precipitate gender-based violence and discrimination throughout the country. The widespread prevalence of marital rape, color prejudice, and workplace sexism which, in turn, does not allow for a straightforward valorization of girl power is thus satirically interrogated by “Girliyapa.”

Contributor Notes

Shailendra Kumar Singh (ORCID: 0000-0002-6848-8108) is a research scholar working in the areas of gender studies, postcolonial literature and South Asian cinema. His articles have been published in South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Journal of Lesbian Studies, Fat Studies, and South Asian Popular Culture. E-mail: Shailendra.cat09@gmail.com

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