Heteronormativity, Passionate Aesthetics and Symbolic Subversion in Asia

291 Pages·2016·2.084 MB·English

by  Saskia E Wieringa

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This book examines life trajectories among three categories of women
living beyond the bounds of heteronormativity in Jakarta and Delhi, two
major cities with substantively different religious and social values:
women who have lost their husbands, either through divorce or death; sex
workers; and young, urban lesbians. Delhi has a large Hindu majority and
a sizeable Muslim minority, amongst other religious and cultural plurali-
ties. The Indian state is constitutionally committed to secularism and
equal respect to all religions despite a strong presence of right-wing Hindu
fundamentalism. Jakarta is the capital of a sprawling archipelago with a
large variety of ethnic cultures, Indonesia having the largest Muslim popu-
lation of the world, as well as sizeable ethnic and religious minorities
comprising Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and others. The Indonesian
state is constitutionally secular, but religion plays a large role in public life
and is embedded in regulations that strongly impact peoples’ private lives.
Recently, there have been strong political currents to impose stricter
Islamic codes. The public arena of sexual politics, in which the media play
an important role, is explored in both cities. Hot sex is a major media
selling point, particularly in Indonesia.
Heteronormativity entails a system that punishes those that it excludes
and polices those that it includes; it incorporates forms of symbolic
violence. Likewise the ways its powers are subverted include symbolic
patterns. Passionate aesthetics refers to the dynamics, motivations, codes
of behavior and presentation, subjectivities and identities that together
make up the complex workings of erotic attraction, sexual relations and
partnerships patterns. By charting the lives of women who live beyond the
boundaries of the heteronormative, commonalities are revealed; bound-
aries and regulatory mechanisms in the context of symbolic violence are
delineated; and the issue of the struggle for sexual rights for marginalized
groups, and their open rebellion, brought to the fore. At the heart of the
book lies elaboration of the ways Asian families are constructed – their
social, economic, sexual and religious agency, and how these engage with
state-led values.
Saskia E. Wieringais Professor at the University of Amsterdam. Her field
of study includes women’s same-sex relations across cultures. The book
is written with the assistance of Abha Bhaiya and Nursyahbani
Katjasungkana, and a research team whose names are detailed on the
prelim title page.
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Series Editor: Dr Mina Roces, School of History,The University of New South Wales
The Sussex Libr ary of Asian Studies publishes academic manuscripts in var ious
disciplines (including interdisciplinar y and tr ansnational approaches) under the
rubric of Asian Studies – focusing on Economics ,Education, Religion, History, Politics,
Gender, and comparative studies with the West and regional studies in Asia.
Published (in order of publication)
The Politics of Dress in Asia and the Americas,Edited by Mina Roces and
Louise Edwards
Chinese Identity in Post-Suharto Indonesia: Culture, Media, Religion and
Language,by Chang-Yau Hoon
Family Ambiguity and Domestic Violence in Asia: Concept, Law and Process,
Edited by Maznah Mohamad and Saskia E. Wieringa
Han Shan, Chan Buddhism and Gary Snyder’s Ecopoetic Way,by Joan
Qionglin Tan
China’s Rising Profile: The Great Power Tradition, by Harsh V. Pant
The Independence of East Timor: Multi-Dimensional Perspectives –
Occupation, Resistance, and International Political Activism,by Clinton
Fernandes
Pool of Life: The Autobiography of a Punjabi Agony Aunt, by Kailash Puri and
Eleanor Nesbitt
Southeast Asian Migration: People on the Move in Search of Work, Marriage
and Refuge, Edited by Khatharya Um and Sofia Gaspar
Dancing the Feminine: Gender & Identity Performances by Indonesian Migrant
Women, by Monika Swasti Winarnita
Media Events in Web 2.0 China – Interventions of Online Activism, by Jian Xu
Forthcoming
Negotiating Muslim Malay Identity in Singapore, by Rizwana Abdul Azeez
w - xx - 7 - index 31/12/2015 12:03 Page iii
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Copyright © Saskia E. Wieringa, 2015.
Published in the Sussex Academic e-Library, 2016.
SUSSEX ACADEMIC PRESS
PO Box 139
Eastbourne BN24 9BP, UK
and simultaneously in the United States of America and Canada
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes
of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wieringa, Saskia, 1950– , author.
Heteronormativity, passionate aesthetics and symbolic subversion in Asia / Saskia
E. Wieringa.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84519-550-2 (hb : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-84519-769-8 (pbk : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-78284-334-4 (e-pub)
ISBN 978-1-78284-335-1 (e-mobi)
ISBN 978-1-78284-336-8 (e-pdf)
1. Minority women—Indonesia. 2. Minority women—India. 3. Sex—
Political aspects—Indonesia. 4. Sex—Political aspects—India. I. Title.
HQ1752.W538 2015
305.48’8095—dc23
2014032422
This e-book text has been prepared for electronic viewing. Some features, including
tables and figures, might not display as in the print version, due to
electronic conversion limitations and/or copyright strictures.
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Contents
Author’s Preface viii
Series Preface by Mina Roces xii
1 Researching Heteronormativity 1
Socialisation and normalisation 4
Truly Asian? 5
Research design 7
Interviewing: Meaningful encounters 11
Reflections 14
Emerging themes 18
Embodiment 18
Negotiating respectability 20
Structure of the book 21
2 Sexual Politics – Heteronormativity, Passionate Aesthetics, 23
and Symbolic Violence
Why study sexual politics? 24
Heteronormativity 27
Passionate aesthetics and symbolic violence 31
Symbolic subversion 34
Socio-sexual citizenship 36
Sexual politics and socio-sexual citizenship 38
Terminology 46
3 God’s Creatures – The Public Arena of Sexuality 49
Scope 49
Religion 50
Islam 51
Hinduism 54
Sex workers 56
Women-loving women 57
Widows 61
State power 62
Sex workers’ strategies 65
Women in same-sex relationships 68
Conclusion 71
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vi ⏐ contents
4 (De) Constructing Happy Asian Families 73
Scope 73
Some historical notes 74
Cracks in the system 82
Importance of pre-marital virginity 85
Arranged marriages 86
Polygyny in Indonesia 87
India: Joint families and dowry deaths 88
Communication between spouses 89
Money matters 91
Conclusion: Patriarchal values 92
5 Negotiating Respectability and a ‘Normal’ Family 96
Scope 96
‘Normal’ families 99
Growing up ‘normal’ 101
A ‘good’ marriage 106
‘Normal’ disappointments 108
Symbolic violence 110
Conclusion 113
6 Reduced to Mud – Expulsion and Repulsion 115
Scope 115
Widowed and divorced women 117
Sex work 122
Women-loving women 127
Conclusion 135
7 Something Divine – A Satisfying Sex Life? 137
Scope 137
Sex workers’ private lives 139
Widows’ lives 145
Women living with women 150
Conclusion 159
8 Entertainers and Soft Butches – Identities and Subjectivities 160
Scope 160
Sex workers’ identity 164
Views of women in same-sex relationships 167
Views of widowed and divorced women 174
Conclusion 177
9 This Crazy Energy – Symbolic Subversion 179
Scope 179
Empowerment 180
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Contents ⏐ vii
Continuum of subversion 181
Widows’ sexuality 183
Reasons for sex work 187
Views of women-loving women 190
Seeking economic stability 197
Finding sexual partners 197
Respectability in the community 198
Family life 198
Conclusion 199
10 A House of My Own – Strategies for the Future 201
Scope 201
Negotiating normalcy 202
Desires of women-loving women 205
Desires of widows 211
Sex workers’ futures 212
Conclusion 215
11 The Sliding Scales of Heteronormativity and Symbolic 217
Subversion
Scope 217
Embodiment and intersections 218
Passionate aesthetics 221
Sliding scale of subversion 223
Sexual rights and queer studies 229
Sliding scale of heteronormativity 231
Conclusion 234
Notes 235
Glossary 249
Bibliography 254
Index 271
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Author’s Preface
This book is the outcome of a collaborative research, training, and advo-
cacy project involving three NGOs and one research and advocacy
network – the Kartini Asia Network for Gender and Women’s Studies in
Asia (KAN). Established in Manila in May 2003, KAN’ s researchers,
activists, and trainers aim to create synergy between gender studies and
feminist activism in Asia. KAN’s main objectives are to strengthen fem-
inist analysis and perspective, work towards redistribution of economic
resources and political power, and strive for recognition of plural iden-
tities and rights, operating on the principle of the triangle of
empowerment in which activism, academic work, and political action
are linked – thus forging collaboration between regional academics and
activists, promoting Asian women’ s studies, and conducting action
research and gender training. KAN has five intersecting themes:
women’s studies, fundamentalism, livelihood, conflict (including vio-
lence against women), and sexuality. The network’s basic philosophy is
that activists must be equipped with the most advanced academic tools,
concepts, and methods, and that gender-studies scholars may be inspired
by the knowledge and questions provided by activists. Its goals are bet-
ter-trained activists and researchers, and more relevant research and
advocacy.
KAN held successful conferences in Dalian (2004) and Bali (2008),
from which several publications resulted, including the ground-breaking
anthology The Future of Asian Feminisms: Confronting Fundamental-
isms, Conflicts and Neo-Liberalism , co-edited by Nursyahbani
Katjasungkana and Saskia Wieringa (2012). Kartini members conducted
training for gender trainers and policy-makers in the field of womens ’and
gender issues. In collaboration with sexual-rights groups in Africa and
Asia, KAN coordinated the Trans/Sign research and advocacy project on
sexual rights. The report, “Women-loving-Women in Africa and Asia”,
may be downloaded from www.isiswomen.org.
The research for this book was implemented by the coordinators of the
sexuality theme: Abha Bhaiya and Saskia Wieringa. KAN’s chairperson,
Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, also played a critical role. All three have a
long history in the women’s movement.
Abha Bhaiya is one of the foremost women’s-rights activists in India,
and co-founder of Jagori. She founded the feminist training centre, Jagori-
Rural, in Himachal Pradesh, and is presently the Indian coordinator of
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Author’s PRriegfhatctet ⏐⏐ iixx
the One Billion Rising (OBR) campaign to denounce violence against
women.
Nursyahbani Katjasungkanais a human-rights lawyer, co-founder and
present national coordinator of the Indonesian Women’s Association for
Justice (APIK). She was also the first national coordinator of the
Indonesian Women’s Coalition for Justice and Democracy (KPI), and is
presently general coordinator of the International Peoples’ Tribunal (IPT)
that denounces the crimes against humanity perpetrated after October
1965 in Indonesia.
Saskia Wieringa, author of this book, joined the Dutch womens,’ third-
world solidarity, and lesbian movements in the 1970s, and went on to help
build gender-studies programmes in several countries in the ‘Global
South’, as well as cross-culturally researching the Indonesian women’ s
movement and women’s same-sex relations. She was director of Aletta,
the Amsterdam women’s library and archive (now called Atria), and is
presently a full professor at the University of Amsterdam. She is also chair-
person of the Foundation IPT 1965 in the Netherlands.
The research conducted on widows, divorcees, sex workers, and
lesbians trained junior researchers to collect data, activists conducted
advocacy activities based on the data collected, and the NGOs imple-
mented local activities based on the research results. The project resulted
in several publications, including a training manual on sexual rights that
may be downloaded from www .kartiniasia.org. Based on that manual,
various training courses and advocacy activities were implemented. The
following NGOs participated:
APIK(Asosiasi Perempuan Indonesia untuk Keadilan), or Indonesian
Women’s Association for Justice, was established by seven feminist
lawyers in Jakarta in 1995. APIK aims to contribute towards a society
characterised by gender justice; therefore, it not only deals with individual
law cases but also advocates for legal reform and gender policies. At
present, APIK has branches in 18 Indonesian cities, and its Jakarta office
has a well-established documentation centre and library . It regularly
publishes research on legal issues related to gender concerns.
Jagori, a women’s training, documentation, resource, and communi-
cation centre, was established in Delhi in 1984. Its main objectives and
achievements have been raising consciousness of violence against women
and promoting women’s health, sexual, and educational rights, while
actively researching, campaigning, and training feminists to build leader-
ship at multiple levels. Jagori has a well-established library along with a
production and distribution centre for multimedia, including films, femi-
nist music, posters, and booklets. It works directly with rural and urban
communities to strengthen the capacities of marginalised people to inter-
vene in development processes.
KPI(Koalisi Perempuan Indonesia untuk Keadilan dan Demokrasi), or
Indonesian Women’s Coalition for Justice and Democracy , was estab-