Suppressed Sexuality in Gendered Institutions: A Re-examination of Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy

Ranita Bain

doi:10.22161/ijels.66.34

Abstract

Suppressed Sexuality in Gendered Institutions: A Re-examination of Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy

Highlights

Socializing factors like, schools, parents, peer groups, and legal forces etc. all of them combine together to alienate women from fulfilling their own sexual desires and transform their sexual appetites into a subdued residue
Sexuality is a term, which is used to talk about how we perceive our bodies and how we understand our relationships. It is an issue in which social values are often translated into legal norms.Countless women grew up and lived their lives with far less sexual pleasure than they would have enjoyed in the absence of such social and legal norms
“In prehistoric human societies, the powerful sex drive of women created havoc—not to mention making the men feel insecure—and societies instituted restrictions on female sexuality to bring it more in line with male sexuality” (Hyde & De Lamater 360). They add to this thought that these are “the restrictions on female sexuality that persist to the present day” (360); “the sexual regulation of women .... is one of the foundations upon which the state rests” (140) and is “an essential feature of patriarchal power” (140)

Summary

Introduction

Socializing factors like, schools, parents, peer groups, and legal forces etc. all of them combine together to alienate women from fulfilling their own sexual desires and transform their sexual appetites into a subdued residue. Women themselves know very well that they are not permitted by society to express their sexual feelings or even to enjoy sex in many contexts. “In prehistoric human societies, the powerful sex drive of women created havoc—not to mention making the men feel insecure—and societies instituted restrictions on female sexuality to bring it more in line with male sexuality” (Hyde & De Lamater 360).

Results

Conclusion