Feminism 101: Educate Yourself During Self-Quarantine

The coronavirus epidemic which has till now taken 14,757 lives all over the world out of a total of 341,696 cases has led most of the countries of the world to adapt to a system of self-quarantine, in order to curb the spread of infection as much as possible. However, most of us city-bred people do not like being made to feel isolated for even one day, let alone for several days at a stretch. We always crave to be in the loop of things and feel included on all that is happening around us. But keeping ourselves isolated need not mean getting bored at home. You can always utilize this time to learn things you had always wanted to but never got around to doing.

‘Feminism’ is a word that has been thrown around pretty recklessly, and misinterpreted grossly. Even though it is not rocket science, the word has its own implications which might not be quite clear to many of us. The modern western feminist movement is divided into 4 waves - the first wave, second wave and third wave, which chiefly revolved around the emancipation women in the West.

While feminists would surely not deny that the oppression of women is a universal phenomenon, the west has indeed dominated both the theoretical and practical aspects of the feminist movement. Feminism as a movement has developed differently in India, which was one of the countries under colonial rule in the major part of the 19th and 20th centuries. The women at the frontlines of India’s Feminist Movement include Savitribai Phule, Tarabai Shinde, and Pandita Ramabai.

If you want to know more about the Feminist Movement and its role in different parts of the world, here’s a list of engaging content across media for you:

I. Podcasts:

University of Oxford Podcasts

II.Lecture Series

Open Yale Courses with Professor Paul Fry

TED Talks on Modern Feminism

The Jesee Daniel Ames Lecture Series on Feminist Studies

Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates

Why Loiter by Shilpa Phadke

V. Lecture Notes

MIT Open Courseware

VI. Web Series :

Unbelievable, Orange Is the New Black, Gilmore Girls, Cable Girls, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel, Pose, Fleabag, Claws, Euphoria, Big Little Lies, Shrill, Chewing Gum, The Bletchley Circle, Veep

VI. Audiobooks

Moving the Mountain by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Pastor’s Wife by Elizabeth Von Arnim

VII. Documentaries:

She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry, Audrie & Daisie, Growing Up Coy, Hot Girls Wanted, Queen Mimi, Finding Home, A Ballerina’s Tale, What Happened, Miss Simone?, The Hunting Ground, Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, Feminists: What Were They Thinking?, The Testimony, Mercury, Period. End of Sentence

VIII. Movies

Pink, Parched, Lipstick Under My Burkha, Manmarziyaan, Kolamavu Kokila, Charulata, Ghare Baire, A Question of Silence, The Handmaid’s Tale, Gone Girl, The Colour Purple, The Headless Woman, Roma, Little Women

IX. Books

Fiction: The Long Silence by Shashi Deshpande, Romantic Encounters with a Sex Worker by Nalini Jameela, The Queen of Jasmine Country by Sharanya Manivannan, The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Arranged Marriage by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Seeing Like a Feminist by Nivedita Menon

Academic books: Infinite Variety: A History of Desire in India by Madhavi Menon, Patriarchy by V. Geetha, Revolutionary Desires: Women, Communism, and Feminism in India by Ania Loomba, Gendering Colonial India by Charu Gupta, Rebels, Wives, Saints: Designing Selves and Nations in Colonial Times by Tanika Sarkar, Why Loiter?: Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets by Shilpa Phadke, The History of Doing by Radha Kumar

If you enjoyed reading this article, we suggest you also read:

What’s The Problem With Feminism?

This Is Why We Need Feminism [Women’s Rights In India]

Meet The Girls Using Bharatnatyam To Explore Feminism