The Terra-Incognita of Power Dynamics: Interrogating Masculinity and Hypermasculinity in Dina Mehta’s ‘Brides Are Not for Burning’

Manivendra Kumar

2023

Abstract

The present paper studies Dina Mehta’s Brides Are Not for Burning (1993), which investigates the issue of women’s subjugation and makes an integral part of the canon ofIndian feminist and reformist theatre. Scholars such as Elizabeth Jackson and Laxmi Subramanyam highlight the resistance Indian playwrights offer to oppressive patriarchal traditions. Mehta further interrogates the underlying root causes of this subjugation institutionalized through stereotypes of gender performance and sexuality. The present paper reads closely the play and analyses how Dina Mehta examines masculinity, hypermasculinity, and the social stereotypes about male sexuality in the play, which generates an argument around the power dynamics in Indian society. The paper establishes that Mehta questions the reinforcing role of male sexuality in the subjugation of women through the performance of gender roles (Butler, 1988). The play, thus, initiates a discourse on the dual standards of society on the sexual issues of male and female genders.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Kumar M. (2023). The Terra-Incognita of Power Dynamics: Interrogating Masculinity and Hypermasculinity in Dina Mehta’s ‘Brides Are Not for Burning’. In Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies - Volume 1: PAMIR; ISBN 978-989-758-687-3, SciTePress, pages 757-762. DOI: 10.5220/0012503000003792

in Bibtex Style

@conference{pamir23,
author={Manivendra Kumar},
title={The Terra-Incognita of Power Dynamics: Interrogating Masculinity and Hypermasculinity in Dina Mehta’s ‘Brides Are Not for Burning’},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies - Volume 1: PAMIR},
year={2023},
pages={757-762},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0012503000003792},
isbn={978-989-758-687-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies - Volume 1: PAMIR
TI - The Terra-Incognita of Power Dynamics: Interrogating Masculinity and Hypermasculinity in Dina Mehta’s ‘Brides Are Not for Burning’
SN - 978-989-758-687-3
AU - Kumar M.
PY - 2023
SP - 757
EP - 762
DO - 10.5220/0012503000003792
PB - SciTePress