Shivani Mody - Week Six

"Why Loiter - Radical Possibilities for Gendered Dissent" by Shilpa Phadke, Shilpa Ranade and Sameera Khan 

In their piece “Why Loiter?”, Shilpa Phadke, Shilpa Ranade and Sameera Khan explain why reclaiming a seemingly frivolous right, such as the one to loiter, is imperative and inclusive. Furthermore, although women’s rights in India have often focused on violence, the right to pleasure by default includes better access to safety which would serve the bigger purpose of reducing gender violence.

The authors focus specifically on Mumbai, which is known for being a women-friendly city. However, much of this access is limited to women of a certain class, who fit the ideal definition of morality and are high in the ladder of social hierarchy. The innate distrust of the tapori figure, is one such illustration of how deep class hierarchies run and are internalised.

A woman accessing public spaces often has to go through an elaborate procedure of dressing and representing herself in a way that shows purpose, religion or familial connections. This limited access is amplified by the public discourse of what a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ woman looks and behaves like. The image of sex- workers is posed against that of an ideal woman.

The authors propose that the necessity for loitering comes from the fact that it can potentially disrupt the notion of normative respectable femininity that is expected in public spaces. It also allows women to foster self-identity rather than experience their own city anonymously. Further, it questions what is included in the definition of citizenship rights and challenges the new global order of the city. By allowing for all this, loitering creates a more inclusive citizenship that is devoid of social hierarchies.