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Sunday, April 6, 2014

Rida's Post: Zoya's Bob Femininity

Note: submitted on time

Often femininity is associated with gentleness, apathy, beauty, elegance and compassion. Zoya in dhoop kinarey defies this womanliness and portrays a femininity which is deeply submersed with masculinity. The bob cut hairstyle really amplifies the masculinity in her as she doesn't look like the dainty, ethereal female rather like the uncouth, uncivilized man who is notorious. Zoya ruffles her hair like a teenage boy and doesn’t brush and braid it like the girls of her time. The hairstyle ascends her from beauty consciousness and instils in her a self -confidence which enables her to be who she really is. Apart from her physical appearance, her mannerisms also defy female poise and aura. Her loud and unrestrained presence challenges female subjugation and bases all her relationships on equality. She maintained a 'one to one' relationship even with her father. She poked fun at him saying "I have never seen a more merciless father than you" (Mei ne aap se ziada bedard baap aaj tak naheen dekha). As a young girl growing up to be fine lady, she didn't do chores around the house like other girls of marriageable age rather was served breakfast in bed by servants. Her enthusiasm to take up a male profession like business administration and not that of a doctor or a nurse which are seen more as female occupations highlights the suffusion of female and male idiosyncrasies in zoya's personality which elevated her to be the real 'modern individual' with 'moral depth' and not just surface as Nancy Armstrong would put it.

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