Policing Sexual Agency: Societal Perceptions of Transwomen

How does the state define “women”? This course argues that womanhood (according to the state) is a socio-political construct produced to channel bodies into reproductive, economic, and social functions where they can be regulated. We map this production across three ontological stations of the reproductive axis of control: maiden, mother, and crone. Against this axis stands the “feral femme”: the figure who refuses domestication.

This course traces them across centuries. We encounter Gauhar Jaan (born Angelina Yeoward), an Armenian-Indian courtesan, who was the first woman and the first Indian artist to record a Gramophone Disc. We then travel light years to encounter the Golden Vinyl Record on the Voyager 1, launched by NASA in 1977, which carried the Sounds of the Earth. Amongst the selected sounds, a recording of yet another courtesan’s voice, Kesarbai Kerkar, floats in space today. As we await the aliens to discover our famous courtesans’ voices,…