Heteronormativity, Passionate Aesthetics and Symbolic Subversion in Asia

Book excerpt: "This book examines life trajectories among three categories of women living beyond the bounds of heteronormativity in Jakarta and Delhi, two major cities with substantively different religious and social values: women who have lost their husbands, either through divorce or death; sex workers; and young, urban lesbians. The Indian state is constitutionally committed to secularism and equal respect to all regions despite right-wing Hindu fundamentalism.The Indonesian state is constitutionally secular, but religion plays a large role in public life and is embedded in regulations that strongly impact people's private lives. Recently, there have been strong political currents to impose stricter Islamic codes. The public arena of sexual politics, in which the media play an important role, is explored in both cities"--