Before the British colonised the Indian subcontinent, it was largely protofeminist and queer.
People from across the socio-economic spectrum explored and expressed their gender and sexuality in myriad ways. But to prudish Victorian eyes, this was scandalous. The Empire consistently curtailed Indian (wo)mxn's sexual agency and the freedoms of sexual minorities. All desire outside the heteronormative was marked as aberrant and sexually unchaste.
Colonial authorities passed a posy of laws to criminalise sexually agentive (wo)mxn and queer folks. From nautch dancers to courtesans, effeminate mxn, masculine womxn, trans and queer persons, even ascetic renunciants were classified as 'sexual deviants'. Old prejudices were mapped onto new ones. Colonial India, in effect, amalgamated ancient and medieval fundamentalist codes of heteronormativity with Victorian attitudes towards sex.
| ISBN: | 9788198872500 |
| Publication date: | 18th June 2026 |
| Author: | Sindhu Rajasekaran |
| Publisher: | S&S India |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 272 pages |
| Genres: |
LGBTQ+ Studies / topics Colonialism and imperialism Decolonisation of knowledge / Decoloniality |
Before the British colonised the Indian subcontinent, it was largely protofeminist and queer.
People from across the socio-economic spectrum explored and expressed their gender and sexuality in myriad ways. But to prudish Victorian eyes, this was scandalous. The Empire consistently curtailed Indian (wo)mxn's sexual agency and the freedoms of sexual minorities. All desire outside the heteronormative was marked as aberrant and sexually unchaste.
Colonial authorities passed a posy of laws to criminalise sexually agentive (wo)mxn and queer folks. From nautch dancers to courtesans, effeminate mxn, masculine womxn, trans and queer persons, even ascetic renunciants were classified as 'sexual deviants'. Old prejudices were mapped onto new ones. Colonial India, in effect, amalgamated ancient and medieval fundamentalist codes of heteronormativity with Victorian attitudes towards sex.
Forbidden Desire features in the following genres: LGBTQ+ Studies / topics, Colonialism and imperialism, Decolonisation of knowledge / Decoloniality
Forbidden Desire is available in Hardback
Forbidden Desire was written by Sindhu Rajasekaran and published by S&S India
Forbidden Desire has 272 pages
£9.89