Sarojini Sahoo – a feminist writer or an advocate of femininity?

Abstract

The present article examines Sarojini Sahoo’s views on feminism and her approach to the concept of femininity. The study explores the difference between the two concepts – feminism and femininity – as perceived by Sahoo. The purpose of this study is to place Sahoo within the context of the feminist movement and demonstrate the ways in which her perspective varies from that of the movement's well-known representative, Simone de Beauvoir. Sarojini Sahoo is an Indian feminist writer who hails from Odisha. She also writes columns for The New Indian Express and is the associate editor of Indian AGE, an English magazine published in Chennai. Sahoo writes in English and Odiya. She is the author of eight novels and nine anthologies of short stories. She has penned two anthologies of short stories in English, and has published a collection of essays called Sensible and Sensuality that provides an outlook on feminism and femininity from an eastern perspective. Gambhiri Ghara (‘The Dark Abode’) is one of the most acclaimed novels of Sarojini Sahoo. Originally written in Odiya, it has been translated into several Indian languages. Several of Sahoo’s stories have been translated into Bengali, English and German.