We have been featuring the best writers from our writers’ community for their committed contribution to FII, making it what it is today. FII would not exist if not for the passionate and loyal feminist writers’ community that we have steadily been building over the last three years. This February, we feature Sonia Singh.

A avid reader of feminist novels, Sonia started writing for Feminism In India in July 2020. Her nuanced take on things covered pop-culture and literature, helping us gain a diverse understanding of the male gaze in cinema, sexual agency and representation of empowered women in pop culture. Some of her popular articles are Hayao Miyazaki And Studio Ghibli’s Cinematic Representation Of Empowered Women, Blue Is The Warmest Colour: Abdellatif’s Male Gaze And His Treatment Of Love and others.

FII: Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.

Sonia Singh: I am a final year literature student and a tutor to a bunch of lovely children. I aspire to study society and culture for my PG years and become a social worker. I believe marginal identities need a platform to empower themselves and not be spoken for, and for that to happen I wish to use my social privilege and education to spread awareness and pass on mics to those in need of a voice.

FII: How did you become a part of the FII writer family?

Sonia Singh: Pandemic got me doing things out of anxiety. FII has been a recreationally/ academically important find over the past year. It is run by some boss women who inspire me to the core.

FII: How and when did you become a feminist? Which issues within feminism are close to your heart?

Sonia Singh: Any discussion or discourse on feminism that does not include the topic of sexual empowerment is an incomplete one. So consequently the ones loudest about sexual emancipation end up appealing to me the most. All kinds of feminism appeal to me, except the kind that insists on changing the terminology. Here’s looking at you, equalists/humanists.

FII: What is your favourite piece on this site that you have written, and your favourite piece on this site that you have read? Why did they strike you?

Sonia Singh: The one written by Isheeta Sharma on the film Portrait of a Lady on Fire. It also incidentally inspired me to write my own comparision piece on POALOF and Blue is the The Warmest Colour. Isheeta is a wonderful writer and I have been following her on Instagram for quite some time now to know that women you come across on FII are generally wonderful.

FII: What do you like to do when not writing about gender and social justice?

Sonia Singh: I buy houseplants, thrift shop things I don’t need, rant about problematic narratives of shows and movies, and radicalise the little children I teach into reading Ambedkar.

FII: What do you like about FII and our work? What more would you like to see from us?

Sonia Singh: FII has this platform of job and internship opportunities which is I think is an extremely solution-oriented resource for empowerment.

FII thanks Sonia for her timely and valuable contributions. We are incredibly grateful to have her as a part of our writers’ community and appreciate her for her deeply informative writing. You can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.