Neo feminism in Chetan Bhagat’s One Indian Girl

Abstract

Neo feminism is symbolically important because it signifies a commitment to women’s empowerment and appropriates an importantly radicalized term, while also recognizing that the approach is new because it incorporates intersectional anti-subordination analysis and responds to observed problems with past interventions (Gruber 2014). It is an emerging view of empowered woman who is conventionally feminine.  The term is widely used in the early 21st century which refers to a popular cultural trend which champions the free choice of women in appearance, lifestyle, and sexuality. This consumerist orientation retains the advances of legal equality in political space but urges women to celebrate their femininity in their personal lives, a category that includes careers, clothing, and sexuality. “We need a new language, better words that can more closely describe women's fear of and resistance to one another; words that will not always come out sounding like dogma. (Moraga 1981b: 30)”. The present paper tries to critically analyze the various facets of neo feminism in an Indian society with reference to Chetan Bhagat’s novel One Indian Girl.  Radhika Mehta is not only intelligent but also successful in her career and this quality makes it difficult to be loved. She expands on why she ‘finds it difficult to get love’ and the reason why the society judges women achievers, especially in India.