Lustful Women, Elusive Lovers

One of the more popular self-projections of women in the oral tradition of rural north India is the image of a lustful woman, which directly contradicts the dominant and ideal image of the chaste woman and offers an alternative moral perspective on kinship, gender, sexuality and norms of behaviour. This article explores the construction of the lustful woman based exclu sively upon women's songs produced collectively by women and sung by women for an audi ence consisting purely of women. It seeks to understand how and why this image, common to both men and women's songs, has different connotations and messages. The construction of meaning around this image is explored in the social context of power relations and status con siderations existing within the family, caste and class. As such, the article seeks to understand how far the subversiveness of these songs finds its echo in the actual transgressive behaviour of women in caste/class and gender relationships, and with what effect. It highlights the construc tion of masculinity, pleasure and deprivation, which cuts across several societal hierarchies. The inevitable conflict within a worldview where different and contradictory beliefs and desires coexist brings to the fore the interface between ideology and practice.