This article investigates the use of profanity by female sex workers in contemporary Bollywood movies as a subversive discursive strategy of identity construction. It centers the voice and agency of female sex workers and sheds light on how their language use achieves an emancipatory function. Grounded in discourse analysis and feminist theory, the study hypothesizes that profanity operates not merely as linguistic deviance but as a conscious act of agency and resistance. Methodologically, it employs discourse analysis tools such as speech act theory, implicature, and conversation analysis to examine selected Bollywood films, thereby providing systematic evidence for interpretation. The study reveals that profanity functions as a powerful tool through which female sex workers foreground their agency, negotiate structural power dynamics, and resist patriarchal norms within their marginalized contexts. By foregrounding profanity as a subversive mechanism, the study highlights how Bollywood simultaneously reinforces and disrupts dominant narratives surrounding female agency. The paper holds implications for the burgeoning research on emancipatory discourses in an underexplored context, and emphasizes the responsibility of screenwriters, movie directors, and movie producers in challenging the marginalization of female sex workers in popular media.

Authors:
Shubham Pathak, Indian Institute of Technology, India

About the Presenter(s)
Shubham Pathak, PhD research scholar, films, gender and discourse analysis, representation of female sex workers in contemporary Bollywood films

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

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