LEXICONS OF LUST: LINGUISTIC OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN IN BOLLYWOOD ITEM SONGS THROUGH FEMINIST STYLISTICS

Abstract

The paper examines the construction of female identity in the use of language in some of the Indian item songs published between 2018 and 2022 when sexism in examining women in the cataloguing of their identity in language is a major concern. On the basis of the theory of Feminist Stylistics developed by Sara Mills in her article, especially the analysing tool of cataloguing, the study will critically analyse why item songs utilise pejorative and objectifying lexical items that incapacitate women into exhibits and activate them using sexist metaphors. The purposive sample of popular Bollywood item songs was analyzed qualitatively and textually, which revealed the tendency of this naming women after dehumanizing and hypersexualized descriptors consistently. These wordings consider and propagate the patriarchal ideologies in the mass culture, and thus continue the objectification of women in the media. The results show that women are constantly referred to as food, cash, item, and beast of which they are deprived of agency and subjectivity. The paper has come to the conclusion that these cataloguing patterns help to reinforce the gendered stereotypes and, therefore, we should be more critical of the language that is being used in the world of entertainment. This study also argues how cataloguing can be seen as a language effect of perpetuating gendered power disparities within the South Asian pop culture.