RONGGENG: EMBODIED FEMININITY AND SEXUALITY IN SANG PENARI (2011)

Abstrack:

This research is aimed at revealing how femininity and sexuality are embodied in ronggeng’s body as depicted in Isfansyah’s Sang Penari (2011). As the cultural narratives are designed differently by society, the intersection of gender and sexuality has a great impact on the body. Therefore, this research will use the intersectionality approach to reveal how the embodiment of femininity in this body as well as sexuality paradoxically affirms the process of othering the body. Through Yuval-Davis’ theory, I argue that ronggeng’s body experienced the ambivalence notion of gender ideology as the mother of collectivity. Ronggeng’s body is believed as the mother of the figure in which all hopes and goodness are placed in her body. Yet, the shifting regime views this body through different lenses as depicted in this film. The results reveal that women’s body is sexualized under heteronormativity, in which it relates to gender oppression. The oppression is manifested into the ambivalence experienced by Ronggeng. In the Old Order Era, the cultural narratives posit Ronggeng’s body as the symbol of fertility. Ronggeng is the dance performed in harvest time and is believed to spread blessings and fertility in relation to reproduction. On the other hand, the culture and society castrated the body by controlling her to be infertile. Further, the shifting regime let the Ronggeng body experience sexual slander for being labeled as a member of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Yet, the shifting discourse in the New Order Era related Ronggeng with prostitution. All are the manifestation of sexual politics of regimes in Indonesia.

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