Presenting an original take on women’s safety in the cities of twenty-first century India, Why Loiter? maps the exclusions and negotiations that women from different classes and communities encounter in the nation’s urban public spaces.

Basing this book on more than three years of research in Mumbai, Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan and Shilpa Ranade argue that though women’s access to urban public space has increased, they still do not have an equal claim to public space in the city. And they raise the question: can women’s access to public space be viewed in isolation from that of other marginal groups?

Going beyond the problem of the real and implied risks associated with women’s presence in public, they draw from feminist theory to argue that only by celebrating loitering—a radical act for most Indian women—can a truly equal, global city be created.

Contents

Preface

CITY LIMITS

1.Why Mumbai?
2.That Unbelongers
3.Good Little Women
4.Lines of Control
5.Consuming Femininity
6.Narrating Danger
7.Courting Risk

EVERYDAY SPACES

8.Public Space
9.Commuting
10.Peeing
11.Playing
12.Designed City

IN SEARCH OF PLEASURE

13.Who's Having Fun ?
14.Can Girls Really Have Fun ?
15.Do Muslim Girls Have Less Fun ?
16.Do Rich Girls Have more Fun ?
17.How Do slum Girls Have Fun ?
18.When Do Working Girls Have Fun ?
19.May Night Girls Have Fun ?
20.Can Girls Buy Fun ?
21.Can Different Girls Think of Fun ?
22.How Do Only Girls Have Fun ?
23.Do Old Girls Have Fun ?
24.Where Do Girls Have Fun ?
25.Can Good Girls Have Fun ?

IMAGING UTOPIAS

26.Why Loiter ?

Notes
References
Acknowledgements
Index
About the Authors