Volume V Special Issue III August 2025

Name of Author : S. Anbu Christa, Dr.M.Rajaram

Title of the paper : Interpretation of Gendered Shame and the Internalization of Patriarchal Norms in Jaishree Misras A Scandalous Secret: A Feminist Psychoanalytical Perspective

Abstract: A deeply ingrained factor in the psychological and cultural phenomenon is gendered shame, which completely shapes the way that women perceive themselves and direct the world around them. It has been thoroughly rooted in patriarchal structures, and it acts as a very important tool of social control, teaching women to associate their bodies, desires, and choices with guilt and dishonor. Females, at a young age, are conditioned to uphold societal expectations knotted to purity, modesty, and obedience, which leads them to conform to norms that limit their autonomy. Overtime, internalization is demonstrated in selfsurveillance, emotional suppression, and a desire to conform, even at the cost of personal truth or wellbeing. The output is a silencing of female agency, where shame turns out to be a burden women carry privately while performing idealized gender roles in public. Gendered shame functions as a very critical mechanism of patriarchal power, which has been thoroughly evaluated and exposed in this paper. This paper bridges the gap between feminist theory and psychoanalytical inquiry by critically examining gendered shame as a very important key instrument of patriarchal power in Jaishree Misras A Scandalous Secret. Through a feminist psychoanalytical lens, the analysis clearly reveals that internalized norms are completely reinforced as well as resisted, which thoroughly offers a very important insight into the complex dynamics of female identity, silence, and resistance within a patriarchal framework.

Keywords : Gendered shame, Patriarchal norms, Psychoanalytical Perspective, Internalised norms

DOI :

Page Number : 221-225