Female interiority — debunked to my capabilities.

Non Members read here.

The notion that the inner life of women is considered complex is a common joke. Most times, it is not considered important and worthy of attention. Yes, we still do live in a world that thinks like this.

There are many common men’s jokes that extol us as overthinkers.

Yes, we do have a different way of processing things, which is also beneficial in most ways. The benefits of which are unexplainable but have been proven many times.

The instinctive thinking we have is unmatched if we really tap into it. We ignore most of this fact. By this, what I mean is the first “feelings” you get when you meet someone, or when you are in a new environment. The gut tends to be the best guide for such things. If you tap into it, you really can gauge many things, and more than running away from it(i.e Flight mode), we can look at a way to be functional there by guarding ourselves. Otherwise, we have seen that you might have a very bad experience.

Most times, what we think and how we express them isn’t considered important, and hence we loose a lot of instinctive information.

So what is Female Interiority , which is championed by British writer, Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Female interiority is the permission to be complicated without being explained away.

OR it

Simply means the inner life of women being taken seriously and shown fully.

Not just what a woman does, but:

• what she thinks
• what she wants
• what she fears
• what she fantasizes about
• what she resents
• what she doesn’t say out loud
• What contradictions does she live with

What it’s not

• Not women as symbols, morals, or “strong female characters.”
• Not women existing only in relation to men
• Not likeable, or inspirational versions

What it is

• Messy thoughts
• Contradictions
• Desire without apology
• Shame, envy, anger, grief
• Being selfish and tender in the same breath

Why is Phoebe Waller-Bridge a champion of it:

She doesn’t write women from the outside in. She writes them from the inside out.

In the Indian context, or more specifically in the 2024 Malayalam Movie context, we had a blockbuster called Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra, which was co-written by a female writer ,**Santhy Bae**. This can be considered a classic example of something that explored this concept. The details that were explored of a mystical woman in it and the dimensions given to her were definitely the co-writer’s addition, which the main writer — The director — Dominic, acknowledges in multiple forums. Kudos to such allies who have come to exist to encourage women to express and appreciate the layers that get added to such narratives. These make such projects more relatable; the humongous success of the project explains it all.

It’s though rare in our contexts. Often women are edited by the environment, or they are conditioned to self-edit. We always anticipate others’ emotions and work around it. Most times we tend to be agreeable, rather than honest, and guilt is the constant companion, which kills all the desires.

In indian context, we are still in the quiet rebellion phase, where female interiority isn’t about

Breaking rules dramatically or burning systems down. But It’s about:

• Naming feelings without apology
• Wanting without justification
• Letting a woman be internally conflicted — and letting her live

Malayalam literature always had its famous champion of it — **Madhavikutty aka Kamala Das**, who dared to ask —

Is this true?

instead of Is this appropriate?

And she existed when the second question was considered mostly appropriate in our culture. Her autobiography, Ente Katha (My Story), shocked and enthralled readers with its openness about sexuality, marriage, and creative loneliness. While reading it, I often had to reassure myself that I am reading about a malayali woman who lived in the 30s and 40s and published her first work in the 1950s. So there is hope.

What Phoebe Waller-Bridge does loudly with humor, Malayalam storytelling often does quietly, through:

• Routine, as we see in the Classic movie — The Great Indian Kitchen
• Gaze — As we see often in Uyare
• Stillness — Of Chandra in Lokah
• Unsaid sentences — Can be attributed to most female characters.

courtesy : gemini — The Quiet Corner —

It’s the same truth, but presented differently. Glad at least there is a space for it now.

Thanks for reading.

If you enjoyed this, please **follow the publication to see more stories in your feed. Don’t miss our best articles, subscribe to our [Quiet Letter](https://medium.com/the-quiet-corner/newsletters/the-quiet-letter)** to get our weekly roundup delivered straight to your inbox.

Publication Editors:

**Henry James, [Sree Palakurthi](https://medium.com/@sree_palakurthi)**