Anatomy of a Stalker & A 'Bad Feminist'

Back in 2017, when I was 19, life felt chaotic. I was in college, navigating a turbulent period while also undergoing a personal transformation—coming into my feminist awakening, a shift that was both intense and unsettling.

During this time, I moved homes— from a cramped hostel room to a small, cozy apartment. But before I could settle in, I developed a stalker. Eventually, I decided to leave the apartment and move back to the hostel.

That’s when someone asked me a question that stuck: “What kind of feminist are you, to leave your home and give up your agency because of a stalker?” It wasn’t until a couple of years later, reading Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist, that I found my answer. I’m a “Bad Feminist”—and honestly, a relieved one.

The photo series you see here was part of a photography assignment I did during my undergraduate years, shortly after the stalking incident. In this series, I explored a gender role reversal, flipping the script to understand how I’d experience the situation from a different perspective. The result wasn’t cathartic. Instead, the sadness prevailed.

The goal of the gender reversal wasn’t to provoke humor or a sense of release, but to encourage viewers to sit with their feelings and interpret the power dynamics based on their own lived experiences. Looking back, my view of this project has changed quite a bit over the years.

Eight years ago, I sought catharsis after a painful experience. Today, I approach it with genuine curiosity, trying to better understand the complexities of masculinities and its interaction with society.

A special thank you to my dear friends Amrutha and Shashwat—without whom, this project wouldn’t have been conceived.