Jayaprabha

Born: 29 July 1957

She is an Indian critic and poet writing in Telugu.
She is considered a pioneer of the feminist movement in Telugu literary criticism and poetry.
Her poetry focusses on women’s issues, their problems and stregnths and often attacks established gender norms.
In 1981 she and K. Satyavathi started a feminist monthly Lohita.
Her first collection of poems “Yuddhonmukhamga” (Towards War) was published in 1984.
Her second book of poems “Vaamanudi Moodo Paadam” (Third foot of Vamana) was published in 1988.
This collection contained two of her landmark feminist poems ‘Chupulu’ (Stares) and ‘Pytani tagaleyyali’ (Burn the saree).
Chupulu translated as ‘looks’ or sometimes ‘stares’ is a poem about the male gaze.
It begins with the poet-persona describing the assault of stares she endures daily and ends with the poet hoping for the day when women can return the stares and reclaim public spaces for themselves.
In ‘Pytani tagaleyyali’ (Burn the saree) Jayaprabha equates the saree with confirmity to traditional gender norms and says women must abandon the saree in order to break free from traditional gender norms.