The Female Body in K.S. Maniam s Play The Sandpit: Womensis

This is a psychoanalytic reading of K.S. Maniam s play T he Sandpit: Womensis through LauraMulvey s theory of the male gaze. The findings point to the fact that woman on stage has mostoften been constructed by men, to be viewed by other men and other women as an object, nota subject. The female character Santha may be seen as taking up the position of the masculineprotagonist in expressing her fetishisation of another female character Sumathi as an object ofsexual desire. While Santha is represented as older, traditional and asexual, Surnathi s behaviourand appearance are coded as sexually confident and provocative. In this play the femalecharacters enter a discourse in the male subject position and they occupy this constructed space docilely . Thus, the women are able to expose the oppressive representation of the female bodyas ideological, but are unable to affirm a more adequate one. As a consequence the women arestill constructed by male hegemony, lacking a speaking voice. This psychoanalytic readingprovides us with a sophisticated understanding of women s present cultural condition. However,it also seems to confine women forever to the status of one who is seen, spoken about, and analysed.