RESISTANCE AND AGENCY IN SHAH’S BEFORE SHE SLEEPS: A DYSTOPIAN FEMINIST STUDY

Abstract

This research is a dystopian feminist study of Bina Shah’s Before She Sleeps, which advocates female agency and personal autonomy in a dystopian society, critiquing pervasive technological surveillance. Grounded in Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity and subversion, along with Donna Haraway’s academic input on technology and surveillance, the research employs textual analysis as a method to study the problem. Shah’s novel vividly depicts women’s lives under a repressive regime ravaged by a gender-specific virus that has decimated the female population, centering on the protagonist Sabine. The analysis explores how performative gender roles perpetuate societal orientation and positioning, while interrogating technology’s paradoxical dual role in both subjugating and liberating women. With a particular emphasis on the Pakistani context, this study advances a nuanced, inclusive Pakistani feminist framework through its examination of dystopian female agency and resistance. Ultimately, it concludes that, despite the deployment of culture, society, and technology to control women, female resistance persistently challenges restrictive norms to foster an egalitarian world grounded in equal gender rights.  

Keywords: Dystopian feminism, Technological surveillance, Female agency, Gender performativity.