Fieldwork as a Sex Object

by Meena Kandasamy

Genres: Feminist; Women's Fiction; Humor & Satire

Synopsis

FROM THE ICONIC WOMEN'S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR AND ACTIVIST

'A one-woman, agitprop literary-political movement' INDEPENDENT
'One of the most urgent voices of tomorrow' HARPER'S BAZAAR

I download the video. I mute the audio before replaying it frame by frame, in dread, in desperation. I watch it four times. It is not me. It is my fucking face.

Amrita Chaturvedi goes by Amy. Amy identifies as a communist on Twitter (her bio omits a cameo on reality TV and millionaire daddy who runs the show at Delhi High Court).

When a deepfake porno of her 'forwarded many times' by WhatsApp aunties goes viral, the truth finally catches up. On her birthday, Amy, and allies - a Dalit, a consenting adult code-named the Child Solider, and white trustafarian India - battle a stoning in the digital town square that could cancel even Kim Kardashian.

Her executioners? An unhinged cartel of virgins styling themselves after V for Vendetta - except these anonymous keyboard warriors are on a merciless crusade to eradicate desi jezebels and Make India Hindu Again.

A literary provocation about incels, influencers and AK-47s where the online turns offline turns bloody, Fieldwork as a Sex Object is not a novel you read but a novel that reads you. It invites every one of us to ask ourselves how much we're prepared to risk for our principles.

'One of fiction's most fiery and unclassifiable' GUARDIAN
'Her prose is electric, at once brave and poetic and satirical' PARIS REVIEW
'Kandasamy becomes more bold and exciting with each new book' SKINNY

Release date: April 23, 2026

Publisher: Brazen, Octopus

Print pages: 224