nevertheless, she posted: feminists critique an insta-darling

Provided it does not fall into the virtual void, any content posted online is fair game for sharing, parody, and evaluation. When said content is labelled subjectively as ‘art’ and infused with politics, reactions polarize further. Kaur’s poetry is no expectation – as her popularity increased, her detractors grew undeniably vocal. These naysayers run the gamut from concerned academics to vicious trolls, voicing their opinions in thinkpieces and subreddits. Keyboard reviewers will seize on any perceived ‘flaw,’ but many criticisms of Kaur’s work come from fellow writers and activists. Whether threatened by her popularity or offering constructive advice, these peers are quick to solicit their opinions.

Kaur presents herself as a vocal feminist, taking on gender disparities, sexual assault, and body image struggles. There is no word-mincing here, as evidenced by an opening poem in Milk and Honey: “You/ have been/ taught your legs/ are a pit stop for men.” Kaur also negotiated censorship battles with Instagram; they twice removed her ‘graphic’ menstruation photo essay, citing a violation of community guidelines. Knowing this, it is surprising that she would garner ire from women’s studies departments. At first read, Kaur’s verse seems intensely personal, inspired by her encounters with marginalization. But her adoption of collective, general terms – we and our, the ‘sisterhood’– present her as a spokesperson for the Punjab community. Kaur embraces this representative role, stating that “my experiences have happened to my mother and her mother and her mother before that…it is generations of pain embedded into our souls.”

girl power: Kaur's feminism is influenced by her Punjabi culture and immigrant experience

Scholars of South Asian culture maintain that though well-meaning, Kaur’s prose homogenizes, even romanticizes, a complicated and traumatic history. In The Literature of the Indian Diaspora: Theorizing the Diasporic Imaginary, professor Vijay Mishra critiques the “uneasy postmodern trend towards collapsing diasporic (and historical) differences” in postcolonial South Asian literature. Kaur’s repeated invocation of ‘oneness with ancestors’ implies that South Asian women move through life identically; this blurring of old and new injustices glosses over the differences between two very valid, but separate circumstances. Presenting her body as a vessel of shame and oppression is the final straw for her critics. This admission may be admirably raw, but it indicates an uncomfortable romanticisation and commodification of suffering. Feminist academia’s ultimate request? Less waxing eloquent over lotus flowers and mango juice, please, and more acknowledgement of reality.

But does Kaur really have a responsibility to present ‘reality’? She is a poet, not a historian; she deals in empowerment, not empiricism. She primarily presents her work on Instagram, a platform that allows it users to bend, stretch, and filter the truth. In fact, a few academics have lauded Kaur’s use of the app as ingenious, not superficial. Sasha Kruger, a scholar of narrative medicine, argues that the insta-poet’s social media presence has significant symbolic value. As the Kaur tells stories of immigration and displacement, “Instagram becomes the home—rehomed by her art—whereas the nation becomes the network…Kaur connects to a cyberspatial sisterhood and demonstrates that healing through narrative is necessarily collective.” My aforementioned instapoetic dichotomy is seemingly at work, with Kaur's intimate narratives rallying and giving voice to previously muted communities.

rallying cries for a complex movement

If Kaur’s followers find her work inspiring – even therapeutic - does it really matter if she markets a constructed South Asian universal experience? Must readers be bombarded with postcolonial theory when they only came to drink from the fount of trendy Eastern mysticism? Should politics always trump aesthetics? Kaur does not respond to any criticisms of her activism, and she has not altered her writing style or stance on feminism. Her audience lauds her authenticity, rewarding her with bestseller status and peak social media engagement. If insta-poetic recognition comes at the price of diluting bitter truths with honeyed turns of phrase, it seems that Rupi Kaur is willing to pay the cost.

Rupi: in the flesh, in her own words.