ABSTRACT
This chapter advocates for the use of autobiographical accounts to study gender and sexualities. It considers constructive grounded theory to interpret the autobiographical accounts of four Indian women from different socio-economic and geographical locations published from 1970s to 2000s. The four Indian women are namely Kamala Das, Baby Kamble, Nalini Jameela and Bama. The chapter demonstrates the use of autobiographical accounts as viable sociological data for the possibilities of building multiple histories of sexualities. It uses what Kathy Charmaz terms constructionist grounded theory, which borrows from the grounded theory developed by Glaser B and Strauss A and social constructionism. Social constructivism draws from symbolic interactionism and phenomenology, two interpretative approaches of sociology that developed, simultaneously in North America and Europe, respectively. Social constructivist approaches highlighted the socially constructed character of sexual identities and sexualities and helped in dismantling the biological notion of sexuality.
