This book focusses not just on the basic Victorian inhibitions regarding women and women writers, but gives additional emphasis on the fact that though George Eliot risked her reputation by exposing the slight sexual audacity in most of her novels, she was neither a feminist in the theoretical sense, nor an activist in the practical sense of the term. The contrariness in her treatment of women characters lies in the fact that though, she persistently worked at the central dilemmas of feminism in her time she did so without setting out to write feminist novels. Still, the importance of her representations of women trying to struggle free from patriarchal bondage, cannot be underestimated in the light of our modern day feminist movement of a more radical form. As a result, Eliot's novels are dealt with not only in the light of recent criticism but also in relation to other 'feminist' writings regarding the 'nature' of women and their social standing.

In Unveiling Desire, Devaleena Das and Colette Morrow show that the duality of the fallen/saved woman is as prevalent in Eastern culture as it is in the West, specifically in literature and films. Using examples from the Middle to Far East, including Iran, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Japan, and China, this anthology challenges the fascination with Eastern women as passive, abject, or sexually exotic, but also resists the temptation to then focus on the veil, geisha, sati, or Muslim women's oppression without exploring Eastern women's sexuality beyond these contexts. The chapters cover instead mind/body sexual politics, patriarchal cultural constructs, the anatomy of sex and power in relation to myth and culture, denigration of female anatomy, and gender performativity. From Persepolis to Bollywood, and from fairy tales to crime fiction, the contributors to Unveiling Desire show how the struggle for women's liberation is truly global.