Boundaries and Sexuality
The Editorial: Boundaries and Sexuality
The boundaries are the most interesting bits. No definitions can be identified without them, and yet they themselves remain in a state of flux – neither here nor there, neither this nor that, but both, all, nothing, and so much more. None can stake their claim on the borderland; it is unseizable, enigmatic, most ungraspable. In its ambiguity it has the power to comfort the outlier at its best, and at its worst, leave bereft those who seek refuge in the absolute.
By TARSHI
April 18, 2017
Video Page: These Muslim Women of Colour are Swaggin’ Their Hijabs
The skewed portrayal that dominates narratives about Muslim women in mainstream international media continues to sustain an atmosphere of misinformation, where donning a hijab leads society to promptly place you in a box labelled ‘Oppressed’. Taking matters into their own hands are these two certainly not silent U.S.-based Muslim women who’re doing what they can – with hijab firmly in place – to undo the dangerous stereotyping that mires the image of Muslim women of colour.
By Curated Content
Brushstrokes: An Artist Captures Patriarchal Nosiness in its Most Everyday Avataar
The potential for art to connect people and to challenge thinking is continuously widening. Aarushi Jain, a 21-year-old artist from India, perfectly captures the societal expectations placed on women in her representation of the English alphabet.
By Curated Content
Interview: Psychotherapist Neetu Sarin on Boundaries and Sexuality in Psychoanalytic Therapy
I wanted to explore how sexuality and boundaries come together or work tangentially in a psychoanalytic clinic through the lens of the therapist, and understand how and why it may or may not be different from patient to patient.
By Tanisha Chadha
“What Is Oral Sex” My 12-Year-Old Asked. I Shook Off Terror.
On a cold winter evening, watching a tense India vs England cricket match when your about-to-be teenager asks you these questions, you want go deep under cover inside that blanket and never come out. Not possible, of course. I see myself as the quintessential modern day mom, pal to her kids, cool, unflappable.
By Curated Content
April 18, 2017
“India Has Been a Sexual Wasteland for Two Centuries”: An Interview with Psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar
Kakar talks about the divide between Ayurveda and modern medicine, Freudian psychoanalysis and Indian metaphysics, and the fault lines between colonialism, religion and sexuality.
By Curated Content
Not a Job for Women?
A year ago, just ten minutes after I had landed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. I was introduced to this young lawyer – not the least bit enthusiastic, a big critic of the law, of lawyers, of the High Court, and most importantly, of women. “Let me tell you a secret: law is not a profession for girls,” said he.
By Nikita Garg
April 18, 2017
Is a Yogini a Female Yogi or a Wild, Erotic Witch?
The answer depends on what feelings are evoked in you by these four words: yogi, wild, erotic and witch. Does “yogi” evoke a sense of tranquillity resulting from letting go? Or does it evoke feelings of righteous puritanism, associated with disgust for sex and sensuality? Are you repulsed by words such as “wild”, “erotic” and “witch”, or intrigued by them?
By Curated Content
April 18, 2017
In the Bonobo World, Female Camaraderie Prevails
Suddenly, three older, high-ranking female bonobos bolted up from below, a furious blur of black fur and swinging limbs and, together with the female in estrus, flew straight for the offending males. The males scattered. The females pursued them. Tree boughs bounced and cracked. Screams on all sides grew deafening.
By Curated Content
April 18, 2017
Self-Defined
I was a shy kid, coming into my element only at home with my sister. I didn’t like being at social gatherings; large groups of peers or family made me go back into my shell. I never thought this would change, but like everything else, it did. I was surprised to find myself becoming a very sociable young adult, creatively inclined, and the life of any party.
By Surbhi Dewan
April 18, 2017
Issue in Focus: Colouring Within the Lines
When colours spill across, when a little bit of the red house-paint spills into the blue sky, or the brown door seems to meld in with the green grass, we see ‘errors’ that must be corrected in another attempt to preserve the perfect order of that emergent world.
By Shweta Krishnan
April 3, 2017
My Boundaries, My Pleasure
I was 30 years old when memories of the sexual abuse I experienced as a child flooded my conscious thoughts. I was sitting in a session with a client – I am a mental health professional – when suddenly, a memory of playing hide-and-seek made its way out of my subconscious mind.
By Guest Writer
April 3, 2017
Brushstrokes: The Story of Amanirenas, the Fierce Kandake
This month, we’re excited about featuring the story of Amanirenas, one of the most famous Kushite Kandakes, queens of the ancient African kingdom of Kush (what is today the country of Sudan) and her valiant fight against the armies of Rome to defend the boundaries of her people’s land.
By Curated Content
Review: Nishit Saran’s ‘Summer in My Veins’
In 1994, Delhi boy Nishit Saran left home to study filmmaking at Harvard University. By 1999 he had made the searing Summer in My Veins, capturing on camera his own trepidation at coming out to his mother. It is an important, lovely and poignant film.
By Divya Swaminathan
April 3, 2017
Owning Our Boundaries
The concept of boundaries has become mixed up with the concept of being bound in a this-far-and-no-further way. They have become enclosures, aquariums, cages built for those who inhabit them, but not necessarily built by them.
By Shikha Aleya
April 3, 2017