Categories
The ‘Aunty’ Body And All That Follows
The issue with the ‘Aunty’ body arises from a deeply misogynistic and dehumanising understanding of women. In this imagination the woman, whom the world now addresses as ‘Aunty’, has basically served her purpose of marriage and child bearing, and is hence rendered useless.
By Feminism in India
March 15, 2021
The Various Hues and Hemlines of African Women’s Attire
Sub-Saharan Africa itself is very diverse. There are Muslims, Christians and people whose cosmological beliefs and practices hark back to the thousands of years before the arrival of the monotheistic faiths. South Asia has also had some cultural impact, particularly in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. Against this general background, it is not surprising that notions of feminine modesty, which influences the regulation of dress, vary across regions and religious traditions.
By Edward Kannyo
August 2, 2016
The Unlovable Love Handles
Each time I would look into the mirror, I would see the love handles bulging through my shirt and cringe inwardly. Mills and Boon had convinced me that my body was not loveable like that of the thin, beautiful protagonists, and thus, there would no knights coming for me on horses, now or later.
By Shivangi Gupta
December 3, 2018
The United States of Indian-Americans
It is very easy to fall into the trap of believing that the survival of the larger group is more important than the rights of an individual. This is especially true in diasporic communities, where people are constantly struggling to keep their cultural identities intact while simultaneously assimilating to the majority culture just enough to survive.
By Sonia Dhawan
July 15, 2017
The Union of Our Inner Masculine and Inner Feminine
Feminine energy is supposed to be yin, receptive, gentle, intuitive,and fulfilling. Masculine energy is supposed to be yang, active, fast, fierce, emptying, goal-oriented and focused.
By Pallavi Barnwal
The Time Machine – 5 In Plainspeak Articles that Celebrate Sexuality in its Diverse Forms!
The In Plainspeak team decided to time travel and re-discover previously published articles that explore the multiple ways in which people find joy and pleasure in their sexualities.
By TARSHI
The Taste of Purple
Stop everything! I have a condition that you must follow before you read any further, before you consume what I’ve…
By Hanish Srinivasan
July 17, 2023
The struggles of being an unmarried woman
I am a 26-year-old woman. Is there anything extraordinary about it? Maybe not. But there is certainly something extraordinary in…
By Deepa Ranganathan
May 1, 2015
The Struggle Of Beauty Workers In On-Demand Digital Platform
If you live in an urban metropolitan city, you must have seen women dressed up in company uniform, carrying a heavy bag on their shoulders, their attire shouting a brand name with logos all over her. Their bodies become an advertising ground for a company’s marketing. Sometimes, the bag is a portable salon that they carry to their client’s (home), who book the beauty service using a mobile application. These ‘workers’ enroll themselves on the platform company that operates as an intermediary, to get bookings on-demand.
By Feminism in India
The Space to Be
Every year since I was 20, I’ve been visiting an entirely new place on my birthday as a way of…
By Apphia
September 15, 2021
The Sociolinguistics of Sexting
Typos are speed breakers, and autocorrect has kinky preferences
By Rajashree Gandhi
May 1, 2018
The Social Boundaries of Masculinity
Through its vivid and raw depictions of socio-cultural life in rural Karnataka, the author, Vasudhendra, a key voice in contemporary Kannada literature, brings forth his identity in all its intersecting dimensions, through the inclusion of class, caste, religion, gender, rural-urban location, education and language.
By Abhiruchi Chatterjee
October 1, 2019
The Social Boundaries of Masculinity
The book is especially remarkable for readers of both Indian English and Kannada literature, for amplifying the voice of sexual minorities in Indian towns and villages.
By Abhiruchi Chatterjee
January 2, 2020
The Sisterhood of Sexuality
“Order me one too,” a friend said as I secretly purchased a vibrator online during a class so boring, I…
By Aakriti
February 1, 2018