The I Column
Why Is Menstruation A Woman’s ‘Worst Kept Secret’?
This post is part of TARSHI’s #TalkSexuality campaign on Comprehensive Sexuality Education in collaboration with Youth Ki Awaaz. The author chose to remain anonymous. Menstruation was…
By Curated Content
August 1, 2015
When Transparency Meets Fluidity, Dance Is Born
I just celebrated my twenty years in India last October and designed a performance for the occasion: ‘What is dance?’…
By Gilles Chuyen
January 1, 2015
We Need More Sexuality Education in Nepal
There has been so much discourse about sex and sexuality education all over the world that I perhaps may not…
By Kamal Gautam
December 16, 2016
Vulnerability and Romantic Relationships: My Struggles Navigating These Spaces
It took me some time to realise how important being vulnerable or, for that matter, being vulnerable during sexual engagement was for me to have great sex and how empowering it is for my sexuality. After much thought, I decided to open up to my partner about my past experiences and other things I never used to openly talk about.
By Grishma Trivedi
Traversing the Landscape of Intimacy, Penetrative Sex, Sexuality and BDSM
The point is simple. Intimacy is not about sexuality, penetrative sex, gender, BDSM or any one parameter. Yet, intimacy is about all of them AND MORE.
By Asmi
TRAVELLING SOLO IN INDIA
They say the world is a book and those who do not travel only read a page. I had a very un-travel-ish childhood. Like every other middle-class Indian family, my parents did not believe in travelling or even holidaying for that matter. The only vacation we used to take as an annual trip was to visit my maternal grandparents who thankfully lived in Dehradun – away from bad and polluted Delhi (my hometown).
March 15, 2016
Travelling Solo In India
I don’t know if travelling has changed my life, but I can definitely say that it has altered my thought process for the better. Especially, solo travelling has given me a lot of courage and determination to do things I had thought I’d be unable to do.
January 2, 2020
Trauma, the Body & Memory
In addition to healing from sexual trauma, which took a lot of work, the most joyful part of this journey has been a discovery of my own sexuality.
April 2, 2018
Tools of Controlling Mobility
I consider my daily travel a theatre project, far from the real me: I cover myself from head to toe and wear sunglasses double the size of my face. Why? Because most of the male passengers look at all the women in the compartment as if this is something they get for free along with their ticket.
By Swapna Vasudevan Thampi
October 17, 2016
Too Big
Why do we always assume that violence is done to us by someone else and not that we do it to ourselves quite easily and then have a million explanations to justify why we do not eat, why we use Fair and Lovely face cream, why we spend hours in the gym under duress, and why we focus incessantly on how much one has gained or lost in kilos and not in a metaphysical sense?
By Pramada Menon
May 1, 2014
Tomboy Femininity
When I finally came out to myself at age 16 and made it to a free queer youth space, I couldn’t wait to be accepted among folks who didn’t play by society’s heterosexist rules of masculine and feminine as polar opposites.
By Di Sands
December 1, 2020
To My 21-Year-Old Self
‘Is the future so dark?’ you might ask. I am here to tell you that it is not. As you begin your exploration into the world of queer theory and feminist theory, you will learn that the straightjacket version of sexuality cooked by our families was undercooked.
By Chand
August 25, 2023
Through the Non-Heteronormative Looking Glass
No one ever really talks about how queer people in STEM fields navigate hostile spaces. ‘STEM’ stands for ‘Science, Technology, Engineering, Math’. We Indians, of course, are well aware of what these fields entail because our parents, neighbours and teachers often push us towards them. Pursuing a career in the humanities/arts means deviating from the norm, so it makes sense that sexualities and gender identities which are considered ‘deviant’ often flourish in these fields.
By Kavya Kartik
July 1, 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 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