Voices
Bodies in Motion: Dance Therapy as Mode of Healing and Empowerment
The dance therapy project therefore squarely locates itself as a supplement to economic skill building and psychological counselling, in developing a holistic sense of self among the women beneficiaries of the project.
By Raili Roy
September 4, 2018
How to Have Good Sex?
During my interaction with students as a part of sexuality education classes in schools, one frequently asked question by boys is,“How to charm a girl?”
By Ramya Anand
September 4, 2018
Exploring the Rape Fantasy
I am a feminist, sex-positive and LGBT affirmative Clinical Psychologist. Having that openly and publicly stated means that my clients feel very safe discussing some of the more taboo topics, especially ones that we are made to feel ashamed of. One of these is the topic of the rape fantasy.
By Vizla Kumaresan
August 1, 2018
Jasmine Stains
My hair smells like jasmine / From the wedding I went to last night / When I tethered my untameable hair with flowers,
By Malini Gopalakrishnan
August 1, 2018
Media and the Power of Responsible Representation
It is the winter of 2013, and my father and I are sitting at an awkward distance from each other on the living room couch, our eyes trained on the television set as a popular prime time news debate discusses a subject we have never before talked to each other about – homosexuality. It is only a few days since Section 377 has been reinstated by the Supreme Court, and the television and print media bombards us with discussion after discussion on ‘alternate’ sexualities and LGBTQ rights.
By Rohini Banerjee
July 2, 2018
Can’t We Anticipate Stonewall?
If your one step – addressed to everyone irrespective of caste, class, gender, religion, and sexuality – is a giant leap for marginalised and oppressed people, Stonewall will not be far behind.
By Anupom Kumar Hazarika
July 2, 2018
Trigger Warnings and the Subversive Potential of Uncomfortable Conversations
Giving a trigger warning helps to somewhat flatten that hierarchy by making sure the audience is okay with the content. It can also shift power to the audience who may now decide what they would like to do with that information – to stay put and listen, or to walk out.
By Arpita Das
The Nuances of Power Equations in BDSM
Irrespective of the gender or sexual orientation of the people involved, the only way the scales of power can be balanced in favour of everyone involved, is through explicit, well-informed consent.
By Asmi
July 2, 2018
“You Will Never Learn!” – Conversations Between a 17 Year Old and a 53 Year Old
As if the challenges of parents bringing up adolescents in a world dominated by social media is not enough, the addition of teaching these parents to accept different sexual orientations and the fluidity of gender in a gender-binary world can be daunting.
By Dr Jai Ranjan Ram
Talk to Me – Queer Mental Healthcare
It was, however, the community’s consistent refrain of having “no one” to talk to, that made the problem of mental health crises stand out during my conversations.
By Vinay Chandran
June 1, 2018
The Indian Beta
While we have come a long way from the singular Freudian focus on sexual energies and reducing most mental health disturbances to sexuality, there is no doubting its significance for an individual’s wellbeing.
By Mahesh Natarajan
June 1, 2018
What I learned about Self-Care and Wellbeing as a Sexuality Rights Activist
Working as a sexuality rights activist in a repressive environment can take a huge toll on people’s wellbeing. It is therefore important that we as social workers, activists, advocates and everyone else involved in this work take care, take care of ourselves and each other, be supportive, give that extra push to someone who needs it, and allow ourselves to make mistakes.
By Arpita Das
“HOMO” and Being Gay in Manipur
The Meitei queer’s tussle with sexuality continues to be a struggle jarred with discrimination, negation and moral policing through language.
By Davidson and Pavel
May 15, 2018
Brajabuli as a vehicle of queer desires: love songs in Rituparno Ghosh’s films
In my opinion, Ghosh was in search of a language of cinema which could be adequately expressive of queerness; he was slowly moving towards inventing that language, which would not be alienating to his conformist audiences, yet, would be intelligibly pleasurable to his (informed) queer viewers.
By Kaustav Bakshi
Reclaiming My Queerness: The Piecing-together of a Broken Childhood
As I reflect on what I had actively buried and tried to constantly forget, I realise how crucial language was in defining how I viewed myself.
By An kush