motherhood

एक ठंडी सुबह में सूरजमुखी
A close-up photograph of a sunflower with leaves and a blue sky in the background.
एक ठंडी सुबह में सूरजमुखी

मेरे जेंडर के बारे में उनकी प्रतिकारिता हमारी बातचीत में हर जगह होती है, लेकिन वह मुझे यह भरोसा देने में भी देर नहीं लगातीं कि मेरी ग़ैर-विषमलैंगिकतावादी यौनिकता ने उन्हें कभी परेशान नहीं किया।
By Neel
October 17, 2024
एक ठंडी सुबह में सूरजमुखी
Neither Madonna nor MILF
A pregnant woman in a pastel dress stands over an empty brown cot with two puppets in it. Her hair obscures her face. There is an abacus on a table in the corner, a chair, sheer white curtains drawn over windows.
Neither Madonna nor MILF

For me, pregnancy was a strange state of being so present and so aware of my body, while at the same time being separate from it. This experience really did a number on me during those nine months and during the postpartum period.
By Tena Pick
June 1, 2023
Neither Madonna nor MILF
The Motherhood Dilemma
markus-winkler-0nqDYVpy7ws-unsplash
The Motherhood Dilemma

The idealisation of motherhood is crucial to our culture; it is important that the mother is self-sacrificing. This sacrificial instinct isn’t limited to women’s behaviour. It goes on to encompass the entirety of her corporeality and the way she performs it.
By Vinky Mittal
March 17, 2023
The Motherhood Dilemma
Sunflowers on a Frosty Morning
A close-up photograph of a sunflower with leaves and a blue sky in the background.
Sunflowers on a Frosty Morning

A few days ago, in a telephonic conversation with my mother, I was made aware of the inadequacies of my…
By Neel
September 19, 2022
Sunflowers on a Frosty Morning
Interview – This is what you bring to the table!
A photograph of a number of multicoloured rainbows against the background of a blue sky.
Interview – This is what you bring to the table!

In this write up, we’d like to share a sense of what emerges from a compilation of these responses. This is based on the thoughts and feelings that come through for those of us here at In Plainspeak who have had the joy of reading the original responses as they came in to us. (Some of the quotations that follow have been slightly edited for flow and to help connect themes.) We know that most things in the realm of art, information and ideas lend themselves to a wide range of inferences and insights depending on the individuals making the inferences.
By Shikha Aleya
March 1, 2022
Interview – This is what you bring to the table!
Of filter coffee, marriage and mixed celebrations of sexuality
Of filter coffee, marriage and mixed celebrations of sexuality
Of filter coffee, marriage and mixed celebrations of sexuality

Marriage also feels complicated when one approaches it through the lens of feminism. Marriage throws in two people and often their families into a system designed to perpetuate patriarchy, subjugate women, and bind men and women (in heteronormative marriage) into strict roles in the marriage.
By Vani Viswanathan
March 1, 2022
Of filter coffee, marriage and mixed celebrations of sexuality
Review: Private Life
Review: Private Life

What makes a family? In the month of May, we celebrated Mother’s Day on the 10th and the International Day…
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
June 1, 2020
Review: Private Life
Postpartum Depression: Deromanticising Motherhood
illustration of a woman who's face is covered holding a baby to her chest. her face is half hidden.
Postpartum Depression: Deromanticising Motherhood

As depicted in various forms of media, society has unrealistic expectations of how mothers and motherhood should be – enamoured by their babies, to feel only happiness at being a mother, being completely focused on their babies, living in the ‘glow of motherhood’. Being depressed is simply not seen as an acceptable response.

By Curated Content
June 15, 2018
Postpartum Depression: Deromanticising Motherhood
नारीत्व ≠ मातृत्व
An illustration of what makes a family using stick figures. Several different scenarios is sepearate circles. One shows two men and a child; another - a man, a woman, and a child; two women and a child; a man and a child; a woman and a child; two men; a man and a woman; two women; a man, a cat, and a dog; and last - a woman, a cat, and a dog.
नारीत्व ≠ मातृत्व

इस बात के अनेकों कारण हो सकते हैं कि महिलाएँ बच्चे क्यों नहीं चाहती हैं, ठीक वैसे ही जैसे इस बात के अनेकों कारण है कि वे बच्चे क्यों चाहती हैं। बच्चे होने के कारणों को सामान्य करार दिया जाना जबकि बच्चे ना होने की इच्छा को ‘सामान्य से अलग’ माना जाना, शर्मिंदा किया जाना और संदिग्ध की तरह करार दिया जाना, सभी के लिए नारीत्व का ‘एक ही अर्थ’ बनाने वाले है।
By Sheba Remy Kharbanda
October 17, 2016
नारीत्व ≠ मातृत्व
Womanhood ≠ Motherhood
An illustration of what makes a family using stick figures. Several different scenarios is sepearate circles. One shows two men and a child; another - a man, a woman, and a child; two women and a child; a man and a child; a woman and a child; two men; a man and a woman; two women; a man, a cat, and a dog; and last - a woman, a cat, and a dog.
Womanhood ≠ Motherhood

I love children and have at various times in my life flirted with the idea of adoption. But I have known since I was a child that I did not want to birth children. I have never been vague or ambivalent about this decision. I have been consistently clear and concise that this is not my calling.
By Sheba Remy Kharbanda
October 3, 2016
Womanhood ≠ Motherhood
Review: Art in the Age of Maintenance Work
A black-and-white photo of a woman in jeans and tee-shirt bent down to clean a glass vitrine in a museum.
Review: Art in the Age of Maintenance Work

Written in one sitting in Philadelphia, Ukeles’ manifesto was a manifestation of the rage she felt when she was pregnant with her first child and a male mentor proclaimed, “Well, Mierle, I guess you know you can’t be an artist now.”
By Niyati Dave
June 5, 2016
Review: Art in the Age of Maintenance Work