Pleasure
A Letter To My 16-Year-Old Self
You see, you are being pushed and pulled in all directions because people around you, whether family, friends or the larger society, expect you to behave in a particular fashion and stick to existing norms. However, your inner voice is telling you to challenge these norms and follow your own path.
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
February 3, 2020
For I Am A Woman
For I was a woman / Taught to chain herself gracefully / In an invisible cage.
By Khushi Pahuja
February 3, 2020
Video Page: Risky Business
In a society where the very pursuit of erotic pleasure is often stigmatised, when sexual desires are often seen through the narrow lenses of penetrative sex and as means for reproduction, it is considered radical for an older woman who is already the mother of adult children to seek pleasure.
By Curated Content
February 3, 2020
No One Talked To Me About Sex
We need to disturb the institutionalised infrastructure and skew power dynamics even when it comes to something as complex as pleasure. Being aware of our language and the practices of our sexuality and denuding them of socially imbibed constructions will open up a safe space for discussing the diversity of our sexual behaviour.
By Abdullah Erikat
February 3, 2020
Pleasure and Sexuality – What Is Beyond?
Over the years, my understanding of pleasure has changed. However, much of it is thanks to external inputs. It is thanks to people of all gender identities sharing how they feel pleasure in different ways.
By Asmi
February 3, 2020
Editorial: Human Rights and Sexuality
So while theoretically we should all have the right to make our own decisions about matters to do with our sexuality, have the right to sexual and reproductive health care, the right to love who we want to, and the right to be free from violence and discrimination based on our sexual choices, to name just a few sexual rights, even today many people do not have these rights.
By TARSHI
December 16, 2019
Interview – Jasmine George
Jasmine George is a TEDx speaker, lawyer, and a sexual and reproductive health advocate from India. She is the founder of Hidden Pockets and currently curates conversations around sexuality and other fields. She is passionate about using alternative means in law and technology to explore sexuality
By Shikha Aleya
December 2, 2019
When Pleasure And Pain Are Confused With Basic Rights
Though I come from a very conservative family, being open about female masturbation and watching porn didn’t seem to bother me. Yes, people have oohed and aahed at me for being so. I am still the same, proudly.
By Micky Nair
December 2, 2019
Blossoming Into A Garden: Spirituality, Sexuality and All-Consuming Queer Love in ‘Puu’
Puu, an episodic comic (consisting of 92 serialised episodes) created in 2016 by Nabigal-Nayagam Haider Ali – going by Nabi online – is woven together with vast, expansive threads of similar intense spiritual moments and reflections on devotion, faith, and love.
By Rohini Banerjee
The Sacred Mundane: Revealing Sex From Behind The Veil Of Patriarchy
In spite of the general divergence between the notion of purity and sacredness and the general discourse on sex, I firmly believe that little else in life is as divine as sharing sexual pleasure with another person. Realising this relinquished the shame that I felt and presented itself as an opportunity for me to re-learn how to enjoy sex.
By Curated Content
November 15, 2019
Issue In Focus: Of Flying Spaghetti Monsters and Inner Goddesses
Spirituality and sexuality (for most people, if they are not asexual or voluntarily celibate, either of which is their right to be) are both about union. And they are both about deeply personal and intimate aspects of oneself.
By Radhika Chandiramani
November 1, 2019
Interview: All This And So Much More
Reflecting on the theme of Spirituality and Sexuality for this issue of In Plainspeak, in an interview with Shikha Aleya, Lata says,“What might a spiritual approach contribute? It can lead you to understand that there is a core aspect of you that exists prior to and alongside the particulars that shape your identity – class, gender, sexuality, religion, able-bodiedness, etc…”
By Shikha Aleya
November 1, 2019
Faith, Pleasure and The Da Vinci Code
In my adulthood, I have experienced God outside of how I was taught to experience Him. I have discovered that I am a sexual being with infinite ways of experiencing pleasure. Almost all of these ways are outside of the tame abstinence-penetrative sex to get pregnant-abstinence cycle prescribed by the Catholic Church
By Sheena D'Lima
November 1, 2019
Sex Toys? Yes, But No One Should Know
When I first decided to cater to the sex-toy related needs of the Indian market, I knew one thing for sure: the biggest concern for me to address would be privacy.
By Raj Armani
September 2, 2019