Public Spaces
Loitering Online: Conditions of Possibility
To claim the public then in arbitrary, messy and oppositional ways, whether on the streets or online is to challenge the neoliberal impulse which is located in the creation of order. To create place, to stake claim, thwarts the desires for the sanitised neoliberal city and is a politics.
By Shilpa Phadke
January 11, 2024
Let’s Talk About Alternate Safe Spaces For Queer Women In India
Therefore, the question of safe spaces and alternative families is pertinent to queer identities, that are so much more than imagined by a single dominant narrative.
By Feminism in India
Interview: Shruti Arora
There may already be another organisation in the community to share resources with but for community-led initiatives, a shared perspective on Safe, Inclusive, Sexuality-Affirming (SISA) spaces is also important. Sometimes when the shared perspective is not there, that becomes a challenge.
By Shikha Aleya
January 3, 2022
Interview: Shilpa Phadke
Shilpa believes loitering, just being, just hanging out in public places, is about ‘claiming the city with your body’. One of the co-authors of the book, ‘Why Loiter: Women and Risk on Mumbai’s Streets’ published in 2011, Shilpa has authored several essays and journals on issues of feminist parenting, gender and the politics of space, the right to take risks and related thoughts and concepts.
By Shikha Aleya
January 2, 2020
Interview – Anahita Sarabhai
As a queer person, it’s hard not to think right away of chosen family. A term that has become relatively well-known by now, but not always understood I find. One of the primary support systems I personally, like many queer folx, depend on, are ones that we develop and nurture over time.
By Shikha Aleya
November 2, 2020
I-Column: A Trip To The Ladies’
Remember Simone de Beauvoir said, one is not born a woman but rather becomes one? A trip to the ladies’…
By Shweta Krishnan
November 1, 2014
How Not To Talk About ‘Women’s Safety’ In Public Spaces
The only thing this language achieves (and maybe it is also the goal), is to create enough panic so that women themselves police and restrict their own mobility and whereabouts, and keep themselves away from public spaces whenever possible.
By Curated Content
April 15, 2020
Editorial: Risk and Sexuality
In our mid-month issue, we add context to our perceptions of and dealings with risk in our day-to-day lives. Collating and interpreting responses we received on a survey taken by small group of random individuals, Shikha Aleya looks at the transactions around risk foregrounded on the interplay of our location on the axes of gender and sexual identity, disability status, belief systems, and availability of support, amongst others.
By TARSHI
October 15, 2020
Editorial: Freedom and Sexuality
Freedom and sexuality – it sounds so liberating to some. But to some others, freedom is the spark that can…
By TARSHI
December 18, 2017
Brushtrokes: Queering Bombay’s Public Spaces
This article/photo essay was originally published in Gaysi Family. In a society that heavily restricts expressions of sexuality, openly asserting…
By Curated Content
August 16, 2017
Brushstrokes: Smile – The World is Watching
A smile could just be an innocuous communication, expressing politeness or warmth. But for a woman out in public, her smile is often misconstrued
By Curated Content
August 1, 2019
Brushstrokes: Fiction Comic: Unwrinkled Saris And Just Another Evening
In a society ruled by heteronormative patriarchal structures, expressing one’s gender or sexuality outside the trimmings of what is socially acceptable is an act of resistance.
By Curated Content
Brushstrokes: Featuring Humans of New York
[slideshow_deploy id=’4422′] These are photographs from the now famous collection Humans of New York. Photographer Brandon Staunton has been navigating…
By Curated Content
November 1, 2014
Beyond the Hashtags: How Online Activism Led to Women Reclaiming the Street
Essentially, the ‘reclaim the night’ or ‘take back the night’ movement fights for a woman’s right to be out and about post sunset.
By Curated Content
Bend the ball like Beckham, but where?
Such open spaces to play sports are mainly occupied by men, while women are mostly excluded on account of various gender norms. This also applies to many underprivileged girls coming from the margins of caste and class who lack access to safe and inclusive open public spaces to play, such as public parks or maidans.
By Anchal Kumari and Vinayak
April 21, 2023