Sexuality
Review: What Does Clothing Have to do with Sexuality in the Media?
Attire and sexuality in the common imagination and approach as represented (and also as received) by the mainstream media tell us a lot about prevailing attitudes to both. Advertisements bombard us with all kinds of representations, negative and positive, of human sexuality, sexual expression and desire. In the creation and marketing of attire and fashion, there is a great awareness of sexual buy-in or rejection by the market – that’s us.
By Shikha Aleya
Brushstrokes: Dear Sex-Ed Textbook
Robot Hugs gives us a glimpse into the doubts and confusions they grappled with while growing up, and unravels the tightly wound preconceptions in culture influenced by, and at the same time, influencing scientific and medical imagination.
By Curated Content
June 15, 2021
Swipe me left, I’m Dalit
Dalit women are primarily viewed as victims and survivors of various kinds of violence. Reification of the Dalit identity has led to the boxing of our existence whose dimensions are solely defined by the savarna (dominant caste) gaze. Our self-assertions of identity are commodified to create a warped limiting of our lives, creating an image that is voiceless in the minds of our potential suitors. We are not seen as being capable of desire, love or happiness; we don’t exist as individuals outside of violence.
By Curated Content
June 15, 2021
Is Digital Colonisation Redefining the Understanding of Agency, Bodily Autonomy, and Being Human?
Apart from systematic exclusions faced by individuals, evidently the mandatory use of a biometric-based digital ID has also reshaped the understanding of an individual’s agency and right to bodily autonomy. Gender and sexuality seem to no longer be matters of an individual’s right to privacy. With digitisation, disclosure of one’s gender and sexuality has become a hindrance to accessing one’s rights.
By Brindaalakshmi K
Interview – #covid19 and conversations online: Listening in
We are plugged in to all kinds of data from a variety of sources, through technology, and even a window view of this space is like stepping into a global COVID control data centre. We are standing up to be counted, to be seen, to do, to contribute, to advocate, to remind, to rectify and restore, to strengthen a growing network of support and response to crisis on a scale we have neither been able to process or measure.
By Shikha Aleya
Editorial: Innovations and Sexuality
In our mid-month issue, we continue to explore the theme of innovation and see how art is being increasingly used in innovative ways to highlight issues of sexuality and gender.
By TARSHI
August 14, 2020
Interview – Poornima Sukumar
We advocate the idea of reclaiming spaces in society by creating large wall-mural projects to raise awareness and to create a voice for the community. We are now finding more innovative ways to engage the community to come out in public spaces, also using the Internet and social media, to feel confident, safe and a sense of belonging.
By Shikha Aleya
August 14, 2020
Sign Language, Language, Sexuality and Innovation
In a recent class, I asked Kanika and Tincy, our ISL teachers, how we could sign sexuality, and they asked, “How do you explain sexuality?” I wondered how I could sign ideas like attraction, pleasure, gender, values, and so on, but tried nevertheless, using my limited vocabulary, apologetic about being reductive.
By Vani Viswanathan
August 14, 2020
Technically, thanks to the techies
It is rather edifying to find information that one can relate to through a solitary rectangular box. Over time, this solitary box somehow stuck around while everything around it changed as the world moved even further into a digital era.
By Srishti Sarkar
August 3, 2020
Editorial: Young People and Sexuality
In our mid-month issue, Anjali Hans, in her mid-twenties, writes with insight and humour about learning and becoming a woman while navigating the terrain between the world as feminists want it to be and the world as it is. Manak Matiyani in an interview with Shikha Aleya tells us why he foregrounds his identity as a feminist…
By TARSHI
July 15, 2020
From ‘I wish I knew!’ to ‘Is it right to tell them this?’
I wish my elders had told me about more than just bleeding when they talked about menstruation. I wish they…
By Asmi
Editorial: Health and Sexuality
In our mid-month issue, continuing with the theme of Health and Sexuality, we look at how we can expect our doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to be sensitive to issues of gender and sexuality if these issues are not addressed in the medical curriculum. Suchitra Dalvie, a feminist obstetrician and gynaecologist, makes a sharp and succinct critique of the training she received as a medical student…
By TARSHI
June 15, 2020
An open letter to a former friend
(Tread gently. This article contains material on sexual assault) Dear A, I don’t know why I’m writing this. Maybe it…
By K F
June 15, 2020
Challenges to right to life and wellness of being: queer lives in the COVID-19 pandemic in India
New losses, new challenges Elizabeth Bishop, the Pulitzer Prize winning American poet, whose love affair with Lota de Macedo Soares…
By Kaustav Bakshi
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