Author: Kristin Francoeur and Surabhi Srivastava

A father with his little daughter on a hammock, reading together from a book.

Making Sex-Ed for Parents Accessible: Let’s Start With Our Bookstores

·October 3, 2016
·Kristin Francoeur and Surabhi Srivastava

Looking for birthday gifts for nieces and nephews in a favourite, well-curated bookshop in Delhi, we were dismayed that we couldn’t find any books that told the kinds of stories that we would like for kids today to read and hear.

A comic strip. First panel with text "me in a dress" shows a serious girl weairng a green frock, with her hands straight by her side. The 2nd panel with text "me in a dress with pockets" shows her in the same green frock, but with hands in her dress-pocket, feeling chirpy and happy.

Picking Pockets: Why Functional Clothing Matters for Feminism

·August 2, 2016
·Kristin Francoeur and Surabhi Srivastava

The link between women’s clothing and patriarchy is important to acknowledge and understand if we are to address some pertinent questions around women’s agency and ability to exercise control over their choices, bodies and sexuality – questions that feminists around the world, including in South Asia, continue to struggle with.

Actor Ryan Gosling, bare-chested. Over the photo is written in white, "Hey girl, just want to let you know that I respect your autonomy to make your own healthcare decisions."

Toeing a Difficult Line – When and How to Talk about Men’s Relationship with Abortion

·May 1, 2016
·Kristin Francoeur and Surabhi Srivastava

Mainstream media is beginning to pay attention to men’s relationship with abortion – a welcome counterpoint to the anti-woman, anti-abortion rhetoric Men’s Rights Activists (MRAs) spew on the topic.

A leafless tree with red umbrellas hung on its branches.

Why We Need to Bridge the Gap between Sex Workers’ Movements and Abortion Rights Activism

·April 5, 2016
·Kristin Francoeur and Surabhi Srivastava

Abortion and sex work share the distinction of being topics on which even feminist activists sometimes find it difficult to remain non-judgmental, confronting feminists with the question: to what lengths are we really willing to go to respect and enable women’s choices and bodily autonomy?

In Plainspeak publishes two issues with a theme every month.
A cross-cutting theme across all forthcoming issues in 2020 is how we can expand safe, inclusive sexuality-affirming spaces.

THIS ISSUE:

October 2020
Risk and Sexuality, II Issue – Oct 15, 2020
‘Risk’ is a word loaded with connotations – often associated with danger, with violence, with disease, often invoked while taking a protectionist approach to sexuality, to warn people from engaging in certain behaviours. Yet, taking risks can also be a feminist act, instrumental in both reclaiming agency and resisting patriarchal norms. The freedom to take risks can become a radical means for marginalised communities to seek to control their own narratives, to normalise spaces where they are seen, heard and respected. By claiming visibility and mobility in public spaces, by taking risks in the bedroom, by indulging in desires and fantasies society labels ‘risky’, by ‘risking’ being openly queer in a world where queerness is often stigmatised, and more, the status quos that govern our existence, that slot us into tight boxes, that seek to ‘protect’ us rather than empower us, can be challenged in infinite ways. However, one cannot dismiss the not-so-empowering aspects of risk – the risk of sexual violence, of sexually transmitted infections, of stigma and discrimination, of being ostracised for who you are or who you love. The October issue of In Plainspeak attempts to delve into these several connotations of risk and how they interact with sexuality, and also, whether ‘risk’ fosters or hinders the creation of safe, inclusive, sexuality-affirming spaces.

UPCOMING ISSUES:

November 2020
Support Systems and Sexuality, I Issue – Nov 1, 2020
On some level, no individual can truly thrive without support – whether it be physical, emotional, or beyond. We are beings that crave comfort, solidarity, that crave to be acknowledged and loved. Support makes us feel less lonely, and affirms our sense of self, our beliefs, our personalities. Support systems, whether in the form of immediate family, friends and co-workers, or in the form of the mechanisms created by the larger structures of the state and society, are essential for us to both feel good about ourselves, and to feel good about the spaces we inhabit. And yet, for people of marginalised identities including queer and transgender people, support systems may take different shapes and forms. For them, state-mandated laws or societal attitudes may not offer enough support, and their definition of family or community might not be based on biological ties and might expand to informal support groups as well as online networks. For persons with disability or people of advanced age, support can manifest in the form of a caregiver from within or outside the family who takes care of one’s physical needs. The kind of support a person has affects the way they experience their sexuality. From a very young age, the support (or lack thereof) offered by one’s immediate environment may shape one’s understanding of sexuality and influence whether or not they internalise positive or negative messages around sex, pleasure, bodies, and so on. Similarly, the presence or absence of a support system can influence whether or not certain aspects of one’s sexuality can find free expression, whether one can explore diverse sexual practices, and whether one can pursue one’s desires. The November issue of In Plainspeak explores whether our support systems offer us a safe, inclusive, sexuality-affirming space and promote sexual wellbeing.

December 2020
Femininities and Sexuality, I Issue – Dec 1, 2020
Gender is a spectrum with many colours and we perceive new hues as our ideas about gender evolve. And so it is with our ideas about feminity; or rather of femininities. It isn’t about ‘girliness’ (in fact, what is ‘girliness’ in the first place? Who even is ‘girl’?), or a certain standard of beauty or physical appearance, a certain style of clothing, makeup, a particular body type, etc. The notion of femininities isn’t even restricted to a particular gender. It can be an experience, a state of being, a feeling that comes from within, as well as a performance. Hence, there are multiple femininities, and multiple horizons of experience associated with these femininities There are experiences of misogyny in various shapes and forms, there are experiences that are associated with the body and are also irrespective of the kind of body you inhabit, as well as irrespective of the gender assigned to you at birth. that influence one’s exploration of desire, of pleasure, of body image, and of sexual and romantic relationships. In a patriarchal world, where misogyny abounds, are all manifestations of femininities equally denigrated or are particular expressions of femininity valued? The spectrum of femininities intersects with sexuality in more ways than one can count, and the December issue of In Plainspeak attempts to explore these intersections, especially in the context of how they affect safe, inclusive, sexuality-affirming spaces.

For future issue themes, click here.

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