A digital magazine on sexuality in the Global South: We are working towards cultivating safe, inclusive, and self-affirming spaces in which all individuals can express themselves without fear, judgement or shame

Author: Kristin Francoeur

'Pro-race' cervical cap

Reproducing Caste: Savarna Eugenics, Then and Now

Today Marie Stopes is better known for her eponymous clinics, which provide contraception and safe abortion services in 37 countries around the world. In 20th century colonial India, however, she once thought it fit to promote contraception with a strong eugenic and neo-Malthusian slant. She was just one of many Western and Indian birth control…
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An adult female receiving a vaccination that was administered by a public health clinician by way of a jet injector.

The (Pseudo) Science of Not Trusting Women

Medical abortion is a threat to scientific authorities because it is technology easily used without the help of a medical provider. Since there is doubt that women will use the drug safely without supervision (even though they did it before and are still doing it), some think the kinder option is to remove their opportunity to fail.
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A diagram of the female reproductive organs against a blue backdrop

Abortion ‘Vacations’ and Other Complications – I

If I had a dollar every time I heard an opponent of abortion rights say something like “If you remove the option for abortions, women will stop getting them,” it’s safe to say I would go up a tax bracket or two. In many places today, Global South or North, I would need all of those dollars in order to travel a considerable distance for an abortion that may neither be legal nor safe.
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Comedian Aditi Mittal speaking into a mike.

‘सेक्सी’ और मज़ाकिया महिलाओं से जुडी विसंगतियां

क्रिस्टिन फ्रैंकर द्वारा पिछले वर्ष, एआईबी के बदनाम नाकआउट रोस्ट के दौरान कॉमेडियन अदिति मित्तल ने कार्यक्रम के पैनल पर अपने सहयोगी अबिश मैथ्यू के बारे में मज़ाक करते हुए कहा था ““अबिश, अगर कोई लड़की आपके साथ सेक्स कर ले तो वो दोबारा कुंवारी बन जायेगी, आप तो सही मायने में कौमार्य झिल्ली ठीक…
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Comedian Aditi Mittal speaking into a mike.

Review: The Absurdities of Sexy and Funny Women

At the now infamous All India Bakchod Knockout roast last year, comedian Aditi Mittal told this joke about her fellow panellist Abish Mathew: “Abish, if a girl has sex with you she becomes a virgin again. You are literally a hymen repairman.” Though hardly the most vulgar joke of the evening, suddenly Mittal was fielding…
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Book cover. A baby resting on her mother's torso and shoulder looks wide-eyed at the camera. Title of the book "Birth in the age of AIDS" is written in red on top of the photo, and the subtitle "Women, reproduction, and HIV/AIDS in India" is written in red at the bottom. Screen reader support enabled. Book cover. A baby resting on her mother's torso and shoulder looks wide-eyed at the camera. Title of the book "Birth in the age of AIDS" is written in red on top of the photo, and the subtitle "Women, reproduction, and HIV/AIDS in India" is written in red at the bottom.

Book Review: Birth in the Age of AIDS: Women, Reproduction, and HIV/AIDS in India

Cecilia Van Hollen’s 2013 ethnography (published by Stanford University Press) of low caste, low-income women living with HIV in Tamil Nadu is refreshingly incongruous. Despite overwhelming global evidence that married women are especially likely to contract HIV, and that risk is multiplied if they’re already impoverished or marginalized, most discourse still focuses on other so-called…
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A brown woman in a blue top standing amongst a crowd raises a placard that reads in black on a white background, "Keep sex sexy - consent."

Issue In Focus: Challenging Neo-liberal ‘Equality’ in Consent

In an ideal world, this article would read at Tweet-length: “Enthusiastic sexual consent is sexy, and necessary for negotiating unequal power dynamics among partners.” Bas. No explanation needed. (Actually, in an ideal world, there would be no unequal power dynamics to negotiate, but I digress.) Consent is intimately connected with power; because we have unequal…
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Sushi on a white plate.

Review: East Side Sushi (2015)

Time: 1hr 47min In English, Spanish and Japanese, with English subtitles "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." Virginia Woolf "If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him… the people who give you their food give you their heart." Cesar…
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Infographic titled, "Banning abortions endangers women's health." Other data given: "222 million women in the developing world have an unmet need for modern contraception"; "47,000 women die yearly...millions more are injured"; "86% abortions take place in the developing world where most abortion laws are highly restrictive."

Why the Absence of Safe Abortion in the Post-2015 SDGs Matters

The eight UN Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) have been rightly criticised because they were too narrow, failed to address the underlying root causes of poverty and gender equality, and have not taken a holistic approach to development. They were considered targets for poor countries to achieve (with funding from wealthier nations) rather than something all…
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In Plainspeak English Audit In Plainspeak English Audit 100% 10 A photo of queer feminist activist Rudrani Chhetri. Her hair is tied up in a bun, and she is wearing a simple patterned top and jacket. She is also wearing gold earrings and a golden locket. Screen reader support enabled. A photo of queer feminist activist Rudrani Chhetri. Her hair is tied up in a bun, and she is wearing a simple patterned top and jacket. She is also wearing gold earrings and a golden locket.

Voices: Interview With Rudrani Chettri

Published on January 1, 2014
silhouette of a woman standing alone in a valley

‘हामी भरने’ या ‘मना करने’ का मेरा अधिकार

Published on March 5, 2019
poster for the 16 days of activism campaign

Why We Still Need Campaigns Like The 16 Days of Activism

Published on December 2, 2019
A person with short dark hair and silver earrings holds a sign that says "Sexual Rights To Me Means Control Over My Own Body". The photo is in black and white.

What Do Sexual Rights Mean To You?

Published on December 1, 2013
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