Home and Sexuality

Editorial: Home and Sexuality
A black-and-white picture of a room, with a mussed bed and a bedside table.

Home. Be it a real home or an aspirational one, the very word evokes longing and a sense of comfort, safety, and belongingness. As this month’s articles show us, when it comes to home and sexuality, sometimes the real and the aspirational meet and sometimes they do not. Our homes may house us but they may or may not have room for our sexual expression and desires.

By TARSHI
March 19, 2018
Editorial: Home and Sexuality
Exposed Book Wall: The Night Train at Deoli and Other Tales of Delusional Love

Coming back to finding a utopic home within the narratives from The Night Train at Deoli, the book wasn’t necessarily an escape from what constituted the material home, but rather an assurance that love can have plural possibilities, and so can what comes to be ‘home’.

By Swati Vijaya
March 19, 2018
Exposed Book Wall: The Night Train at Deoli and Other Tales of Delusional Love
Do queer migrants from the Northeast find Indian cities alienating or empowering?
Photo of a man and a woman in front of a pride flag, with a glass-like filter on it.

Despite the existence of various pockets in which a Northeastern queer could possibly reclaim and celebrate their racial identity, our sexual orientation conjures an awkward indifference and discomfort within our kin.

By Davidson and Pavel
March 19, 2018
Do queer migrants from the Northeast find Indian cities alienating or empowering?
बंटवारे की कहानियाँ : जब मेरी दादी ग़ालिब को सरहद पार ले आयीं

गुमशुदा घरों से जुडी कहानियाँ आज दुनिया के कोने-कोने में मिलती हैं, लेकिन फिर भी देखा गया है कि लोग…

By Surbhi Dewan
March 19, 2018
बंटवारे की कहानियाँ : जब मेरी दादी ग़ालिब को सरहद पार ले आयीं
Aruvi: Questioning home and ‘innocence’
एक बच्ची (जिसकी पीठ और बाल दिख रखे है) पानी के झरने की और देख रही है, झरने क आस-पास हरियाली और पहाड़ है। बच्ची के बाल कंधे तक है और उसने हलके भूरे रंग की कमीज़ पहनी है

Over time, I realised that ‘home’ meant not just the physical and emotional space occupied by my parents, but also a set of practices or strictures, mostly dictated by parents, related to gender roles, religion, sex, marriage, friendships and ‘appropriate’ behaviour.

By Vani Viswanathan
March 5, 2018
Aruvi: Questioning home and ‘innocence’
Acceptance, Agency, and A Womens’ Hostel
a room

In a way, Mrs Chatterjee’s worst fears had been confirmed. The hostel was indeed dangerous – not because of “raging hormones”, but because wewere constantly initiating discussions and circumstances which challenged the patriarchal status quo.

By Anonymous
March 5, 2018
Acceptance, Agency, and A Womens’ Hostel
Sexuality and the homelessness of being
woman in boxes

As an integral aspect of the self, sexuality is at the core of home in the ways in which that home designs space for sexual being, an evolving sexual self, sexual experience and sexual expression, or does not do so, or does so for some members of the home but not for others.

By Shikha Aleya
March 5, 2018
Sexuality and the homelessness of being
The contest of gendered spaces at home
Sanitary napkins made of cloth. (Image credit: The Kachra Project)

So, even though “home” is supposed to be a place of comfort – a personal space which should allow us to express our gender, sexuality and bodies freely – this notion of home stands defeated in reality, where there are certain unsaid rules which govern the distribution and use of space.

By Zeba Siddiqui
March 5, 2018
The contest of gendered spaces at home
Video Page: GHAR – Gay Housing Assistance Resource
Photo of founder Sachin Jain, holding up a placard that says ‘G.H.A.R’

Nineteen years ago, Sachin Jain founded G.H.A.R, the Gay Housing Assistance Resource, a revolutionary project which helps LGBT people find safe and friendly housing.

By Curated Content
March 5, 2018
Video Page: GHAR – Gay Housing Assistance Resource
Brushstrokes: Inside Singapore’s Only Shelter For Homeless Transgender Women

June and her late sister Irene (who was also transgender) took it upon themselves to “to give and do more for others”, and together they began the first shelter for homeless transwomen in Singapore.

By Curated Content
March 5, 2018
Brushstrokes: Inside Singapore’s Only Shelter For Homeless Transgender Women
Homes away from home – My experiences with the BDSM community
SILICONE WHIP

Home is usually the place where we begin exploring all aspects of life. In India, one area that is often…

By Asmi
March 5, 2018
Homes away from home – My experiences with the BDSM community