Movement and Sexuality

Editorial – Movement and Sexuality
An abstract photo of blurred blue and white vertical lines that are spanning outwards

This issue of In Plainspeak while inviting us to embrace the joys and pleasure in movement, also questions the ways in which movements are facilitated or obstructed, visibilised or invisibilised, and the spaces that we must envision to find freedom in/to movement.

By TARSHI
May 19, 2022
Editorial – Movement and Sexuality
भारत में एकल यात्रा
लेखिका जपलीन पसरीचा एवं उनके स्काई डाइविंग प्रशिक्षक आसमान में स्काई डाइविंग उपकरण से एक साथ बंधे हुए है और स्काई डाइविंग कर रहे हैं

मैं भली भांति जानती हूँ कि यात्राएं करने से आपका जीवन ‘बदल’ जाने और ‘सबको करनी चाहिए’ के विचारों के बारे में अनेक कथाएँ और कहानियाँ प्रचलन में हैं। मैं यह भी जानती हूँ कि यात्रा कर पाना एक विशेष तरह की सुविधा, एक विशेषाधिकार है और हर कोई जीवन में यात्राएं नहीं कर पाता।

By Japleen Pasricha
May 19, 2022
भारत में एकल यात्रा
आत्मबोध व अभिव्यक्ति – डांस मूवमेंट थेरेपी
लकड़ी के तल वाले कमरे में काले रंग के परदे लगे है, जिसमे कुछ लड़कियां आपस में रंग बिरंगे रिब्बंस के साथ खेल रही है

डांस मूवमेंट थेरेपी वर्कशाप के उन तीन दिनों में मुझे पता चला कि मेरे मन, मस्तिष्क और शरीर के बीच जैसे कोई सामंजस्य था ही नहीं, और कैसे आमतौर पर पारंपरिक मौखिक कार्यशालाओं में शरीर और मन के बीच के इस संबंध को नज़रअंदाज़ कर दिया जाता है।

By Arpita Bohra
May 19, 2022
आत्मबोध व अभिव्यक्ति – डांस मूवमेंट थेरेपी
A Trip To Delhi: Women Reclaiming Freedom Of Movement & Space
A Trip To Delhi: Women Reclaiming Freedom Of Movement & Space

This post was originally posted here. By Sheelalipi Sahana January 29, 2021 — In 1932, four Urdu writers caused a…

By Curated Content
May 19, 2022
A Trip To Delhi: Women Reclaiming Freedom Of Movement & Space
JOURNEYING THROUGH SEXUALITY, ACTIVISM AND THE INTERNET
JOURNEYING THROUGH SEXUALITY, ACTIVISM AND THE INTERNET

This post was originally posted here. By Njeri Gateru November 9, 2017 — “Do you remember the first time you…

By Curated Content
May 19, 2022
JOURNEYING THROUGH SEXUALITY, ACTIVISM AND THE INTERNET
Issue in Focus
An abstract image of waves.

Expanding contexts give the word ‘movement’ different meanings and value. Physical, conceptual, technological, relationship, emotional, mental, power, knowledge, ability, access, may be amongst the contexts immediately identified.

By Shikha Aleya
May 3, 2022
Issue in Focus
Interview – Tishani Doshi
Photograph of a woman with long hair in red sari, sitting with a brown dog against a background of bushes with vines and pink azaleas. The woman is resting her chin on one hand and petting the dog with the other.

I’ve essentially thought of movement as a kind of freedom, but one that has the capacity to destabilise you in some way. My most creative moments are when I’m not moving, when I am in fact rooted and still.

By Shikha Aleya
May 3, 2022
Interview – Tishani Doshi
High Heels and Loose-fitting Clothes: Movement Unfettered
A rack of clothes from where T-shirts of different colours are hanging in a row.
How should I walk, what should my gait be like, what kind of clothes can I wear that will sort of cover me up…? This indecisiveness and the burden of, “What will others think?” are some of the worries, that I carried for a long time while making decisions like: “Is this going to expose too much skin?”, “Is this going to look a certain way that I may not like to present myself as?”
By Taniya Mondal
May 3, 2022
High Heels and Loose-fitting Clothes: Movement Unfettered
Masculinity, queer representation, and the motifs of movement in ‘Dedh Ishqiya’
A shot from the film featuring the two female leads, one is preparing a paan with the other’s face resting on her shoulder. Both the women are smiling.

The film has all the makings and trimmings of a commercial thriller – a dynamic story, song and dance, an action-packed climax – and at the same time, it is a cinephile’s film.

By Srishti Gupta
May 3, 2022
Masculinity, queer representation, and the motifs of movement in ‘Dedh Ishqiya’
Two Poems: ‘Only sometimes’ & ‘No filter’
Photo of a trees in a forest. There is little distance between the trees. At the centre is a singular tree with twisting and gnarly branches.
Sometimes my love is as expansive as the earth itself Patient None of the restlessness of a filly
By Carol D'Souza
May 3, 2022
Two Poems: ‘Only sometimes’ & ‘No filter’
Two Poems: ‘Stepwells’ & ‘In the Dimly Lit Room’
Held between a thumb and the index finger is the delineation of a golden-yellow leaf with sunlight shining on it.

Just like on a misty morning,
we both
sit
without a shred of adornment
on these ancient stepwells
and the call of the hummingbirds
offer us sensations,
imagination,
and our innocence

By Prithvijeet Sinha
May 3, 2022
Two Poems: ‘Stepwells’ & ‘In the Dimly Lit Room’
Video – Tishani Doshi: Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods (poetry/dance)
Photograph of Tishani Doshi in the middle of a dance performance. She is wearing a pink pantsuit and has long hair. She has her legs slightly bent in a wide stance, with her palms cupped, facing outward towards the camera lens and positioned near her pubic area. A spotlight is focussed on her.

In the video section, watch Tishani Doshi perform one of her most haunting and popular poems ‘Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods’. Using the movements of/in body, music and language, it is a powerful expression of Tishani’s expansive vision of resistance, freedom and solidarity in the face of violence.

By Curated Content
May 3, 2022
Video – Tishani Doshi: Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods (poetry/dance)