Review

Man, His Madness, and the Mad Woman
Collage of posters of three films - Omkara, Maqbool and Haider. The first poster shows a man and woman embracing, the second shows a man intimately caressing the head of a woman and the thirs shows a man holding up a human skull
Man, His Madness, and the Mad Woman

Mad adj. crazy, nuts, loony, mental, insane. adj. angry, frustrated, raging. No one is a better drama queen than William…
By Shweta Krishnan
April 1, 2015
Man, His Madness, and the Mad Woman
Making women out of men: Mystifying queer desires, staging queerness in Siraj’s Māyā Mridanga
An abstract art of a spiral starting with fiery orange and yellow in the middle, with shades of blue on the outside.
Making women out of men: Mystifying queer desires, staging queerness in Siraj’s Māyā Mridanga

Māyā Mridanga infinitely problematises the nature vs. nurture debate that is central to sexuality studies. The novel seems to suggest that a certain kind of male body – feminine, smooth, shapely – is the ideal raw material for making a chhokra out of a biological man. Ustaad Jhaksa, whose life the novel documents[2], repeatedly emphasises on this act of nurturing, moulding and pruning of a feminine male body for which he has fatherly affection as well as a lover’s lust.
By Kaustav Bakshi
September 1, 2017
Making women out of men: Mystifying queer desires, staging queerness in Siraj’s Māyā Mridanga
Making the most of our lives
Making the most of our lives

I realised that we are constantly thinking about the future and our life as we age, and are afraid of facing the world alone. The uncertainty of future events, of which there are many combinations, makes us feel insecure and vulnerable.

By ElsaMarie D'Silva
March 1, 2021
Making the most of our lives
Love matters – A review of Atypical (Season 1)
A poster of the Netflix show, Atypical. The main character, his parents, and his sister are in the four corners with the title in the very centre.
Love matters – A review of Atypical (Season 1)

Sam is an 18-year-old boy who believes that he is ready to have a girlfriend. He is on the autistic…
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
February 16, 2023
Love matters – A review of Atypical (Season 1)
Lootera: The Thief Who Stole My Heart
Poster of the film Lootera showing a man holding a woman in an intimate embrace.
Lootera: The Thief Who Stole My Heart

It is rare to show with such simplicity and depth, the undoing of a robber as he falls in love with the subject of his robbery. Lootera reinforces the belief in love’s gentleness which can disarm all the trappings of normative masculinity that society commands.
By Pronita Tripathi
April 17, 2025
Lootera: The Thief Who Stole My Heart
Locating the ‘Nagar’ in ‘Nagarkirtan’: Identifying the feeling of socio-sexual rootlessness in the Transgender community
Poster of the movie Nagarkirtan. A woman with short hair is leaning her chin on the shoulders of a man who is playing a flute. The name of the movie is written in Bengali, followed by its translation in English that reads “The Eunuch and The Flute Player”. Below it is the text that reads, “A Film by Kaushik Ganguly”, following which is a list of awards won by the movie at the 2018 National Awards.
Locating the ‘Nagar’ in ‘Nagarkirtan’: Identifying the feeling of socio-sexual rootlessness in the Transgender community

The plot of the movie narrates the tale of the love that grows between two people who are struggling to survive in a world of rootlessness and are continuing to make a cosy home for themselves. The love between Madhu, who works as a food delivery boy, and Puti, who survives by singing at traffic signals, blossoms while they cross paths everyday at the traffic signal and the look that they exchange appears to us as if each of them is trying to find a home in the other.

By Ria Basu
April 18, 2022
Locating the ‘Nagar’ in ‘Nagarkirtan’: Identifying the feeling of socio-sexual rootlessness in the Transgender community
Lessons for Contemporary Times from The Liberation of Sita
A photograph of the cover image of the book ‘The Liberation of Sita’ by Volga
Lessons for Contemporary Times from The Liberation of Sita

In this narrative, Sita finds solace in these women and understands a different perspective about beauty, self-worth, authority, self-reliance, and toward the end, finds liberation from society and marriage which were the root cause of her sorrow.
By Tulika
February 1, 2021
Lessons for Contemporary Times from The Liberation of Sita
Learning To Pause and Reflect At CREA’s Sexuality, Gender and Rights Institute
A picture of a caucasian woman with white hair wearing a magenta top and holding her hands up
Learning To Pause and Reflect At CREA’s Sexuality, Gender and Rights Institute

I recently had the wonderful opportunity of attending the seven-day Sexuality, Gender and Rights Institute (SGRI)* organised by Delhi-based organisation…
By Deepa Ranganathan
February 15, 2015
Learning To Pause and Reflect At CREA’s Sexuality, Gender and Rights Institute
Joyland – Gazing Back Through the Lens of Desire
A still from the film, Joyland.
Joyland – Gazing Back Through the Lens of Desire

Directed by Saim Sadiq, Joyland (2022) is not a film about trans rights or women’s rights. It is not even about one specific group or community of people. It is about the whole spectrum of human emotions.
By Trijita
March 18, 2024
Joyland – Gazing Back Through the Lens of Desire
Joining her on the Journey: A Review of Amelia Abraham’s ‘Queer Intentions’
Book Cover Image of Queer Intentions by Amelia Abraham.
Joining her on the Journey: A Review of Amelia Abraham’s ‘Queer Intentions’

Queer Intentions manages to capture the vast nuances of the queer experience, as Abraham creates space for LGBTQ+ people of a whole spectrum of identities and diverse walks of life to tell their stories.
By Arundhati Nath
November 20, 2023
Joining her on the Journey: A Review of Amelia Abraham’s ‘Queer Intentions’
John Norman’s series of Gorean fiction and his representation of sexual slavery
Flames with a dark background.
John Norman’s series of Gorean fiction and his representation of sexual slavery

My formative years in BDSM[1]were heavily influenced by a series of books called Chronicles of Gor written by an author…
By Asmi
September 15, 2017
John Norman’s series of Gorean fiction and his representation of sexual slavery
Invisible Women
A poster of the film 'North Country'. On the poster: in the middle, Charlize Theron's face and shoulders. She is wearing a yellow bandana and a grey-beige t-shirt. She is looking at the camera, wide-eyed. Behind her is a crowd of men, a bit transparent. The lettering under her is in white, saying NORTH COUNTRY. Above her, the lettering says, 'ALL SHE WANTED WAS TO MAKE A LIVING, INSTEAD SHE MADE HISTORY' and underneath the title of the film are details about its cast and production.
Invisible Women

I recently watched North Country on Netflix, a movie based on a true story of a woman’s fight for equality at the workplace. It is based on the case, Jenson vs Eveleth Mines, in the United States in which Lois Jenson, fought for the right to work as a miner, and the right to work free of sexual harassment. She won the landmark 1984 lawsuit, which was the first class-action lawsuit on sexual harassment at the workplace in the United States and resulted in companies/organisations having to introduce sexual harassment policies at the workplace.
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
May 15, 2021
Invisible Women
Hunting and Devouring Erotica
Book cover. Painting of the back of a woman, naked. Over it is written in blue and cursive, "blue". Below it in white, "the tranquebar book of erotic stories from Sri Lanka".
Hunting and Devouring Erotica

When I was working on finalising my dissertation topic during my Masters, I was quite apprehensive about what I would…
By Deepa Ranganathan
March 1, 2015
Hunting and Devouring Erotica
How Queer are your Dating Apps?
Its a photo where there is a text that says, 'I saw you on tinder' in red.
How Queer are your Dating Apps?

Online dating websites and apps are one of those technological innovations that people did not think would ever do well….
By Smita Vanniyar
June 15, 2017
How Queer are your Dating Apps?
Hot Girls Wanted – Keeping up with the times
A section of the poster for the Netflix Original Documentary series Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On. Against a black background, there is an illustration of the waist of a human body, seemingly female, in solid pale pink. On the body, text in capitalised letters and black font reads, “ A NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY SERIES”. In the next line, the text says, “HOT GIRLS WANTED: TURNED ON”. Below the title of the series is the logo for the Sundance Film Festival and the text reads, “OFFICIAL SELECTION SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2017”.
Hot Girls Wanted – Keeping up with the times

The film Hot Girls Wanted followed the journey of five young women aged 18-25 years as they joined the pornography industry and also looked more broadly at at women in this age group and their motivation to join.
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
January 3, 2022
Hot Girls Wanted – Keeping up with the times
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