Sex and Sexuality

Editorial: Sex and Sexuality

Prisms cause rainbow effects because they refract light into its constituent colours. What this means is that the prism itself does not create the colours we see, but that they are already present in what appears to be colourless or ‘white’ light.

By TARSHI
November 15, 2018
Editorial: Sex and Sexuality
Androgynous Divinity: Celebrating Transsexuality in the Kolkata Durga Puja
Picture of an idol of goddess Durga, shown as half man half woman.

The replacement of the traditional Durga idol by that of the Ardhanarishwara, without any obdurate protest, highlights the true carnivalesque spirit of Kolkata’s most looked-forward-to festival.

By Kaustav Bakshi and Arnab Adak
November 15, 2018
Androgynous Divinity: Celebrating Transsexuality in the Kolkata Durga Puja
From Stone Dildos to Sexbots: How Technology is Changing Sex
A pair of hands carress the head of a sex robot

Sex and technology link in many different ways – whether its helps overcome a disability or separation from a loved one, or is simply be a way to increase pleasure and excitement.

By Curated Content
November 15, 2018
From Stone Dildos to Sexbots: How Technology is Changing Sex
रात दबे पाँव न जाने कहाँ भागती रहती है
Poem, Raat Naa Jane Dabe Paao Kaha Chalti Hain: picture of the moon and its shadow falling on the sea

नींद की गलियों में क्यों कर छुप-छुपा कर
ख़्वाबों के मुलायम धागे बाँधती रहती है

By Salil Saroj
November 15, 2018
रात दबे पाँव न जाने कहाँ भागती रहती है
Why We Don’t Get Consent
Illustration of a woman dressed in black, holding her hand up in a gesture of protest

But here is the thing. In heterosexual relationships, how are women and men going to learn to see women’s desires if the world does not see them? If the world is shaped to conform to a certain type of man’s desires only? Where is consent without a diversity of desires and a galaxy of desirability?

By Curated Content
November 15, 2018
Why We Don’t Get Consent
Interview: Richa Kaul Padte, Author of ‘Cyber Sexy’
Author of Cyber Sexy, Richa Kaul Padte, looks directly into the camera

Richa Kaul Padte, in her own words, is “a writer and editor interested in gender, sex, tech, popular culture and illness.” Shikha Aleya interviews Richa about porn, pleasure and pussycats.

By Shikha Aleya
November 1, 2018
Interview: Richa Kaul Padte, Author of ‘Cyber Sexy’
Love, Lust or Desire – Fusing Sex Back with Sexuality
Photo Credit: Alia Sinha (minor_grace - Instagram Handle)

While sex sometimes can be fun, and at other times complicated and frustrating –is always love, lust or desire: which one you are signing up for and which one did you want to actually explore?

By Nidhi Goyal
November 1, 2018
Love, Lust or Desire – Fusing Sex Back with Sexuality
Brushstrokes: How Ideas of Purity Damage Our Mental Sexual Health (And Happiness)
mental sexual health: illustration showing a man and a woman discussing pleasure and sexual health

How, then, can one shed such harmful modes of thinking around sex, sexuality, and sexual purity, and work towards not only a greater self-awareness, but positive sexual mental health?

By Curated Content
November 1, 2018
Brushstrokes: How Ideas of Purity Damage Our Mental Sexual Health (And Happiness)
Kinky Sex, Does it Always Have To Be Penetrative?
A cucumber, a phallic symbol

Combine sexuality, not sex, with LGBT, Polyamory, and BDSM and there’s a vast array of non-penetrative arousal, activity and sexual frameworks.

By Asmi
November 1, 2018
Kinky Sex, Does it Always Have To Be Penetrative?
पोक्सो (POCSO) कानून, 2012 के समय में प्रेम और सेक्स
a woman dressed in red bridal wear, sitting with her face downwards

क्या हमें पोक्सो कानून के इन प्रावधानों को चुनौती नहीं देनी चाहिए क्योंकि इस कानून के अंतर्गत बच्चों की स्वायत्तता और उनके मौलिक अधिकारों को नज़रंदाज़ करते हुए प्रभावी रूप से उनके बीच आपसी सहमति से हर तरह के यौन संपर्क और व्यवहार को अपराध मान लिया गया है?

By Swagata Raha
November 1, 2018
पोक्सो (POCSO) कानून, 2012 के समय में प्रेम और सेक्स
Free Porn and the Lives of ‘Porn People’ and their Fans: Jon Ronson’s ‘The Butterfly Effect’
the butterfly effect; cover image for jon ronson's podcast - the pornhub logo shaped as a butterfly

I found The Butterfly Effect fascinating; it was wonderful to see discussions around porn without a singular lens of exploitation, and to tease out the nuances of how porn can be helpful – as in the case of those who request customs – or not

By Vani Viswanathan
November 1, 2018
Free Porn and the Lives of ‘Porn People’ and their Fans: Jon Ronson’s ‘The Butterfly Effect’
Sex and Me, an Intimate Affair

Loving sex has only opened doors for me to know more about the world and myself. It helps me love and appreciate myself more and also, to a fair bit, tolerate this hypocritical and violent world. It gives me hope.

By Pavel Sagolsem
November 1, 2018
Sex and Me, an Intimate Affair
Video Page: My First Time
picture of spoken word poet tess joseph

“First times” can be awkward, exhilarating, and everything in between. They come with the tentativeness of sexual exploration – of figuring out what one wants and of nervously (and excitedly) seeking it out

By Curated Content
November 1, 2018
Video Page: My First Time
Sexuality and the Single Woman
a single woman's silhuoette with her arms outstretched and the sunlight illuminating her body

I am confident in my sexuality and know what I want from life. I definitely do not want to be joined at the hip with a man to feel fulfilled. But I do know what I want from a man and I can enter a relationship from a point of equality rather than subservience.

By ElsaMarie D'Silva
November 1, 2018
Sexuality and the Single Woman
The Binary That Matters
a painting of a woman in water colours

So, yes, it is “just a step”. If sexual minorities are to exercise bodily autonomy and sexual orientation as fundamental rights, laws need to written, rewritten and read down, even if one step at a time.

By Alankrita Singh
November 1, 2018
The Binary That Matters