The I Column

“Is there anything you want to ask me?”
A young woman smiling. She is wearing a white top, and has her hair open.

A lot of research concludes that globally, young people aren’t learning enough about sexuality, and that they would like to…

By Padmini Iyer
February 1, 2015
“Is there anything you want to ask me?”
“IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ASK ME?
A young woman smiling. She is wearing a white top, and has her hair open.

A lot of research concludes that globally, young people aren’t learning enough about sexuality, and that they would like to…

By Padmini Iyer
August 15, 2015
“IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ASK ME?
मेरी अपनी बात
Five transgender people walking down on an Indian road. Someone behind them is carrying a placard "Save us from saviors". They are wearing bright-coloured sareers, gajras, bindis, and jewelery.

अनीता जो महाराष्ट्र में एक देवदासी हैं, के इस आत्म कथ्य से पता चलता है कि सहमति और हिंसा के मुद्दे हमेशा स्पष्ट और सीधे रूप में सामने नहीं आते। अनीता का कथ्य बताता है कि जीवन की कई परिस्थितियों में वो अपना रास्ता खुद मर्ज़ी अनुसार चुन पाई हैं ।

By Anita
April 5, 2016
मेरी अपनी बात
खेल के मैदान में क्या मैं “मर्द” हूँ?
A photo of a woman standing in the middle of a green meadow, leaning against a brown tree bark. She has shoulder length black hair and is wearing a light blue kurta

पारंपरिक जेन्डर भूमिकाओं ने हमेशा ही खेलों के स्वरूप को प्रभावित किया है। यह सच है कि एक ऐसी जगह में, जो विशेष रूप से पुरुषों के लिए ही बनी थी, धीरे धीरे महिलाओं के लिए स्वीकार्यता आई है, लेकिन इस स्वीकार्यता ने औरतों को स्वतंत्र रूप से ख़ुद को स्थापित करने के लिए बहुत कम जगह दी है।

By Supriya Subramani
April 21, 2023
खेल के मैदान में क्या मैं “मर्द” हूँ?
एक बेमेल जोड़े की कहानी
Picture of a child with curly hair

Both of us, have recently, decided to get married and will be in a marriage that I like to call a subversive marriage. Subversive marriages are based on an uncompromising equality and negotiations that serve for the betterment of both the partners.

By Shivani Gupta
January 2, 2019
एक बेमेल जोड़े की कहानी
 Whatever it takes…walking life as single women
A photograph of a woman’s silhouette against a pink and purple sky.

What I am proposing here is to look at being in a relationship and being single together because what is important here is the idea of ‘be-ing’ as opposed to the stereotypes and perceptions attached to our relationship with ‘the One’ or to singlehood.

By Gurpreet Kaur
February 1, 2021
 Whatever it takes…walking life as single women
Writing Erotic Poetry
nk pen sitting on a paper. The paper is filled with cursive handwriting in blue.

My discovery of erotic poems was, as they put it, ‘by chance’. A friend of mine had suggested a book…

By Aindrila Chaudhuri
March 1, 2015
Writing Erotic Poetry
Womanhood ≠ Motherhood
An illustration of what makes a family using stick figures. Several different scenarios is sepearate circles. One shows two men and a child; another - a man, a woman, and a child; two women and a child; a man and a child; a woman and a child; two men; a man and a woman; two women; a man, a cat, and a dog; and last - a woman, a cat, and a dog.

I love children and have at various times in my life flirted with the idea of adoption. But I have known since I was a child that I did not want to birth children. I have never been vague or ambivalent about this decision. I have been consistently clear and concise that this is not my calling.

By Sheba Remy Kharbanda
October 3, 2016
Womanhood ≠ Motherhood
WOMAN. ENOUGH.
A black and white sketch of a group of women raising their fists in the air

It’s that time of the year again. Those 31 days during which we, the 49%, have a chance to be…

By Vani Subramanian
March 1, 2014
WOMAN. ENOUGH.
Windows: My Introduction To Sexuality Through Literature
book cover of 'out' - a book of queer stories

All these works have made me acutely aware of how gender, sexuality, and religion, are so deeply intertwined in the social fabric. Also, how conditioning can significantly influence one’s understanding of literature, or the lack of it.

By Asmi
March 2, 2020
Windows: My Introduction To Sexuality Through Literature
Why it is Important To Not Include Everything in the Queer Bracket
Silk black gloves, along with a pair of heels and handcuffs

I personally feel that any cause, specially one like kink that is in its nascent stages, needs its own space to grow, to affect enough people, before it merges with the larger cause of queerness, or sexuality, or even humanity.

By Asmi
May 1, 2019
Why it is Important To Not Include Everything in the Queer Bracket
Why Is Menstruation A Woman’s ‘Worst Kept Secret’?
In Plainspeak English Audit In Plainspeak English Audit 100% 10 Two girls in school uniforms with pleated hair. One says something to another in her ear, giggling. Screen reader support enabled. Two girls in school uniforms with pleated hair. One says something to another in her ear, giggling.

This post is part of TARSHI’s #TalkSexuality campaign on Comprehensive Sexuality Education in collaboration with Youth Ki Awaaz. The author chose to remain anonymous. Menstruation was…

By Curated Content
August 1, 2015
Why Is Menstruation A Woman’s ‘Worst Kept Secret’?
When Transparency Meets Fluidity, Dance Is Born
Two men dancing on a stage with red flourescent lights. The dance pose shows the man in front turning over his shoulder to kiss the man standing behind him.

I just celebrated my twenty years in India last October and designed a performance for the occasion: ‘What is dance?’…

By Gilles Chuyen
January 1, 2015
When Transparency Meets Fluidity, Dance Is Born
We Need More Sexuality Education in Nepal
Photo of a young man as a school teacher in a classroom of little Nepalese children. He is thumbing through a picture book.

There has been so much discourse about sex and sexuality education all over the world that I perhaps may not…

By Kamal Gautam
December 16, 2016
We Need More Sexuality Education in Nepal
Vulnerability and Romantic Relationships: My Struggles Navigating These Spaces
A zoomed-in photograph of a wall with differently coloured flanks.

It took me some time to realise how important being vulnerable or, for that matter, being vulnerable during sexual engagement was for me to have great sex and how empowering it is for my sexuality. After much thought, I decided to open up to my partner about my past experiences and other things I never used to openly talk about.

By Grishma Trivedi
April 19, 2021
Vulnerability and Romantic Relationships: My Struggles Navigating These Spaces
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