Voices
Owning Our Boundaries
The concept of boundaries has become mixed up with the concept of being bound in a this-far-and-no-further way. They have become enclosures, aquariums, cages built for those who inhabit them, but not necessarily built by them.
By Shikha Aleya
April 3, 2017
Out For Fun, In For Trouble
Social media and dating platforms provide new opportunities for connection, but they also elevate the potential risk of harm associated with any online engagement. The anonymity of the interaction can serve both as a source of freedom and potential exploitation.
By Namrata Dond and Vanshika Negi
April 17, 2025
Othering the Unlikeable Woman in Hindi Cinema
When I saw Alia Bhatt’s gloriously flawed Kaira in the film ‘Dear Zindagi’ (2016), I felt so gratified I could have jumped up and cheered. To paraphrase, she resolutely sheds the burden that Hindi film heroines have been hefting on their always-delicate shoulders since the first hero whistled wolfishly across the street – the need to be relentlessly likeable.
By Damini Kulkarni
January 5, 2017
Other Than Marriage and Blood
In the debates around the need to expand the rights that accrue through marriage to same-sex couples, what is often lost are the forms of legal recognition of relationships not in the nature of marriage or blood. As the nature of traditional relationships changes across India, with more people opting to live singly or with friends, we really need to begin thinking seriously about new forms of legal recognition.
By Siddharth Narrain
May 1, 2016
Open Letter to Parents-Who-Are-Katti-With-The-Daughter-Mumbai-Police-Illegally-Harassed
Dear Parents-of-the-Young-Woman-Picked-Up-By-Moral-Mumbai-Police, I write this as a citizen, outraged by the actions of the Mumbai Police in picking up consenting…
By Shilpa Phadke
On “Knowing too Much”: Intimacy, Visibility, and Peer Surveillance in Rural Digital Life
In such a setting, intimacy becomes the surveillance infrastructure.
On Trans-Masculine Lesbianism: The Values in the Unintelligible
Unlike many trans-masculine people who identified as lesbians/tomboys/butch pre-transitioning, I refused to abandon my ‘lesbian’ identity post-transitioning. A negotiation that took time to flourish.
By Aranya Vadera
On the Sustainability of (Non) Romance
Contemporary and predominant imaginations of intimacy focus primarily on a sex-centric (romance-centric?) model which assumes that sexual desire exists and holds the same value for every person and every relationship regardless of their subjective positions. Sexual intent and desire are often the cruces of how relational aspects such as intimacy are socially constructed.
By Fariha Sameen
February 15, 2022
On the Rights of Women in ‘NRI’ Marriages
Often, these marriages are performed in great haste as the groom comes to India for a short holiday. In their enthusiasm to clinch, what appears to be a highly desirable marriage alliance, which will open up new opportunities, exposure and happiness to their daughter, the parents may throw caution to the wind and seal the match.
By Flavia Agnes
September 1, 2016
On Pleasure in the City and the Contestation of Public Space – II
Editor’s Note: This is a continuation of the first part of the article published on 1 March, 2016. To think…
By Moulshri Mohan
On Pleasure in the City and the Contestation of Public Space – I
Within the urban sphere, feminist discourse has for the past few decades centred on the constant anxiety and anticipation of violence, which permeates all of women’s movements within South Asian cities. However, something unusual is happening to that discourse in this cultural moment. Feminists are systematically and strategically shifting their attention from the anticipation of violence to the active search for pleasure in public space.
By Moulshri Mohan
On Feminism, Sexuality and Disability
Bula was not happy at being offered a bath and fresh clothes. Food, she would gladly take – but…
By Gunjan Chandak Khemka
November 1, 2015
On Confinements & Coexistence: Perspectives on the Impact of Covid-19 on the Mental Health of Women
Pandemics have a profound psychological impact. They are known to disrupt one’s sense of safety, security, certainty, control, concordance, and…
By Ansha Patel
On Being Gay and Muslim
My entire life has been a struggle of confused identities. I stood at the intersection of gay, Muslim and economic privilege.
By Aersh
July 15, 2017
Of ‘Kinkfests’ And Forbidden Fantasies: The Subversive Potential of Erotic Fanfiction
In a society where queer sexuality had been demonised in not just mainstream fiction but also mainstream culture, the erotic fanfiction that emerged out of kinkfests became an important source of queer sex-positivity.
By Rohini Banerjee