Voices
Walk in Our Shoes
“How different it would be if for a moment health care providers could feel what we feel when we go to a hospital and are challenged…”
And so, the women sex workers of RedTraSex (Network of Women Sex Workers from Latin America and the Caribbean) developed Ponte en Nuestros Zapatos (re-edited 2015). Now, reaching out to a wider community, is the brand new English version Walk in our Shoes: Good Practices Guide for Health Care Staff (2016, translated by Alejandra Sardá-Chandiramani). Yes, it is so brand new that it is not up on their website as yet, though we have permission to use it here.
By RedTraSex
April 18, 2016
How Do You Battle AIDS if No One Talks About Sex? KP’s Transgenders Speak Out
In Peshawar alone, the community consists of over 500 transgenders. At least 20 per cent of these have AIDS. Their risk of contracting AIDS is higher, since 59 per cent of khawaja saras report to have at least one sexually transmitted infection.
By Curated Content
Why Being a Feminist Funder Means Supporting Sex Worker Activism
Sex work remains a highly contested issue. In most places in the world, societies and laws impose horrendous stigma and abuses on sex workers. But even within human rights movements there are disputes about whether sex work should be seen as labour or as exploitation…
By Barbara Lotti
A Swirly Skirt on the Expressway
Who is this person? What does this person want? Is it random cruising? Is money the goal, is it adventure? Why does it make me think of selling strawberries by the dusty roadside? I don’t have a single answer. Sex work is a lurking unknown in the world of sexuality.
By Shikha Aleya
April 5, 2016
Why We Need to Bridge the Gap between Sex Workers’ Movements and Abortion Rights Activism
Abortion and sex work share the distinction of being topics on which even feminist activists sometimes find it difficult to remain non-judgmental, confronting feminists with the question: to what lengths are we really willing to go to respect and enable women’s choices and bodily autonomy?
By Kristin Francoeur and Surabhi Srivastava
Rights and Freedom: From Street to Rehabilitation Centre
The fight for an end to discrimination and violence against sex workers in Cambodia, as in many other parts of the world, has a long way to go.
By WNU
April 5, 2016
Abortion ‘Vacations’ and Other Complications – I
If I had a dollar every time I heard an opponent of abortion rights say something like “If you remove the option for abortions, women will stop getting them,” it’s safe to say I would go up a tax bracket or two. In many places today, Global South or North, I would need all of those dollars in order to travel a considerable distance for an abortion that may neither be legal nor safe.
By Kristin Francoeur
March 1, 2016
The Magic of Travel
When the opportunity to work on a documentary film shoot about mapping Ramleela (a dramatic folk re-enactment of the life of Ram(a), an avatar of Hindu god Vishnu, and his wife Sita, an avatar of goddess Lakshmi) performance traditions across the state of Orissa presented itself, I had three thoughts in my head.
By Surbhi Dewan
March 1, 2016
Rezubian, Bi or Straight?
Employing a direct line of questioning in a booming voice, a tall drag queen shining in a blood red sequinned gown, strides to our table and shoots the question at us. I am not entirely sure how to respond and neither is my friend.
By Niyati Dave
March 1, 2016
No One Even Knows Your Name Here
There’s a pregnant pause as he fumbles for his keys, and I, for a definitive answer. Packaged as an innocuous statement, there hangs a question between us: No one even knows your name here, in this remote corner of the antiquated town we’ve found ourselves in. And yet, we’re in front of a door, planning to know so much more.
By Guest Writer
March 1, 2016
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
Travelling
Note: Travelling is a poem by Eunice de Souza. I find it impossible to read a poem without layering it…
By Shweta Krishnan
March 1, 2016
How Lesbians in India Redefine the Idea of Community
I have always loved the Internet. Its potential to provide information and connect people has always amazed and enthralled me. Hence, I decided to look at how queer women in India, lesbian and bisexual women in particular, use the Internet to meet other queer women. I looked at three dating sites in particular, PinkSofa, OKCupid and Mingle2, apart from the usual social media sites.
By Smita Vanniyar
February 18, 2016
The Questions Game
What is something I do that makes you feel good?
when you lay your hands on the upper part of my back
where do you feel it – on your body – when i say i love you?
February 1, 2016
Playing With Love
I’m a sucker for love. And I don’t want to be a party pooper either. There is lots I have…
By Jaya Sharma
February 1, 2016