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Voices

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Picture of a female acid attack survivor. She is wearing a black headscarf and her eyes are turned downwards.

Mirroring Reality: A Conversation with Sabiha Sumar – Part 2

In continuation of Mirroring Reality: A Conversation with Sabiha Sumar – Part 1 Sabiha Sumar presents the harsh reality of…

By Surbhi Dewan

March 15, 2014

Mirroring Reality: A Conversation with Sabiha Sumar – Part 2

A picture of feminist scientist Chayanika Shah. Her hair is dark, with specks of grey. She has a blue scarf wrapped around her neck, and is wearing blue earrings.

Feminism and Science: Teaching and Learning ‘Science in the Making’

Chayanika Shah [1] in conversation with Vivek Vellanki Vivek Vellanki: You did your PhD in Physics from IIT in the 1980s,…

By Vivek Vellanki

March 1, 2014

Feminism and Science: Teaching and Learning ‘Science in the Making’

Mirroring Reality: A Conversation with Sabiha Sumar

March 1, 2014

Mirroring Reality: A Conversation with Sabiha Sumar

A drop of water falls on a water body. A silhoutted figure in black-and-white is seen in the background.

Consent and violation

I was in standard 9th. She was our new Political Science teacher. Our entire class adored her; after all, she…

By Guest Writer

February 15, 2014

Consent and violation

Picture of a woman holding up a placard that says "Consent is respecting yourself and the other"

What does consent mean to you?

[slideshow_deploy id=’1730′] What does consent mean to you?

By Disha Luthra

February 1, 2014

What does consent mean to you?

A picture of a room where a woman sits in the middle with a laptop and the rest of the people are seated at various distances away from her, listening to her speak.

Voices: Many facets of consent

Consent [1] has always been a loaded term and when we qualify it with ‘informed’, the realistic practical understanding of…

By Pooja Badarinath

February 1, 2014

Voices: Many facets of consent

A still of actor Divya Dutta from the film 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'. She is wearing a pink headscarf and bloue jacket, and her right palm is held up to her head in the manner of a salute.

Voices: Silencing the Body: On Blissful Cinematic Ignorance and Social Insensitivity

In one of the most compelling and difficult scenes in 2013’s acclaimed Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, a young Milkha Singh is…

By Parigya Sharma

February 1, 2014

Voices: Silencing the Body: On Blissful Cinematic Ignorance and Social Insensitivity

Black and white picture of a child covering their face

Poem: Age 7

tender lips that had forgotten, momentarily, the taste of mother’s milk and couldn’t tell the silence of the womb from…

By Mukesh

February 1, 2014

Poem: Age 7

A photo of spots of yellow light arranged in a bokeh pattern

Voices: I Am Queer

I look at you, a warm embrace, with arms, eyes, mind, heart and soul. You look at me, eyes…

By Asmi

January 1, 2014

Voices: I Am Queer

A cartoon sketch of two women kissing, next to a sketch of a monster-like figure. The sketches are black-and-white, but outlined in colour.

Voices: A Thinly Veiled Act Of Cowardice?

Haiku for the Disenfranchised: An overcooked symphony the angry voices scream ‘377. Unnatural Offences – Whoever voluntarily…

By Neha Naqvi

January 1, 2014

Voices: A Thinly Veiled Act Of Cowardice?

A park in which multiple couples are seen sitting together at various points. There are two big trees on each side, casting shadows on the same-sex couple sitting in the very centre with their backs turned.

Voices: Finding Pride

In Warsaw, it was a remnant. My first lesson in language barriers came with an incorrect translation of the time…

By Sarah Holland Bacot

January 1, 2014

Voices: Finding Pride

Voices: Interview With Rudrani Chettri

January 1, 2014

Voices: Interview With Rudrani Chettri

Photo of a pride flag, representing seven colours of the rainbow.

Voices: Terha Pakistan

‘Pakistan is a homophobic place,’ Karim continues. ‘As in any other conservative society, queers can have all the sex and…

By Hira Nabi

January 1, 2014

Voices: Terha Pakistan

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Themes

In Plainspeak publishes one issue every month, with a single theme running across two months. Our aim is to expand safe, inclusive self-affirming spaces.

CURRENT ISSUE:

February-March 2026: Digital Intimacies and Sexuality

With ever-increasing (for most of us) access to and reliance on digital modes of connecting, we are no strangers to digital intimacies – erotic, sexual, platonic, emotional – on social media, gaming platforms, dating apps, and so on. While digital spaces afford possibilities of sexual freedom and pleasure, they also hold the threat of surveillance, exposure, and abuse. So what do we do to optimise our experience? Do we use different modes of self-representation, visibility/anonymity and self-censorship on different platforms? How do factors like queerness, ethnicity, caste, a/sexuality, and disability play out in the creation and sustenance of digital intimacies? Are the sexual intimacies that digital spaces afford congruent with those in our offline lives? Must they be, or is there a particular thrill in their not being so? What is ‘authenticity’ when it comes to our online persona/e and our sexual lives? These are some of the questions that this issue of In Plainspeak engages with.

फरवरी – मार्च २०२६: डिजिटल अंतरंगता और यौनिकता

हम में से अधिकांश लोगों के लिए डिजिटल माध्यमों तक पहुंच और उन पर निर्भरता लगातार बढ़ती जा रही है, और सोशल मीडिया, गेमिंग प्लेटफॉर्म, डेटिंग ऐप्स आदि पर डिजिटल अंतरंगता – कामुक, यौनिक, गैर-यौनिक, भावनात्मक – हमारे लिए कोई नई बात नहीं है। डिजिटल स्थान यौन स्वतंत्रता और आनंद की संभावनाएं तो प्रदान करते हैं, लेकिन साथ ही निगरानी, पर्दाफाश और हिंसा का ख़तरा भी पैदा करते हैं। तो हम अपने अनुभव को बेहतर बनाने के लिए क्या कर सकते हैं? हम विभिन्न प्लेटफॉर्मों पर आत्म-प्रतिनिधित्व, दृश्यता, गुमनामी और आत्म-नियंत्रितता को कैसे अलग-अलग तरीक़ों से इस्तेमाल करते हैं? क्वीयर होना, अयौनिक होना, यौनिकता, जातीयता, जाति, और विकलांगता जैसे कारक डिजिटल अंतरंगता के निर्माण और उसे बनाए रखने में क्या भूमिका निभाते हैं? क्या डिजिटल मंचों द्वारा प्रदान की जाने वाली यौनिक अंतरंगता हमारे ऑफलाइन जीवन की अंतरंगता के अनुरूप है? क्या ऐसा होना ज़रूरी है, या फिर ऐसा न होने में एक ख़ास रोमांच है? हमारी ऑनलाइन पहचान और हमारे यौन जीवन के संदर्भ में प्रामाणिकता (ऑथेंटिसिटी) क्या है? इन प्लेनस्पीक का यह अंक कुछ ऐसे प्रष्नों पर विचार-विमर्श करता है।

UPCOMING ISSUE:

April-May 2026: The Self and Sexuality

The Self that walks around with us, that says, “This is me”, what has it got to do with sexuality? Born of body, mind, heart, spirit, and experience, the Self is what we may think of as the beingness and the whatness of a person. It occupies a context, interacts with others, and is embedded in systems and structures of culture, society, economy, politics, etc. This Self, while it encompasses caste, class, ethnic, gender, sexual and other identities, is more than all of them. What does the Self bring to sexuality and what does sexuality bring to the Self? How does the Self engage with the body, personal values, other selves, external systems and structures, and so on, in order to experience sexuality as affirming?

अप्रैल-मई २०२६: स्वयं (निजी व्यक्तित्व) और यौनिकता

जो स्वयं / निजी व्यक्तित्व (सेल्फ़) हमारे साथ रहता है, जो कहता है, “यह मैं हूँ”, उसका यौनिकता से क्या लेना-देना है? शरीर, मन, हृदय, आत्मा और अनुभव से जन्मा, सेल्फ़ वह है जिसे हम – किसी के अस्तित्व और जैसे वे है – के रूप में सोच सकते हैं। यह एक संदर्भ रखता है, दूसरों के साथ बातचीत करता है, और संस्कृति, समाज, अर्थव्यवस्था, राजनीति आदि की प्रणालियों और संरचनाओं में अंतर्निहित है। इस सेल्फ़ में, जहाँ जाति, वर्ग, जातीय, जेंडर, यौनिक और अन्य पहचानें शामिल हैं, यह इस सब से कहीं अधिक है। सेल्फ़ यौनिकता में क्या लाता है और यौनिकता सेल्फ़ में क्या लाती है? यौनिकता को पुष्टि के रूप में अनुभव करने के लिए सेल्फ शरीर, व्यक्तिगत मूल्यों, अन्य स्वयं, बाहरी प्रणालियों और संरचनाओं, आदि के साथ कैसे जुड़ता है?

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