Activism

MY VAGINA IS DUKHA?
A graphic illustration with a black, inky tree with branches outlined by a silhouette of a face.

Ageing vaginas in ageing female bodies are joked about. But a vagina shouldn’t have the task of pleasing anybody but itself first. To begin with, we’ll have to love and respect our vaginas in order to pleasure them. Love them just as they are. If they feel a little dry, don’t despair. Use a lubricant or a little coconut oil. If my labia are unshapely, they’re still my labia and respond very nicely to gentleness and tenderness. If I don’t love and respect my ageing body, in need of gentle, loving, patient care, then who will, for God’s sake?

By Nighat Gandhi
July 5, 2021
MY VAGINA IS DUKHA?
Maybe age is more than just a number?  My discovery of my sexuality and sexual preferences over the years
A photograph of pomegranates on a black background, one of them is cut.

Age is not just a number, like it is often said to be. It is a lot combined together. It is about grace, it is about exposure, it is about knowledge, it is about the ability to fight back. And yet, in endless other ways, age IS just a number.

By Asmi
March 1, 2021
Maybe age is more than just a number?  My discovery of my sexuality and sexual preferences over the years
Kun Faya Kun: Embodying Non-Conformity
A photograph of a person’s palms held out in prayer. The light is streaked with shades of pink and blue.

For a queer person, or for someone who remains single by choice, everyday existence requires strength and will. That is the embodiment of kun faya kun as a personal philosophy: to manifest the person you want to be through sheer will.

By Ghausia Rashid Salam
February 1, 2021
Kun Faya Kun: Embodying Non-Conformity
Interview: Varsha Kale on the Dance Bar Girls’ Movement in Maharashtra
Varsha Kale

We interview the honorary president of the Bharatiya Bar Girls Union (BBGU), Varsha Kale, on the occasion of dance bars reopening in Maharashtra after being banned for 11 years by the state government.

By Shaifali Agrawal
April 18, 2016
Interview: Varsha Kale on the Dance Bar Girls’ Movement in Maharashtra
Interview: Sunil Gupta (Part II)
Artist Sunil Gupta stands infront of a wall which has two framed photos of his family. He has greying hair and is wearing a patterned woolen sweater.

Sunil Gupta is an artist, activist, and a curator, based in London UK. In this interview, he talks to Manak…

By Manak Matiyani
July 15, 2014
Interview: Sunil Gupta (Part II)
Interview: Sharanya Manivannan
A photograph of Sharanya Manivannan

If you are true to yourself, and attuned to your emotions and needs, you’ll invariably find that even a core belief (such as: not believing in the institution of marriage) is complicated by what the lived experience of that means (not only discriminatory experiences, but also intimate ones).

By Shikha Aleya
February 1, 2021
Interview: Sharanya Manivannan
Interview: Radhika Chandiramani on What Self-Care and Sexuality Have to Do With Each Other
A photograph of Radhika Chandiramani, a clinical psychologist, writer and editor, and founder of TARSHI.

Sexuality and self-care are related at many levels, right from the level of knowing what you want and what you don’t, how you feel about yourself, how you are able to communicate your desires and how you are able to enjoy your experiences.

By Anjora Sarangi
January 4, 2021
Interview: Radhika Chandiramani on What Self-Care and Sexuality Have to Do With Each Other
Interview: Marevic ‘Bing’ Parcon on Activism and the Development Agenda
A black woman writing something on a sheet of paper hung on a wall. Around her are more people with markers, or thumbs with red ink on them waiting for their turn.

Marevic Parcon or Bing, as she is known, is the Asia Programme Officer for the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive…

By Shweta Krishnan
September 15, 2015
Interview: Marevic ‘Bing’ Parcon on Activism and the Development Agenda
Interview: Diversity and Sexuality – Part 2
Interview: Abstract shapes symbolising diversity of voices

Here, in Part 2, each interviewee addresses aspects of sexuality and diversity from their own particular space of personal knowledge, as well as work, advocacy, art and activism across diverse fields.

By Shikha Aleya
May 15, 2019
Interview: Diversity and Sexuality – Part 2
Interview –  A reflective self-questioning
A graphic design image of phases of the moon in a semi-circular form against a black backdrop dotted with white specks as stars.

It is true though that ageing has brought home realities about my body that I ignored when I was younger. It has made me mindful of what I value, and what I choose to let go of, without too much of thought or unnecessary angst.

By Shikha Aleya
March 1, 2021
Interview –  A reflective self-questioning
Interview – Srinidhi Raghavan
A photograph of disability rights activist Srinidhi Raghavan. She is wearing a blue top with a white pattern, black-rimmed spectacles, and a yellow hair-band.

Disabled people might not have many spaces where they can speak openly about their sexual experiences or even sexual curiosity. There is a heavy monitoring of disabled young people especially, and this can mean that exploration, which is often how many of us discover sexuality, can be limited. Moreover, since the experiences of disabled people are not seen in popular media such as films, we can (and probably do) imagine we will have the same or similar experiences as non-disabled people  – which is often not possible.

By Shikha Aleya
August 2, 2021
Interview – Srinidhi Raghavan
Interview – Raj Mariwala
A photograph of MHI director Raj Mariwala; she is playing with a grey-brown dog, squatting in grass.

Self-care is influenced by the environment we inhabit, the way we relate to others, the way we negotiate with other living beings or structures. Self-care is also interlinked with other types of care – whether that is in community resources, psychosocial support, engagement with medical and health care institutions, and of course in collective agency and solidarity.

By Shikha Aleya
January 3, 2023
Interview – Raj Mariwala
Interview – Raj Mariwala
A photograph of MHI director Raj Mariwala; she is playing with a grey-brown dog, squatting in grass.

Self-care is influenced by the environment we inhabit, the way we relate to others, the way we negotiate with other living beings or structures. Self-care is also interlinked with other types of care – whether that is in community resources, psychosocial support, engagement with medical and health care institutions, and of course in collective agency and solidarity.

By Shikha Aleya
July 5, 2021
Interview – Raj Mariwala
Interview – Amba Salelkar
A photograph of disability rights advocate and activist Amba Salelkar

But not every issue of discrimination and conflict can go to a court.Say for example, affording privacy to a young adult with disability to understand their body and sexual responses, or enabling them to access accessible sex toys or assistive devices related to sexual pleasure.

By Shikha Aleya
September 1, 2020
Interview – Amba Salelkar
Interview – Sunil Gupta
Artist Sunil Gupta stands infront of a wall which has two framed photos of his family. He has greying hair and is wearing a patterned woolen sweater.

Sunil Gupta is an artist, activist, and a curator, based in London UK. In this interview, he talks to Manak…

By Manak Matiyani
July 1, 2014
Interview – Sunil Gupta
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