bodies

Interview – Radhika Vaz
Photo of Radhika Vaz in a black flapper dress against a white background

I think we are still in a trap of a heteronormative, youth biased, light skin biased, sizeist, ableist culture and until we consciously snap out of it we are throwing a cloak over a human being’s ability to really find what their sexuality even looks like.

By Shikha Aleya
May 4, 2023
Interview – Radhika Vaz
Two Poems: ‘Stepwells’ & ‘In the Dimly Lit Room’
Held between a thumb and the index finger is the delineation of a golden-yellow leaf with sunlight shining on it.

Just like on a misty morning,
we both
sit
without a shred of adornment
on these ancient stepwells
and the call of the hummingbirds
offer us sensations,
imagination,
and our innocence

By Prithvijeet Sinha
May 3, 2022
Two Poems: ‘Stepwells’ & ‘In the Dimly Lit Room’
 Navigating love, loneliness and singlehood
A photograph of an individual’s neck and shoulders, with a focus on the collarbone.

I believe that queer friendships and intimacies are sheer resistance, which not only swallow the despair and pain that might be perpetrated on gender-nonconforming people by their families, but also recognise all the lies about love that have been sold to us.

By Anonymous
February 1, 2021
 Navigating love, loneliness and singlehood
Sweet Sixteen
An image of a half cut pear resembling the shape of a vagina. There are seeds around it.

At sixteen, the senior boy I loved, touched me down there and said, this is what boyfriends do, this is what love feels like – uncomfortable.

By Tapaswinee
December 1, 2020
Sweet Sixteen
Issue in Focus: Sexual Rights
picture of a flower in bloom

It may be useful to visualise sexual rights as a large tree with deep roots and a vast canopy of leaves. Or as a giant umbrella. Or a big tent. Whatever tickles your imagination and allows you to see it as a conceptual and practical tool to make claims for any aspect that relates to how we express sexuality.

By Radhika Chandiramani
December 2, 2019
Issue in Focus: Sexual Rights
FILMS OF DESIRE/BODIES OF DESIRE
Still from an Hindi film "Margarita with a Straw". A young woman with oily hair is laughing. An older woman wearing a blue nightgown is massaging her hair.

The Church says: the body is a sin Science says: the body is a machine Advertising says: the body is…

By Geetanjali Misra
November 15, 2017
FILMS OF DESIRE/BODIES OF DESIRE
Brushstrokes: Downloadable People’s Movements Posters by Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative
Black-and-white illustration of a woman screaming with her mouth wide open. Screen reader support enabled. Black-and-white illustration of a woman screaming with her mouth wide open.

“We believe in the transformative power of personal expression in concert with collective action. To this end, we produce collective portfolios, contribute graphics to grassroots struggles for justice, work collaboratively both in- and outside the co-op, build large sculptural installations in galleries, and wheatpaste on the streets—all while offering each other daily support as allies and friends,” they say.

By Curated Content
December 16, 2016
Brushstrokes: Downloadable People’s Movements Posters by Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative
Why We Need to Bridge the Gap between Sex Workers’ Movements and Abortion Rights Activism
A leafless tree with red umbrellas hung on its branches.

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
April 5, 2016
Why We Need to Bridge the Gap between Sex Workers’ Movements and Abortion Rights Activism