Family

Editorial: Femininities and Sexuality
A close-up photograph of a dandelion with dew. The dewdrops are differently coloured in the light.

Are certain forms of femininities denigrated more than others? Not just by misogynists but also by feminists? Is there a particular way of manifesting an ‘appropriate’ femininity, one that is just right, and is not ‘too girly’ or ‘too tomboyish’?

By TARSHI
December 15, 2020
Editorial: Femininities and Sexuality
Tomboy Femininity
A photograph of the author, Di Sands

When I finally came out to myself at age 16 and made it to a free queer youth space, I couldn’t wait to be accepted among folks who didn’t play by society’s heterosexist rules of masculine and feminine as polar opposites.

By Di Sands
December 1, 2020
Tomboy Femininity
A ‘girly’ feminist
Two dandelion flowers in a glass vase on a pink background.

Desiring motherhood meant veering into a more ‘girly’ territory, a notion that I had simultaneously been fighting and trying to embrace since childhood. I had understood that to be a feminist I had to be independent, be wary of men, dislike families and relationships.

By Anubha Sarkar
December 1, 2020
A ‘girly’ feminist
Biscuit tin
On a pink background, a blue gift-wrapped box with a bow

I keep on hold the colours and prints to wrap you in gentle delicate flowers or little cartoon lions and boys with fists that say Bam and Super / until I know what lies between your legs the cigar or the smile of consolation if you’re the first

By Shikha Aleya
December 1, 2020
Biscuit tin
Queer Heterosexual, Heterosexual Queer: Two Tales of Queer Love 100 Years Apart
A poster of the film ‘Chitrangada’ by Rituparno Ghosh. In the poster, the protagonists are caressing each other

The lovers enact many recognizable hetero-normative romantic tropes – the wronged petulant woman pacified via kisses and caresses, the woman too tired for sex who then tries to placate the sulking male lover.

By Mamatha Karollil
December 1, 2020
Queer Heterosexual, Heterosexual Queer: Two Tales of Queer Love 100 Years Apart
Editorial: Support Systems and Sexuality
On a jute-textured background, hand-prints in different colours form the leaves of a tree, the trunk and branches of which are a hand-print.

Connection is essential for our survival – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. We connect with people, form networks of care and support, and in a sense weave webs of safety and comfort that we can turn to when stressed or simply want to infuse a dose of joy into our day.

By TARSHI
November 16, 2020
Editorial: Support Systems and Sexuality
Notes on seeing each other through
A photograph of the eye of a needle and many differently coloured threads passing through it, on a black background.

…even if people have little in common, once they enter these spaces of solidarity, they are connected to a larger community. These spaces become wellsprings of an unspoken sense of safety and mutual support between individuals of communities that share a sense of having been othered.

By Soumya Jayanti
November 16, 2020
Notes on seeing each other through
Developing an Ethics of Care
A design of two arms outstretched, one holding out the Earth in its palm and the other reaching towards it.

Ethics of Care offers a normative paradigm that goes beyond the neat distinctions of morally guided ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ actions to incorporate social responsibility, wherein we learn how to shape our responses on the basis of the needs of a community’s members.

By Swarna Jain
November 16, 2020
Developing an Ethics of Care
Interview – Anahita Sarabhai
A photograph of co-founder of QueerAbad, Anahita Sarabhai

As a queer person, it’s hard not to think right away of chosen family. A term that has become relatively well-known by now, but not always understood I find. One of the primary support systems I personally, like many queer folx, depend on, are ones that we develop and nurture over time.

By Shikha Aleya
November 2, 2020
Interview – Anahita Sarabhai
Musings of a Sexuality Educator
Many question-mark shaped lights thrown together to give an effect of darkness, and two of them glowing. One is blue and the other is yellow.

To be a support system is to be a safe space for them where they can reflect upon, experiment with and understand themselves. A space where people not only come to terms with their individual selves, sexual or otherwise, but also where they become increasingly aware of their own rights.

By Anannya Chatterjee
November 2, 2020
Musings of a Sexuality Educator
The importance of family
A black and white photograph of an infant’s hand resting on an older individual’s outstretched palm.

Family, immediate and extended, is usually who you turn to. They are the ones who provide stress relief and reduce anxiety by boosting self-confidence and self-esteem and providing a protective shield. There is a sense of belongingness in good times and in bad.

By ElsaMarie D'Silva
November 2, 2020
The importance of family
How much support is enough?
A photograph of two individual’s hands, from their forearms. One of the individuals is clasping the others’ hand in theirs.

In the middle of this pandemic, can one seek sexual support in the form of a hook up with one’s best friend, ‘just because’? Is it redefining boundaries, is it sympathy sex, is it simple indulgence, or is it something that one or both might later resent?

By Asmi
November 2, 2020
How much support is enough?
Brushstrokes: Fiction Comic: Unwrinkled Saris And Just Another Evening
A poster of the fiction comic Unwrinkled Saris and Just Another Evening. In the background is a picture of the lower face of a person. The person is holding a red lipstick between their teeth. The lipstick has an inscription that says FAE. The person is wearing gold coloured earrings. A green coloured blouse and saree is also visible

In a society ruled by heteronormative patriarchal structures, expressing one’s gender or sexuality outside the trimmings of what is socially acceptable is an act of resistance.

By Curated Content
November 2, 2020
Brushstrokes: Fiction Comic: Unwrinkled Saris And Just Another Evening
Video: It’s OK Pammi!
A screenshot of the video. On the left side is an image of the mother, and on the right, the words- It’s Okay in white font colour are visible

The film begins with the mother’s dilemma around her daughter’s refusal to be ‘normal’ and marry a ‘decent boy’. As the story unfolds, we see the mother invite a ‘suitable boy’ for dinner on the same evening as the daughter’s partner is coming home to meet the family.

By Curated Content
November 2, 2020
Video: It’s OK Pammi!
The Risks and Gains of Coming In
An illustration of a woman walking on an empty street at night, with a backpack from which a crescent moon and stars are emerging.

I had risked so much already, not just by loving another woman, but by acting on my desires. By allowing myself to feel intimacy and connection with another queer person. Despite feeling guilt and shame, this risk had become increasingly vital to take.

By Sweta
October 15, 2020
The Risks and Gains of Coming In
1 2 3 4