gender roles

Brushstrokes: This Visual Artist Stirs Up Reality with His Personal Portraits
A nude man with a bedsheet over his head, is holding a bunch of small white flowers. The photo is clicked from inside the bedsheet. He is visible from the lips till the midrif.

Now, You Can Go Home is a compilation of photo works created in the past two years and continues to be an open project where each photograph performs a story about explorations of different characters providing glimpses of them in fear, self-acceptance, longing and celebration.

By Curated Content
August 16, 2016
Brushstrokes: This Visual Artist Stirs Up Reality with His Personal Portraits
Aruvi: Questioning home and ‘innocence’
एक बच्ची (जिसकी पीठ और बाल दिख रखे है) पानी के झरने की और देख रही है, झरने क आस-पास हरियाली और पहाड़ है। बच्ची के बाल कंधे तक है और उसने हलके भूरे रंग की कमीज़ पहनी है

Over time, I realised that ‘home’ meant not just the physical and emotional space occupied by my parents, but also a set of practices or strictures, mostly dictated by parents, related to gender roles, religion, sex, marriage, friendships and ‘appropriate’ behaviour.

By Vani Viswanathan
March 5, 2018
Aruvi: Questioning home and ‘innocence’
Of Tinder, Sex And Colonial Hangovers – Is Desire Political?
Desire and Sexuality: Symbol of the Tinder app (shaped in the form of a white candle flame against a red background) and the words "no fats". "no asians", "no blacks", "no asians" written on it.

The point is not to lay the blame on women or assign them responsibility for patriarchy. It is to encourage a deeper introspection of our desires. My first boyfriend, whom I got to know in 2010, was in the habit of asking me (and other women he had previously dated) whether he could kiss me, before doing so. Every time any sexual activity was involved he would always ask beforehand and continuously check in if I was comfortable throughout.

By Feminism in India
August 14, 2018
Of Tinder, Sex And Colonial Hangovers – Is Desire Political?
How to Have Good Sex?
Against a yellow background, illustration of a silhouette of "Superman", with a red flowing cape

During my interaction with students as a part of sexuality education classes in schools, one frequently asked question by boys is,“How to charm a girl?”

By Ramya Anand
September 4, 2018
How to Have Good Sex?
Prescriptions of Proper

In a world of prescriptions of performance and perfection, there isn’t truly that much space built in to risk non-performance, not being perfect, or to risk not fitting the prescription.

By Shikha Aleya
September 4, 2018
Prescriptions of Proper
Issue in Focus: Performance and Sexuality
Picture of a classical dance performer, face painted in yellow and black

To think of sexuality as performative disrupts the need for stable categories and identities, instead suggesting that we all reinforce and disrupt normative formations as we attempt to inhabit the world in messy ways.

By Sneha Krishnan
September 4, 2018
Issue in Focus: Performance and Sexuality
Interview – Daniel Mendonca
Photo of Daniel Mendonca

Shikha Aleya interviews Daniel Mendonca who identifies as an intersex person and is a gender rights activist who has engaged with diverse groups of people in India and other countries, to expand awareness, build empathy and foster an environment that is accepting of diversity.

By Shikha Aleya
October 15, 2019
Interview – Daniel Mendonca
The Examined Life of Masculinities  
Two men with beards face each other

The inability to correctly identify, express and soothe (all three without exception, and in no particular order) inner vulnerabilities and imperfections is the weakest link between asserting masculinities and being able to properly live their full potential.

By Mona Mishra
October 15, 2019
The Examined Life of Masculinities  
Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Baarish: A platonic togetherness
A poster of the film ‘Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Barish’. In the poster, an image of a woman glancing sideways is shown and on the right is an image of a young boy in a wheelchair and a man behind him enjoying rain.

The movie was criticised for its stereotypical portrayal of Debu as a gay man. But, the beauty is that it also highlights the reversal of gender roles. The smiles, and the laughter sounding throughout the house, create a cheery note in the movie.

By Dr Swarupa N Kshirsagar
November 2, 2020
Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Baarish: A platonic togetherness
Video: What is internalised misogyny? | Feminism In India
Image of Feminism in India’s video on Internalised Misogyny. On the right side of the image is a drawing of two girls with sad faces. On the left side is an image of the narrator who explains what Internalised Misogyny means.

I am not like other girls”, “I don’t like hanging out with girls that much”, “She is being very irrational today, I think it’s that time of the month”, are some common statements that you may have heard or even made yourself.

By Curated Content
December 1, 2020
Video: What is internalised misogyny? | Feminism In India
Brushstrokes: 11 Assumptions About Being Butch – And Why They Need to Stop
A poster of the comic ‘11 Assumptions about being a butch (and why they need to stop)’ A person can be seen on the left side of the poster. There is a speech bubble next to the person with the text “People make many assumptions about me because of the way I dress.

The misconceptions associated with the varied manifestations of femininity can be exceedingly deleterious and reinforce gender roles, traditional patriarchal ideas, and stereotypes related to bodies, expressions and the way we experience our sexual and romantic relationships.

By Curated Content
December 1, 2020
Brushstrokes: 11 Assumptions About Being Butch – And Why They Need to Stop
Bridgerton: Pairing-up Pressures
A photograph of the Netflix series Bridgerton

By and large, society expects a woman to marry. Often people in one’s circle judge a woman if she doesn’t marry, inquiring about what could be wrong but most never assuming that it could be out of choice

By ElsaMarie D'Silva
February 1, 2021
Bridgerton: Pairing-up Pressures
Interview: Kripa Joshi
On a peach coloured background, a woman of colour jumping. She is wearing purple ballet shoes and a purple one-piece swimsuit with white-grey patterns scattered on it. Her eyes are wide open and her hands are stretched open on both sides. Her hair is brown and open. She is throwing multi-coloured confetti. Beneath her is a blue circle. In a semicircle to her right is the typography, in purple: Throw kindness around like confetti!

There have been several recent examples of actors, movies and events being called out because of their lack of representation, like for the Oscars. With social media it is easier to create and distribute diverse art and also to voice the need for diversity. So it needs engagements and awareness in society. Change will happen once enough people demand that change.

By Shikha Aleya
June 15, 2021
Interview: Kripa Joshi
On Confinements & Coexistence: Perspectives on the Impact of Covid-19 on the Mental Health of Women
A photograph of a room with one window. The photo showcases the room as semicircular and has a black floor with a window reflected, and brown-white brick walls with a sunlit window.

Pandemics have a profound psychological impact. They are known to disrupt one’s sense of safety, security, certainty, control, concordance, and…

By Ansha Patel
July 5, 2021
On Confinements & Coexistence: Perspectives on the Impact of Covid-19 on the Mental Health of Women
The Politics of Self Care and Feminism
On a pink background, an illustration of a person of colour with black curly hair. On each side are plants, hanging and potted including leaves, cacti, and flowers. The person's arms are wrapped around their torso.

In a time when reason is more valued than emotion, unravelling and understanding the politics of self-care becomes all the more fundamental for us, and the movements we seek to develop and build. When our bodies, our emotions and our needs become weapons to be used against us, acts of defiance become rooted in thinking about your self and how we practice it. I find I am faced with more questions than answers, but I also know that asking the questions is the first step to finding the answers

By Curated Content
July 19, 2021
The Politics of Self Care and Feminism
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