Gender
Interview – #covid19 and conversations online: Listening in
We are plugged in to all kinds of data from a variety of sources, through technology, and even a window view of this space is like stepping into a global COVID control data centre. We are standing up to be counted, to be seen, to do, to contribute, to advocate, to remind, to rectify and restore, to strengthen a growing network of support and response to crisis on a scale we have neither been able to process or measure.
By Shikha Aleya
Interview – This is what you bring to the table!
In this write up, we’d like to share a sense of what emerges from a compilation of these responses. This is based on the thoughts and feelings that come through for those of us here at In Plainspeak who have had the joy of reading the original responses as they came in to us. (Some of the quotations that follow have been slightly edited for flow and to help connect themes.) We know that most things in the realm of art, information and ideas lend themselves to a wide range of inferences and insights depending on the individuals making the inferences.
By Shikha Aleya
March 1, 2022
Interview – Suchitra Dalvie
Getting to know who I really am has been a game changer. Prejudice, anger, control and violence all emerge from fear.
By Shikha Aleya
May 16, 2024
Interview – Parmesh Shahani
The larger question is, who gets to bring all of themselves to the workplace, and who is either not allowed, or feels scared, or is bullied for doing so?
By Shikha Aleya
September 18, 2024
Interview – Dr. Ketaki Chowkhani
I feel that parents, teachers and CSE can make room for these disparate realities of adolescents by first acknowledging the limits of formal sexuality education, that the curriculum imparted formally fails in providing the kind of learning that happens through other sources.
By Shikha Aleya
December 18, 2024
Interview – Chand
Safe spaces in the way that they often circulate are depoliticised and the assumption is that there won’t be any conflicts, but there can be no safe space without an exchange of ideas, which will create some bad feelings leading to conflict.
By Akshita Singh and Pragya Solanki
November 19, 2024
In Search of Ochin Pakhi
The aim of this piece is to bring to light the inherent queerness marking Baul folk music in Bengali, an oral undocumented spiritual expression that transcends heterosexual impositions and classism.
By Taniya Basu
June 17, 2025
In Between Deadlines and Debriefs: On Friendships at Work
In those moments of doubt, when we wonder whether we can really make a difference in the world, it is often our work friends who remind us why we began.
By Nandhini Jaishankar
November 17, 2025
Identifying As Queer: What Could Have Saved Me From Bullying And Abuse 10 Years Ago
By Dhrubo Jyoti This post is part of TARSHI’s #TalkSexuality campaign on Comprehensive Sexuality Education in collaboration with Youth Ki Awaaz. I remember I was…
By Curated Content
March 17, 2026
Hybrid Spaces for Your Happy Places: A Reflection on Digital Intimacies and the Future of Humans
Sex robots never have a headache or expect you to contribute to the housekeeping.
By Suchitra Dalvie
How would it be if we grew up embracing sexuality?
Growing up is a tedious task in our society because of the institutionalised practices, societal constructs and boxed identities and expressions that we are expected to adhere to. Anything beyond these implies harm, danger, and deviance.
By Sreejani
January 16, 2026
How to Have Good Sex?
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 the popular media fails representation of women
Being a journalism student once, and having a network of seniors and batch mates who came from a journalism background,…
By Anshul Tewari
October 15, 2014