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The best a man can be: A still from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa

Is This The Best A Man Can Be?

In a patriarchal society, masculinities manifest or show-up as a very particular set of behaviours such as being controlling and dominating, often in violent ways. In fact, the root of masculinities in a patriarchal society emphasises practicing this violence and control.

By Saswati Chatterjee and Pauline Gomes

October 1, 2019

Is This The Best A Man Can Be?

The Gillette Ad, APA Guidelines And Uri’s ‘Traditional Masculinity’

Traditional masculinity is not without its problems but to eliminate its component of stoicism is to pull the rug from under a cast of tough and determined characters who make society function.

By Juhi Sidharth and Chaitanya Ravi

October 1, 2019

The Gillette Ad, APA Guidelines And Uri’s ‘Traditional Masculinity’

Themes

In Plainspeak publishes one issue every month, with a single theme running across two months. Our aim is to expand safe, inclusive self-affirming spaces.

CURRENT ISSUE:

June 2025: Language and Sexuality

Language bestows on us the gifts of self-expression, conceptualisation, communication, and interaction, amongst others. At the same time, many languages being gendered in their vocabulary and grammar restrict how we might speak, and even think, about sexuality. Does language then affect gender and sexual expression, and the manner in which we experience and express desire, intimacy, pleasure, frustration, and even violence? Do we use language in different ways with different people – rough and ready language with our friends and lovers and more formal language in public? What does this say about the ‘rules’ around sexuality? Is there a language that signals belonging to a group or community (queer or kink, for example)? Do some languages have a more generous vocabulary than do others? Given that we live in a world increasingly dependent on AI-based technologies, do Large Language Models like Chat GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini, etc. reflect and perpetuate existing biases and societal values around sexuality? What are the effects of all of this? How can we use language to expand safe, inclusive and self-affirming spaces for all? This issue of In Plainspeak explores these and other fascinating connections between language and sexuality.

UPCOMING ISSUE:

July 2025: Language and Sexuality

August-September: Climate Change and Sexuality

Floods, storms and droughts, so-called ‘natural’ disasters, are becoming more common as a result of climate change. Climate change refers to long-term regional and global shifts in temperatures and weather patterns caused largely as a result of human activity, such as by the over-use of fossil fuels. Increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, severe fires, and intense tropical storms are some of the other fallouts of climate change. There are further consequences too, the most brutal – the lack of food, water, clean air and shelter – being felt first by those most vulnerable. Those like hotter summers and colder winters, some people deal with by a mere flick of an AC switch. Given where we are situated on the spectrum of privilege, all of us use adaptive mechanisms to cope with major disasters and minor discomforts. Is climate change related in any way to sexual wellbeing and SRHR? How does it affect sexual behaviour? Sexual health and access to SRHR services? Discrimination and violence against already marginalised groups? Do the mechanisms people use to adapt to climate change violate sexual and reproductive rights? Conversely, can the realisation of sexual and reproductive rights build resilience and contribute to positive climate action? This issue of In Plainspeak explores these and other important questions.

Would you like to contribute? Take a look at our submission guidelines!

For future issue themes, click here.

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TARSHI Corner

Watch a webinar exploring the changing contours of masculinities and sexuality, featuring two In Plainspeak contributors: Ishan Mehandru and Sudipta Das.

Disclaimer

We curate content from other portals to amplify discussion around sexuality and rights. All rights remain with the original sources. Corners and Videos are embedded links and Brushstrokes and Blogrolls are republished from open sources with a link back to the original source. Older links may no longer be available.

We mostly use images with a Creative Commons license. If you are the owner of an image and find that the image has not been credited properly, please let us know at inplainspeak@tarshi.net.

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