harassment

Shifting the Gaze: How women wish to experience desire
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This awareness of the status ascribed to women – the status of being the objects of men’s desires – affects every aspect of a woman’s life. Desire then, in particular, becomes an aspect of a woman’s life where navigation becomes tricky.

By Gitanjali G
March 17, 2023
Shifting the Gaze: How women wish to experience desire
Did you see?
A dark path lit subtly by street lights

They’ punch him
with the pejorative
‘sissy’
and blame him for his smooth skin
and pink lips
for all ‘their’
disoriented gazes.

By Prithvijeet Sinha
March 1, 2023
Did you see?
Sex Question Mark
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Looking back, it seems strange, almost sad that he couldn’t contain his anxiety, couldn’t bear the shame of what he did wrong. He must have skimmed over so much turmoil, that he couldn’t accept the reality of harming someone.

By Megha
March 1, 2023
Sex Question Mark
Nightmares of Being Chased by an Angry Mob
An abstract illustration of swirling patterns and splotches of mustard yellow, black, pale blue, deep orange and pale crimson. The patterns look like galaxies.
Someone like me, who was always vocal about sexuality, would feel invalidated speaking frankly about sex. Most doctors themselves weren’t comfortable discussing anything remotely pertaining to be a challenge in the sexual wellness area.
By Pooja Priyamvada
September 1, 2022
Nightmares of Being Chased by an Angry Mob
Of Identity and Belongings: The Gatekeeping within Queer Spaces
A close-up of chainmesh fencing.
No matter how much I wanted to be a part of the rainbow, it felt like the rainbow wanted no part of me. It was an elite space for the exuberant über cool gays, with access, privilege and a vocabulary filled with jargon. I couldn’t even decide if I was ‘gay enough’, let alone deconstruct my experiences, having being brought up in a heteronormative culture.
By Shubhangi
September 1, 2022
Of Identity and Belongings: The Gatekeeping within Queer Spaces
A ‘Room’ of One’s Own – Sexuality, Self-expression, and Safe Spaces on Clubhouse
Photo of a smartphone screen displaying the logos of Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Clubhouse.

In theory, the concept of the app is a great one – it provides women, queer people, and people belonging to oppressed castes the tea-stall, cigarette-shop type of public spaces for conversation that are available to upper-caste cis het men. The relative anonymity acts like a safe cover, and the app affords a certain autonomy and agency to marginalised people to regulate the kind of conversation that goes on in rooms moderated by them.

By Srishti Gupta
April 1, 2022
A ‘Room’ of One’s Own – Sexuality, Self-expression, and Safe Spaces on Clubhouse
Public Sex and the Police in Urban Spaces
A photo of heterosexual couple sitting cross-legged on a rampart beside the sea. The man is wearing a blue shirt and there are shopping bags beside him. Beside him, only the mid-length hair of the woman can be seen. In the horizon is the city skyline of Mumbai with skyscrapers and other buildings at golden hour.

While sex workers face repeated harassment by the police, many young couples face threats in a one-off incident if the police finds them with their partner/lover. They may face police surveillance of expressions of intimacy and affection in public.

By Shruti Arora
April 1, 2022
Public Sex and the Police in Urban Spaces
Video: How Can Women & Non-Binary People Combat Online Violence?
A screenshot of Feminism in India's video How Can Women & Non-Binary People Combat Online Violence? In the middle is Japleen Pasricha, the founder of Feminism in India. She is wearing a grey-black full-sleeved shirt and her eyes are closed. She has deep brown hair reaching under her shoulders on both sides. Behind her is a wooden cupboard stacked with books, and a poster in blue with a woman holding a sign saying 'SMASH BRAHMINICAL PATRIARCHY'. On her left is an illustration that says, in pink, VOYEURISM and above it, an illustration with white circles on black to denote binoculars and a woman's silhouette at the centre. At the bottom of the screenshot are the subtitles: "(a)nd voyeurism, where someone records you in your private moments without your consent."

Japleen Pasricha, founder of Feminism in India, lays bare the violence women, LGBTQIA+ folks, and historically marginalised communities face in online spaces, ranging from identity theft, bullying, trolling, to having our private photographs and details disseminated without our consent and being blackmailed.

By Feminism in India
May 15, 2021
Video: How Can Women & Non-Binary People Combat Online Violence?
The Struggle Of Beauty Workers In On-Demand Digital Platform
A screenshot of the Feminism in India illustration for the article. An illustration. On a green background which denotes a building, two women talking. One is wearing a yellow dress and has black hair tied in a bun. She is saying, depicted in a black bubble with white lettering, '10 MINUTES LATE BOOKING CANCEL' and on the other side is a woman in an olive top and a brown backpack. Her hair is in a ponytail and she is looking at the other woman with a white phone in her hand. Underneath, in white typography, 'The Struggle of Beauty Workers In On-Demand Digital Platforms'. On the top-left corner is Feminism in India's logo.

If you live in an urban metropolitan city, you must have seen women dressed up in company uniform, carrying a heavy bag on their shoulders, their attire shouting a brand name with logos all over her. Their bodies become an advertising ground for a company’s marketing. Sometimes, the bag is a portable salon that they carry to their client’s (home), who book the beauty service using a mobile application. These ‘workers’ enroll themselves on the platform company that operates as an intermediary, to get bookings on-demand.

By Feminism in India
May 15, 2021
The Struggle Of Beauty Workers In On-Demand Digital Platform
Brushstrokes: Harassment

Whether it is by checking harassment from fellow men, or by questioning one’s own internalisation of subtly sexist and harmful behaviour, there’s a whole range of ways to go about making a positive shift

By Curated Content
October 1, 2019
Brushstrokes: Harassment
Woman In Street Harassment Video: ‘I Do Not Feel Safe Right Now’
Photo of a woman walking down the street, she has curly hair and is wearing a black top and black pants
November 15, 2014
Woman In Street Harassment Video: ‘I Do Not Feel Safe Right Now’