Innovation and Sexuality

Technically, thanks to the techies

·August 3, 2020
·Srishti Sarkar
·0 Comments

It is rather edifying to find information that one can relate to through a solitary rectangular box. Over time, this solitary box somehow stuck around while everything around it changed as the world moved even further into a digital era.

An image of a laptop on a dark background. The screen wallpaper has abstract lines

A class on porn, anyone?

·August 3, 2020
·Abdullah Erikat
·0 Comments

It’s technology that has allowed me, amidst the lockdown, to connect with so many people and I dare say, sext and share photos. It’s technology that has allowed me and many others access to things like porn, fetish websites, and to buy sex toys and so much more without leaving our beds!

Hot Girls Wanted – Keeping up with the times

·August 3, 2020
·Elsa Marie D'Silva
·0 Comments

Because the Internet is an integral part of our daily lives, it is important that young people are given the right information so that they can explore the world around them, access information without violating legislations, know their rights in the virtual and physical world and have enjoyable and consensual relationships with whoever they choose.

An image of a DIY candle jar with a jute ribbon and a chalk tied around it

Do we dare?

·August 3, 2020
·Asmi
·0 Comments

Exploring sexuality is innovative in itself. What does that mean? Well at the outset, the very fact that we are willing to explore our bodies, their sexual expression, their ability to experience pleasure in so many different ways, and that we go beyond social norms is groundbreaking in itself.

In Plainspeak publishes two issues with a theme every month.
A cross-cutting theme across all forthcoming issues in 2021 is how we can expand safe, inclusive sexuality-affirming spaces.

THIS ISSUE:

September – Intersectionality and Sexuality – II Issue – Sept 15, 2021
Distinct and overlapping aspects of our actual and perceived identity, such as gender, age, class, caste, dis/ability, and sexual orientation, to name a few, affect how we are received in the world. In other words, our privileges and oppressions are an intricate network woven on the basis of where we are seen to be located on different dimensions. And so, whether we can assert agency in our sexual lives, access healthcare services, safely express our gender identity and sexual orientation, and in other ways enjoy our sexual and reproductive rights, depends on the interplay of multiple factors. Intersectionality emphasises the interconnections of the freedoms and opportunities we access, and our privileges and marginalisations. The September issue of In Plainspeak considers intersectionality as an evolving and dynamic concept, and explores its potential in not only cultivating safe, inclusive and sexuality-affirming spaces but also in imagining a world organised around shared values of feminist social justice.

October – Labour and Sexuality
What we are expected to do and how, and the compensation and recognition we receive for our labour are influenced by socio-cultural attitudes around gender, disability, caste, class, and so on. And because our parameters to assess labour and to reward it, such as productivity or recompense, do not take into account the infinite permutations and combinations of our unique location in our context and therefore whether or not we can exercise agency, enjoy choice and freedoms, and have access to opportunities, not all aspects of our labour – be it sitting at a desk for eight hours or being in the fields at the crack of dawn, or cooking and cleaning, or even lending a patient ear – are considered ‘useful’, ‘productive’, or ‘work’ at all. The October issue of In Plainspeakattempts to tie together physical, domestic, reproductive, emotional, creative, and other forms of labour with sexuality, and explore its interplay with leisure, bodily autonomy and integrity, interpersonal relationships, and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

November – Fandom and Sexuality
Fandom is a community forged around shared enthusiasm for a particular aspect of popular culture, be it literature, film/television, music, art, sport, and what have you! Fandom is a space of belongingness, of unrestrained expression, of subverting conventions, of exploring the taboo, and of resisting hetero-patriarchy and imagining, in its place, a world vibrant with an array of gender identities, sexual orientations, and expressions. Scaffolded by an interest of its members in the canon, i.e., the original/source material, fandom brims with creative avenues of engagement in fanfiction, fanart, videos, songs, cosplay, and so on, where anything and everything is possible – from the romantic and the erotic, to the spiritual and the magical. In the November issue of In Plainspeak, we explore the potential of fandom as a safe, inclusive, and self-affirming space in the context of gender and sexuality

For future issue themes, click here.

Would you like to contribute? Send an email to blogeditor@tarshi.net with your idea. Do take a look at our submission guidelines!

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