LGBTQIA

“Only for Families, Madam”: A House for Mrs Kulkarni, Divorcee
An illustration of a woman sitting in an unfurnished house by herself, framed by a window looking out into the night in a city. Around the woman, there are unopened boxes marked ‘FRAGILE’.

The only hitch was that neither the agents nor the landlords who lurked behind those rentable flats were particularly keen on leasing their precious properties to a – what! Divorcee??!! No, no, madam, but this flat is only for families.

By Curated Content
February 15, 2021
“Only for Families, Madam”: A House for Mrs Kulkarni, Divorcee
एक नश्तर जो त्वचा और मन, दोनों को भेद जाता है 
एक तस्वीर जिसमे एक इंसान की परछाई दिखाए दे रही है। वह इंसान एक खिड़की के पास बैठा हुआ नज़र आ रहा है

इसके अलावा एक और बात यह है कि सुंदरता के बारे में एक आम धारणा और दृष्टिकोण, जो कि मुझे पसंद नहीं आता, यह है कि किसी के सुंदर या आकर्षक होने या न होने का फैसला करने का अधिकार, या फिर कि क्या सुंदर है और क्या नहीं, ये फैसला करने का अधिकार पुरुषों को ही क्यों दिया जाता है।

By Pavel Sagolsem
June 29, 2020
एक नश्तर जो त्वचा और मन, दोनों को भेद जाता है 
 Whatever it takes…walking life as single women
A photograph of a woman’s silhouette against a pink and purple sky.

What I am proposing here is to look at being in a relationship and being single together because what is important here is the idea of ‘be-ing’ as opposed to the stereotypes and perceptions attached to our relationship with ‘the One’ or to singlehood.

By Gurpreet Kaur
February 1, 2021
 Whatever it takes…walking life as single women
 Navigating love, loneliness and singlehood
A photograph of an individual’s neck and shoulders, with a focus on the collarbone.

I believe that queer friendships and intimacies are sheer resistance, which not only swallow the despair and pain that might be perpetrated on gender-nonconforming people by their families, but also recognise all the lies about love that have been sold to us.

By Anonymous
February 1, 2021
 Navigating love, loneliness and singlehood
 Age no bar
A picture of two hands holding each other

While the idea of older adults and sex is a taboo in itself, the idea of older adults exploring their sexuality, by engaging in same-sex relationships, or by experimenting with the way the look, or by becoming more sexually active, causes even greater discomfort.

By Aamena
March 1, 2021
 Age no bar
Young People and Sexuality – The perspective of two queer allies
An image of purple fibre cables

As we sat down brainstorming about what course we were going to take next for As You Are (AYA –…

By Aditi and Sunali
July 1, 2020
Young People and Sexuality – The perspective of two queer allies
Why singlehood is meaningful: Three voices
A photograph of Kalpana Sharma, Sharda Ugra, and attendees at an event around the book ‘Single by Choice: Happily Unmarried Women’.

By the end of the evening, the room was suffused with the celebration of singlehood, rather than any explanation or apology for it. It appeared that the solitary life was envied and extolled by those who have opted out of it as well as many who haven’t.

By Curated Content
February 15, 2021
Why singlehood is meaningful: Three voices
Why is it difficult to say, “I’m bisexual”?
A still from the film Batman & Robin

Being an adolescent is never easy. It is the beginning of one’s life journey to answering the ultimate existential question:…

By Shaleen Chrisanne
July 1, 2020
Why is it difficult to say, “I’m bisexual”?
Who would we be if we weren’t trying to survive? A Conversation on the Survival Myth
A photograph of a bench on a rocky-slightly bushy terrain. The bench is facing the other direction, which stretches out into wilderness. The sky in tinged with purple, blue, yellow, and pink.

What does it mean to hold space and extend compassion to ourselves and our  communities? Rachel Cargle reminds us to ask ourselves: who  would we be if we weren’t trying to survive? Similarly, what would care and vulnerability look like if we weren’t trying to survive? The anarchy of queerness constantly and necessarily resists the capitalist engineering of the Survival Myth: one that wants us to endure an isolated life instead of embracing it with the radically transformative joy of togetherness. Caring for yourself precedes, succeeds, and exists alongside caring for the collective.

By Rukmini and Soumya
July 19, 2021
Who would we be if we weren’t trying to survive? A Conversation on the Survival Myth
What Polyamory is and what it could be
A multi-coloured kite with multiple tails flying against a deep blue sky

Practicing polyamory comes with the struggle of breaking down value systems and non-acceptance that may lead to ostracism not only from the heterosexual world but also from the queer and trans community. Claiming oneself as queer depends not only on how one identifies, but also, in society’s eyes, on who one’s partner is; being single does not qualify and neither does being polyamorous as the latter is considered ‘non-serious’.

By Abhiti Gupta
February 15, 2022
What Polyamory is and what it could be
WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT SELF-CARE AND WELLBEING AS A SEXUALITY RIGHTS ACTIVIST
A photograph of many people’s silhouettes having fun in a semi-circular course

Wellbeing and sexuality for me therefore entailed thinking through and dealing with violence, understanding and acknowledging it as not the entirety of one’s experience, and going through a process of healing.

By Arpita Das
January 4, 2021
WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT SELF-CARE AND WELLBEING AS A SEXUALITY RIGHTS ACTIVIST
Violation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR): Where are the Women With Disabilities?
A graphic illustration of a pattern. The dominant colours are yellow, orange, grey, blue, and black. Blocks of colour emerge from a cluttered centre and emanate upwards.

What vindicates the argument that women with disabilities (WWDs) should be deprived of sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights is scary. Harmful stereotypes of WWDs include the belief that they are hypersexual, incapable, irrational and lacking control. These narratives are then often used to build other perceptions such as that WWDs are inherently vulnerable and should be ‘protected from sexual attack’.

By Smruti
August 2, 2021
Violation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR): Where are the Women With Disabilities?
Video: Sonali Udaybabu – Which Came First
the image is a screenshot from the video and has the shadow of Sonali Udaybabu holding a phone and recording themselves. on the left is the shadow of another person who appears to be a passerby. the text 'or my queerness?' appears as a subtitle.

Which Came First is a film about identity, desires, queerness–it captures the essence of self-discovery.

By Sonali Udaybabu
December 12, 2022
Video: Sonali Udaybabu – Which Came First
Video: It’s OK Pammi!
A screenshot of the video. On the left side is an image of the mother, and on the right, the words- It’s Okay in white font colour are visible

The film begins with the mother’s dilemma around her daughter’s refusal to be ‘normal’ and marry a ‘decent boy’. As the story unfolds, we see the mother invite a ‘suitable boy’ for dinner on the same evening as the daughter’s partner is coming home to meet the family.

By Curated Content
November 2, 2020
Video: It’s OK Pammi!
Video: How to be a Friend to Yourself
An illustration of a woman looking in the mirror, with adornments. She is wearing a pink hat with a feather, and blue long hair.

This thought-provoking, luminously illustrated The School of Life video reminds us of self-compassion being essential to building our own selves up, and being a safe space where we can extend the same love and imagination to our vulnerabilities, insecurities, fears, and doubts as we do to our friends.

By Curated Content
July 5, 2021
Video: How to be a Friend to Yourself
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