Misogyny

Why We Don’t Get Consent
Illustration of a woman dressed in black, holding her hand up in a gesture of protest

But here is the thing. In heterosexual relationships, how are women and men going to learn to see women’s desires if the world does not see them? If the world is shaped to conform to a certain type of man’s desires only? Where is consent without a diversity of desires and a galaxy of desirability?

By Curated Content
November 15, 2018
Why We Don’t Get Consent
Walks, Braids, Miranda, and Memories
grey concrete surface with patterns of swirls

This was the time we were growing up, learning new things, reading new books and discovering something new almost every day, and this all-women space provided an opportunity to do that without requiring any pretence or catering to the male gaze.

By Ambica Naithani
November 15, 2022
Walks, Braids, Miranda, and Memories
Walk Away If He Calls The Mechanic
Picture of a pile of spanners in different sizes

This malignancy of toxic masculinity is a mutant inheritance that is hard to eradicate. However, initiating discussions about it and spreading awareness is essential to minimise the cost to its victims.

By Abdullah Erikat
October 1, 2019
Walk Away If He Calls The Mechanic
The ‘Aunty’ Body And All That Follows
A photograph of a pen-and-paper illustration of two women, depicted as stereotypical ‘Auntys’ in the Indian context, talking to each other.

The issue with the ‘Aunty’ body arises from a deeply misogynistic and dehumanising understanding of women. In this imagination the woman, whom the world now addresses as ‘Aunty’, has basically served her purpose of marriage and child bearing, and is hence rendered useless.

By Feminism in India
March 15, 2021
The ‘Aunty’ Body And All That Follows
The contest of gendered spaces at home
Sanitary napkins made of cloth. (Image credit: The Kachra Project)

So, even though “home” is supposed to be a place of comfort – a personal space which should allow us to express our gender, sexuality and bodies freely – this notion of home stands defeated in reality, where there are certain unsaid rules which govern the distribution and use of space.

By Zeba Siddiqui
March 5, 2018
The contest of gendered spaces at home
Sweet Sixteen
An image of a half cut pear resembling the shape of a vagina. There are seeds around it.

At sixteen, the senior boy I loved, touched me down there and said, this is what boyfriends do, this is what love feels like – uncomfortable.

By Tapaswinee
December 1, 2020
Sweet Sixteen
Sex in the Times of Menopause
A series of abstract drawings in pink and green, with the cutout of a dancing girl towards the left

I am single and successful in the city. My general health is under control. I can still pull off an all-nighter maybe once a quarter. My sexuality and desire have evolved and matured with my age. Heck, in my eyes, I am Mrs. Robinson. But the eye candy at the bar sees me as Miss Havisham.

By Sashwati Banerjee
August 1, 2018
Sex in the Times of Menopause
Qandeel: The Story Of A Small Town Girl With Big Dreams
Picture of Qandeel Baloch

Fouzia Azeem, more popularly known as Qandeel Baloch,was called Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian. Madiha Tahir, a journalist and filmmaker who is interviewed in the documentary,questions this comparison. To quote her: “She (Qandeel) is not Kim Kardashian at all. She is not famous for being rich. An upper-class woman would have her class protection and it’s unlikely that an upper-class woman would be supporting her family from these social media videos.”

By Zulfiya Hamzaki
June 1, 2019
Qandeel: The Story Of A Small Town Girl With Big Dreams
Jasmine Stains
A pictures of the reddish-green leaves and branches of a plant, against a bright green background

Desire is a man’s turf, right up there with moustaches and Adam’s apples / I’m the apple, I am the snake, I am Eve / I am the vibrator nestled between flimsy, cheap lace underwear / I am the shame, of saying I came

By Malini Gopalakrishnan
January 2, 2019
Jasmine Stains
Jasmine Stains
A pictures of the reddish-green leaves and branches of a plant, against a bright green background

My hair smells like jasmine / From the wedding I went to last night / When I tethered my untameable hair with flowers,

By Malini Gopalakrishnan
August 1, 2018
Jasmine Stains
Issue in Focus: The Script of Love
the script of love: still of a crying 'tulsi' from 'kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi'

The discursive power vested in audio-visual media can prove to be emancipatory if it seeks to re-write the scripts of love, to expand it to include various subjectivities, disturb the patriarchal gendered dynamics that it is based on by introducing a story that allows the audience to imagine it in various different ways.

By Anannya Chatterjee
December 3, 2018
Issue in Focus: The Script of Love
Invisible Women
A poster of the film 'North Country'. On the poster: in the middle, Charlize Theron's face and shoulders. She is wearing a yellow bandana and a grey-beige t-shirt. She is looking at the camera, wide-eyed. Behind her is a crowd of men, a bit transparent. The lettering under her is in white, saying NORTH COUNTRY. Above her, the lettering says, 'ALL SHE WANTED WAS TO MAKE A LIVING, INSTEAD SHE MADE HISTORY' and underneath the title of the film are details about its cast and production.

I recently watched North Country on Netflix, a movie based on a true story of a woman’s fight for equality at the workplace. It is based on the case, Jenson vs Eveleth Mines, in the United States in which Lois Jenson, fought for the right to work as a miner, and the right to work free of sexual harassment. She won the landmark 1984 lawsuit, which was the first class-action lawsuit on sexual harassment at the workplace in the United States and resulted in companies/organisations having to introduce sexual harassment policies at the workplace.

By Elsa Marie D'Silva
May 15, 2021
Invisible Women
India’s Daughter: When Men Come Together, But Women Stand Divided
Poster of a documentary. On a black background is written, "India's Daughter - The Story of Jyoti Singh", with "Daughter" in red and everything else in white. The tittle of two i's in IndIa are flames, making the I's look like candles.

Two weeks before India’s Daughter made it to the headlines, I came across this new pledge for Delhi school kids,…

By Shweta Krishnan
March 16, 2015
India’s Daughter: When Men Come Together, But Women Stand Divided
For I Am A Woman
silhouette of a woman

For I was a woman / Taught to chain herself gracefully / In an invisible cage.

By Khushi Pahuja
February 3, 2020
For I Am A Woman
Editorial: Popular Culture and Sexuality
picture of a high-heel shoe, it is orange in colour with patterns on it

And so, in the mid-month issue we have Shweta Krishnan examining the place of political incorrectness in stand-up comedy, Rohini Banerjee talking about how fanfiction allowed her to delve into alternative worlds, and…

By TARSHI
December 15, 2018
Editorial: Popular Culture and Sexuality
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