Monogamy

“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
 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
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
Wanting Monogamy as 1,946 Men Await my Swipe
In Plainspeak English Audit In Plainspeak English Audit 100% 10 Its a cartoon, where a girl is sitting on a chair facing her back and choosing boys on a dating application. There are a huge number boys in the photo and out of all of them, the girl chose one who is standing on the counter. Screen reader support enabled. Its a cartoon, where a girl is sitting on a chair facing her back and choosing boys on a dating application. There are a huge number boys in the photo and out of all of them, the girl chose one who is standing on the counter.

Leaving Michael’s apartment one Tuesday morning, I smiled and said, “Have a good class today.” That may not sound like…

By Curated Content
June 15, 2017
Wanting Monogamy as 1,946 Men Await my Swipe
The Loves of Others
A red and white illustration of a spaghetti dish placed upon a chequered tablecloth. Strands of spaghetti are being slurped by two invisible entities. On the top left is a circle sticker with black background and a gold border. The sticker has the text “TNI CLASSIC” in a red and yellow top-to-bottom gradient colour.

Both rejections and affirmations of the couple are skewered on this doubleness: It is the fullest expression of love and proximity available to us, and it bears all the insufficiencies of present social relations. Monogamous romantic commitment, like infallible lifelong attraction to only men or only women, is surely a minority tendency expediently elevated to a general social principle.

By Curated Content
February 15, 2022
The Loves of Others
The Case For Platonic Relationships: Rethinking The Rules In Law And Society

The social value of the platonic relationship needs to be restated: Too many boys today grow up with the idea that their relations with women (who are not their mothers and/or sisters) are confined to an oversexualised romantic bubble.

By Curated Content
September 15, 2020
The Case For Platonic Relationships: Rethinking The Rules In Law And Society
Steering Through Singlehood

I am 27 now and marriage is the most brought-up topic of conversation by my parents and relatives. Now, choosing or wanting to stay single is inversely proportional to my reputation, respect, and worthiness.

By Nidhi Chaudhary
February 1, 2021
Steering Through Singlehood
Reclaiming Being Single Against Emma Watson’s Self Partnered
On a pick background with blue spots and black stripes, a photo of actor Emma Watson is superimposed with yellow lines drawn around her.

Emma Watson spoke to British Vogue about the incredible amounts of stress and anxiety that follows, “…if you have not built a home, if you do not have a husband, if you do not have a baby, and you are turning 30, and you’re not in some incredibly secure, stable place in your career, or you’re still figuring things out…”

By Feminism in India
February 15, 2021
Reclaiming Being Single Against Emma Watson’s Self Partnered
REAL LOVE, BABY: THE CONTRADICTORY PRESSURES OF MODERN LOVE
An illustration of a person with thick wavy black hair, wearing black sunglasses, knee-length polka dots dress and black boots who is dragging a big red heart-shaped bag/balloon behind them in an upward slope. The background is a solid salmon pink and the slope is a solid mustard colour.

Both rejections and affirmations of the couple are skewered on this doubleness: It is the fullest expression of love and proximity available to us, and it bears all the insufficiencies of present social relations. Monogamous romantic commitment, like infallible lifelong attraction to only men or only women, is surely a minority tendency expediently elevated to a general social principle.

By Curated Content
February 15, 2022
REAL LOVE, BABY: THE CONTRADICTORY PRESSURES OF MODERN LOVE
Of filter coffee, marriage and mixed celebrations of sexuality
Of filter coffee, marriage and mixed celebrations of sexuality

Marriage also feels complicated when one approaches it through the lens of feminism. Marriage throws in two people and often their families into a system designed to perpetuate patriarchy, subjugate women, and bind men and women (in heteronormative marriage) into strict roles in the marriage.

By Vani Viswanathan
March 1, 2022
Of filter coffee, marriage and mixed celebrations of sexuality
Kun Faya Kun: Embodying Non-Conformity
A photograph of a person’s palms held out in prayer. The light is streaked with shades of pink and blue.

For a queer person, or for someone who remains single by choice, everyday existence requires strength and will. That is the embodiment of kun faya kun as a personal philosophy: to manifest the person you want to be through sheer will.

By Ghausia Rashid Salam
February 1, 2021
Kun Faya Kun: Embodying Non-Conformity
In Appreciation of Singlehood
A photograph of a woman facing a water body lined with blades of grass. The sky is tinged with orange and blue.

Growing up, for me, has been about accepting that the loneliness and sadness woven into the fabric of my being do not go away with entering conventional arrangements like monogamous relationships or marriage.

By Siddhi Pandey
February 1, 2021
In Appreciation of Singlehood
How We Reimagine and Redefine Freedoms
Silhouette of a woman against an abstract, colourful background

Every part of life, the world too, is storied. Stories are the thread that hold histories and truths together. Stories are at the core of myth-making. Everything that we know is part of multiple crisscrossing relational storylines that we raise and those that we have no power in raising.

By Curated Content
March 15, 2022
How We Reimagine and Redefine Freedoms
Editorial: Singlehood and Sexuality
A small bird fluttering around a branch with orange berries, picking at one

In this issue of In Plainspeak our contributors reflect on and reveal the myriad facets of being single – is it a choice? A condition? A state of being? Lonely? Joyful? Not one or the other, but a glorious mix?

By TARSHI
February 15, 2021
Editorial: Singlehood and Sexuality
Editorial – Sexuality and Coupledom
A colourful mosaic of human limbs and random geometric shapes

If we are to reimagine coupledom and sexuality, we need to expand and challenge our ideas about togetherness, romance, love, intimacy, desire, sex, attachment, and so on.

By TARSHI
February 15, 2022
Editorial – Sexuality and Coupledom
1 2