narratives

Editorial – Narratives and Sexuality
jason-leung-4QGf3PYueMU-unsplash

Stories hold power. They shape how we understand the world, and if they are stories of distorted facts and falsehoods, they spread unease, discord and hatred. But stories also allow us to imagine other possibilities; they give us hope that we can overcome oppression and injustice.

By TARSHI
March 17, 2023
Editorial – Narratives and Sexuality
Interview – Kiran Bhat
author pic 10

So I am realising now that for me the space of borderlessness applies to everything. It applies to the physical and topographical border as it does to the borders we create between gender and their expressions. I think I would like to argue for a truly borderless understanding of the world.

By Shikha Aleya
March 17, 2023
Interview – Kiran Bhat
More than Striking a Pose
i-am_nah--S4OsO0c6Ts-unsplash

“Something about this pose brought about a sense of owning my body, my persona, my expression, my sensuality, my whole being. The drop of the hip made the bottom vertebrae curve, and appear out of alignment from the rest of my spine. A deviance, defiance of the normal straight stance. A resistance, a revolt of sorts.”

By Robin
March 17, 2023
More than Striking a Pose
Shifting the Gaze: How women wish to experience desire
jonathan-wards-2XnW0pdT6lA-unsplash_cropped

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
Labour of Love
elena-mozhvilo-CfpCqN9qkrI-unsplash

Pleasure, in the world, is not equally distributed.

By Ria Arya
March 17, 2023
Labour of Love
What we don’t talk about when we don’t talk about kink
adam-birkett-zO4qAyXMYmY-unsplash

I realise that a lot of men want (and need) to dominate women not because it is mutually pleasurable but because it reinforces patriarchal hierarchies. The taboo around kink, as a larger space of exploration, and BDSM, as a part of it, only furthers the violence, intensifying the apparent mystery of these subjects.

By Trijita
March 17, 2023
What we don’t talk about when we don’t talk about kink
The Motherhood Dilemma
markus-winkler-0nqDYVpy7ws-unsplash

The idealisation of motherhood is crucial to our culture; it is important that the mother is self-sacrificing. This sacrificial instinct isn’t limited to women’s behaviour. It goes on to encompass the entirety of her corporeality and the way she performs it.

By Vinky Mittal
March 17, 2023
The Motherhood Dilemma
Issue in Focus
daniel-olah-pCcGpVsOHoo-unsplash

There are different narratives where lie hidden worlds of codified feelings, justifications, a reason to buy or not buy into injustice, or othering.

By Shikha Aleya
March 1, 2023
Issue in Focus
Drag As Mapping Culture, Fun, And Resistance Onto Our Bodies
urvi-kotasthane-gl-KSnRyhE0-unsplash

Drag is more than a form of entertainment or art form or a form of comedic release, it’s the realization of the fun of being queer or having a queer perspective.

By Rajeev Anand Kushwah
March 1, 2023
Drag As Mapping Culture, Fun, And Resistance Onto Our Bodies
What is your verb
lake-2063957_1920

Khusro to Bullah. Ada to Parveen
यह, वह, वो

He, she, they
Lover or Beloved? Woman or Man?

By Carol D'Souza
March 1, 2023
What is your verb
Love belongs to me too
fadi-xd-I4dR572y7l0-unsplash

I see people and places,
Couples and crushes
I hear giggles and whispers.
These are the secrets untold to me.

By Gayathri
March 1, 2023
Love belongs to me too
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
s-o-c-i-a-l-c-u-t-FluPNkHfCTs-unsplash

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
Breaking new ground: Maja Ma’s portrayal of queerness in a traditional Indian family
MV5BNTY5NTk4NTUtZjg4MC00MDdkLWI3YzctZjU5MGJlMzkzOTZkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTI1NDEyNTM5._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_

This reconciliation between Pallavi’s public (seemingly) heterosexual and closeted lesbian identities points to a distinctly Indian way of avoiding polarities through a new social arrangement where both identities are allowed the space to flourish.

By Juhi Sidharth and Chaitanya Ravi
March 1, 2023
Breaking new ground: Maja Ma’s portrayal of queerness in a traditional Indian family
Video: Diversity and its Impact on the Workplace | ARTI CHAUDHRY | TEDxGIBS
Arti Chaudhry

If the workplace looked anything like our world, it would have 50% men and 50% women, 7% would have a college degree, 55% would have access to the internet, and only 70% would have access to a smartphone.

By Curated Content
March 1, 2023
Video: Diversity and its Impact on the Workplace | ARTI CHAUDHRY | TEDxGIBS
1 2