patriarchy

“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
‘A Promise to Stand By’: The quiet feminism of Nathicharami
Nathicharami

Nathicharami takes sexuality and sexual desire away from upper-class, Gucci-clad women and makes its viewers acknowledge its existence in the lives of women (middle-class wives and widows, in the case of this film) who are invisibilised, both in the society they live in and as subjects of popular content.

By Srishti Gupta
March 1, 2022
‘A Promise to Stand By’: The quiet feminism of Nathicharami
एक बेमेल जोड़े की कहानी
A brunette child with curly hair looks in anger. Over the photo written in bold and caps in white colour, "All the problems in the world today, and you're mad 'cause my parents don't match?"

अब इस अनजान व्यक्ति ने कुछ बेचैनी से कहा, ‘मुझे माफ़ करना, मैं कोई मूर्ख्ताप्पूर्ण बात नहीं करना चाहता लेकिन आप को साथ देख कर इसलिए हैरान क्योंकि आप जैसे जोड़े प्राय: देखने को नहीं मिलते’। ज़ाहिर है इस वाकया के बाद एक घबराई हुई हंसी थी।

By Shivani Gupta
May 1, 2016
एक बेमेल जोड़े की कहानी
अपने मन को वापस लेने का समय आ गया है
मानसिक स्वास्थ्य

ऑड्रे लार्ड ने एक बार कहा था, “अपनी देखभाल करने का ये मतलब नहीं कि मैं स्वार्थी हूँ, देखभाल स्वयं…

By Rituparna Borah
February 18, 2017
अपने मन को वापस लेने का समय आ गया 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
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
Who Can Touch My Privates? When? Where?
a signboard marked 'private'

Marking the genitalia as ‘private’ is somehow expected of parents who want to make sure that their kids don’t allow predators in. However, this duty should be followed at the right time with a conversation about sex, which will open the door to speaking about sexuality

By Abdullah Erikat
September 2, 2019
Who Can Touch My Privates? When? Where?
Who am I?
A sketch of a woman’s face, covered in multi-coloured strings. In front of it, there’s a black and white outline of a figure with a mask on and holding up a microphone. In front of both figures, is the figure of a smaller woman, holding up a tray and facing behind.

In a world that attempts to reduce my identity to fit the contours of its control and domesticity, I choose to rebel through my existence.

By Abhaya Tatavarti
April 16, 2018
Who am I?
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
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
Voices: Poetry
Black and white sketch of two little boys chasing each other and playing with a toy wheel

Boys standing up to their fathers are invitations to patriarchy When boys become men it is marked by celebratory loud…

By Lean Deleon
July 1, 2014
Voices: Poetry
Video: What is internalised misogyny? | Feminism In India
Image of Feminism in India’s video on Internalised Misogyny. On the right side of the image is a drawing of two girls with sad faces. On the left side is an image of the narrator who explains what Internalised Misogyny means.

I am not like other girls”, “I don’t like hanging out with girls that much”, “She is being very irrational today, I think it’s that time of the month”, are some common statements that you may have heard or even made yourself.

By Curated Content
December 1, 2020
Video: What is internalised misogyny? | Feminism In India
Video: Kalki Koechlin: The Printing Machine | Unblushed
A screenshot of Kalki Koechlin's rendition of 'The Printing Machine'. The background has a fade-effect of newspaper headlines. To the left is Kalki's face till the beginning of her shoulders. She is looking directly at the camera. Her hair is tied with strands across her face. To the left, in big red lettering: KALKI an underneath it, in black and strikethrough: UNBLUSHED. 'BLUSH' is bold.

Sharp and evocative, Kalki Koechlin’s spoken-word poem The Printing Machine lays bare the cycle of ceaseless and desensitised consumption engendered by the media. Kalki’s short and hard-hitting sentences, keys tap-tap-tapping, and the chrrs and grrs of printing machines bring out the urgency and sensationalism media narratives embody, turning incidents of violence into a stream of headlines that make us gasp and forget, gasp and forget.

By TARSHI
June 15, 2021
Video: Kalki Koechlin: The Printing Machine | Unblushed
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