patriarchy

Brushstrokes: An Artist Captures Patriarchal Nosiness in its Most Everyday Avataar

The potential for art to connect people and to challenge thinking is continuously widening. Aarushi Jain, a 21-year-old artist from India, perfectly captures the societal expectations placed on women in her representation of the English alphabet.

By Curated Content
April 18, 2017
Brushstrokes: An Artist Captures Patriarchal Nosiness in its Most Everyday Avataar
Rootless
Nepal Marriage

By birth a woman belongs to her father’s clan, and then she gets given to her husband’s. We forget who our mothers and grandmothers are. Their blood does not flow in our lineage

By Curated Content
March 15, 2017
Rootless
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
How I Dress Has to Do with My Relationship with Myself
A woman sitting on a bed in her room wearing shorts and a tank top, looking out the window.

I did my schooling and higher studies in Delhi. Thanks to a compulsorily uniform attire at school, the differences in socio-economic backgrounds of students were successfully erased. But as one enters college, one’s attire gets significant attention, especially for a person from a weak socio-economic background. This transition period from school to college is also the age of sexual anxieties, experiments and experiences.

By Rashmi Gopi
August 16, 2016
How I Dress Has to Do with My Relationship with Myself
Picking Pockets: Why Functional Clothing Matters for Feminism
A comic strip. First panel with text "me in a dress" shows a serious girl weairng a green frock, with her hands straight by her side. The 2nd panel with text "me in a dress with pockets" shows her in the same green frock, but with hands in her dress-pocket, feeling chirpy and happy.

The link between women’s clothing and patriarchy is important to acknowledge and understand if we are to address some pertinent questions around women’s agency and ability to exercise control over their choices, bodies and sexuality – questions that feminists around the world, including in South Asia, continue to struggle with.

By Kristin Francoeur and Surabhi Srivastava
August 2, 2016
Picking Pockets: Why Functional Clothing Matters for Feminism
Dressing Up Without the Dressing-Down
Artwork showing two women sitting, both wearing saree and heavy jewellery. Screen reader support enabled. Artwork showing two women sitting, both wearing saree and heavy jewellery.

Then came a time when this small-town simple Sati Savitri-esque girl moved to a big city. Sucked into city fashion, she couldn’t resist skirting sinful hemlines and being trapped in T-shirt tapestry. All her sanctity theories about clothes were thrown in the trash for good. In the process, she happily shed her desi avatar by shedding her saris and proudly embraced the ‘modern’ attire.

By Ramya Anand
August 2, 2016
Dressing Up Without the Dressing-Down
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
Feminism, Marriage, and the Dilemma
A bride and her mother holding hands face-to-face during the wedding celebration. Their faces are cut from the picture - we can see from their neck to their knees, dressed in a bride's lehnga, and a heavy Indian suit.

Before I was introduced to theatre and the arts in the 11th standard, the future I saw for myself was…

By Jyotsna Khatry
November 15, 2015
Feminism, Marriage, and the Dilemma
Book Review: Come As You Are
Book cover with white background. Line drawing of a woman from waist to thighs, naked. On top is written the author's name in black "Emily Nayoski". Below it in red in cursive is written, "COME as you are".

You should venture to read Emily Nagoski’s book, Come As You Are in public. Not because you want to make…

By Shweta Krishnan
November 15, 2015
Book Review: Come As You Are
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
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
In conversation with Sheema Kermani
Photo of performance artist and theatre personality Maya Krishna Rao. She is wearing black and her left hand raised in a dramatic pose. She has long white hair and there is a red bindi on her forehead.

Sheema Kermani is a cultural activist, theatre practitioner, theatre director and a known Pakistani exponent of Indian classical dance. She had studied Bharatanatyam…

By TARSHI
July 1, 2014
In conversation with Sheema Kermani
Medusa
An illustration of a woman facing sideways with snakes in place of her hair.

Medusa, oh so beautiful! radiating beauty, a mere reflection, of male gaze, curse, shame and monstrous. Controlled, yet untamed, beauty…

By James Scott Edwards
March 1, 2014
Medusa
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