Performance

A ‘girly’ feminist
Two dandelion flowers in a glass vase on a pink background.

Desiring motherhood meant veering into a more ‘girly’ territory, a notion that I had simultaneously been fighting and trying to embrace since childhood. I had understood that to be a feminist I had to be independent, be wary of men, dislike families and relationships.

By Anubha Sarkar
December 1, 2020
A ‘girly’ feminist
BDSM Play – Performance and Beyond
Picture of a black lacy mask with a black string portruding from it

Just like sex can be happy, sad, awkward, angry and so many other emotions, rather than the mere act of pounding, so is BDSM.

By Asmi
September 4, 2018
BDSM Play – Performance and Beyond
Bodies in Motion: Dance Therapy as Mode of Healing and Empowerment
silhuoette of a female figure in a dancing pose

The dance therapy project therefore squarely locates itself as a supplement to economic skill building and psychological counselling, in developing a holistic sense of self among the women beneficiaries of the project.

By Raili Roy
September 4, 2018
Bodies in Motion: Dance Therapy as Mode of Healing and Empowerment
Brushstrokes: #100DaysofLaundry
Illustration of a naked woman in a bathtub, her menstrual blood visible in the water she's taking a bath in

But what about the “moments we don’t Instagram”? What about the uglier parts of our physical lived realities? What about the parts of our body, our identities, our sexuality we don’t perform on social media, but are still an intrinsic part of who we are?

By Curated Content
September 4, 2018
Brushstrokes: #100DaysofLaundry
Brushstrokes: Fiction Comic: Unwrinkled Saris And Just Another Evening
A poster of the fiction comic Unwrinkled Saris and Just Another Evening. In the background is a picture of the lower face of a person. The person is holding a red lipstick between their teeth. The lipstick has an inscription that says FAE. The person is wearing gold coloured earrings. A green coloured blouse and saree is also visible

In a society ruled by heteronormative patriarchal structures, expressing one’s gender or sexuality outside the trimmings of what is socially acceptable is an act of resistance.

By Curated Content
November 2, 2020
Brushstrokes: Fiction Comic: Unwrinkled Saris And Just Another Evening
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
Editorial – Movement and Sexuality
An abstract photo of blurred blue and white vertical lines that are spanning outwards

This issue of In Plainspeak while inviting us to embrace the joys and pleasure in movement, also questions the ways in which movements are facilitated or obstructed, visibilised or invisibilised, and the spaces that we must envision to find freedom in/to movement.

By TARSHI
May 19, 2022
Editorial – Movement and Sexuality
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
Editorial: Femininities and Sexuality
A close-up photograph of a dandelion with dew. The dewdrops are differently coloured in the light.

Are certain forms of femininities denigrated more than others? Not just by misogynists but also by feminists? Is there a particular way of manifesting an ‘appropriate’ femininity, one that is just right, and is not ‘too girly’ or ‘too tomboyish’?

By TARSHI
December 15, 2020
Editorial: Femininities and Sexuality
Editorial: Performance and Sexuality
Russian dolls

We are many selves. Or rather, like a series of Russian Matryoshka dolls nested one within the other, we perform…

By TARSHI
September 17, 2018
Editorial: Performance and Sexuality
How to Have Good Sex?
Against a yellow background, illustration of a silhouette of "Superman", with a red flowing cape

During my interaction with students as a part of sexuality education classes in schools, one frequently asked question by boys is,“How to charm a girl?”

By Ramya Anand
September 4, 2018
How to Have Good Sex?
Interview – Tishani Doshi
Photograph of a woman with long hair in red sari, sitting with a brown dog against a background of bushes with vines and pink azaleas. The woman is resting her chin on one hand and petting the dog with the other.

I’ve essentially thought of movement as a kind of freedom, but one that has the capacity to destabilise you in some way. My most creative moments are when I’m not moving, when I am in fact rooted and still.

By Shikha Aleya
May 3, 2022
Interview – Tishani Doshi
Issue in Focus: Performance and Sexuality
Picture of a classical dance performer, face painted in yellow and black

To think of sexuality as performative disrupts the need for stable categories and identities, instead suggesting that we all reinforce and disrupt normative formations as we attempt to inhabit the world in messy ways.

By Sneha Krishnan
September 4, 2018
Issue in Focus: Performance and Sexuality
I’m a Fennel for Now
The queer muslim experience, symbolised by a picture of three pieces of fennel, kept one beside each other. they have a light green bulbous body and dark green leaves emerging from the stem.

“I’m afraid because I bring to bed more than just one soul of a scared conflicted boy. I’m bringing to bed a whole army that not only runs the streets within me but also spills out over my body and the body of the boy next to me.”

By Abdullah Erikat
September 4, 2018
I’m a Fennel for Now
Nanette: Of Universality and Difference
Black and white picture of stand-up comic Hannah Gadsby. She has short hair and wears dark glasses.

In Nanette, Hannah Gadsby’s hour-long Netflix special that transcends the very notions of stand-up comedy, forces of reclamation, protest, and rage culminate to form a darkly hilarious but heartbreaking diatribe against patriarchy, heteronormativity, violence and marginalisation.

By Anonymous
September 4, 2018
Nanette: Of Universality and Difference
1 2