Performance
A ‘girly’ feminist
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
BDSM Play – Performance and Beyond
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
Bodies in Motion: Dance Therapy as Mode of Healing and Empowerment
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
Brushstrokes: #100DaysofLaundry
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: Fiction Comic: Unwrinkled Saris And Just Another Evening
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
Drag As Mapping Culture, Fun, And Resistance Onto Our Bodies
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
Editorial – Movement and Sexuality
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 – Narratives and Sexuality
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: Femininities and Sexuality
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: Performance and Sexuality
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
How to Have Good Sex?
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
Interview – Tishani Doshi
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
Issue in Focus: Performance and Sexuality
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
I’m a Fennel for Now
“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
Nanette: Of Universality and Difference
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