privilege

Autonomy, agency, choice: Yes these are for us
6 people are sitting on a stage. Behind them is a purple poster with the text "Purple Fest" followed by "Celebrating Diversity". The rest of the text is partially hidden. A woman, who is sitting at the centre wearing a pink salwar-kameez, is giving a speech on a mic. The other panellists are looking at her. A man sitting in the far left is translating the speech into sign language.

The linkages between access, health, violence, the law, workplaces, gender and sexuality are really high and that’s why we all today—whether we are working on street accessibility, education, disability and employment—need to bring and build our collective understanding around gender and sexuality, keeping it at the core of our work with people, youth, and women with disabilities.

By Nidhi Goyal and Srinidhi Raghavan
February 16, 2023
Autonomy, agency, choice: Yes these are for us
Interview – Anjlee Agarwal
Cover_Photo_interview_with_Anjlee

Self-care is influenced by the environment we inhabit, the way we relate to others, the way we negotiate with other living beings or structures. Self-care is also interlinked with other types of care – whether that is in community resources, psychosocial support, engagement with medical and health care institutions, and of course in collective agency and solidarity.

By Shikha Aleya
February 4, 2023
Interview – Anjlee Agarwal
Of Mothers and Playgrounds
A close-up of a field of daisies, small white flowers with thin petals arranged radially around yellow centres.

“City-living gave me talons and claws, but now I want to put those away. I want something else. I want softness. I want grass under my feet. I want the fist in my stomach to slowly unclench. I want the garden of my childhood to get lost in play while letting sunlit hours pass over to rosy dusk.”

By Sheena D'Lima
February 2, 2023
Of Mothers and Playgrounds
Interview – Raj Mariwala
A photograph of MHI director Raj Mariwala; she is playing with a grey-brown dog, squatting in grass.

Self-care is influenced by the environment we inhabit, the way we relate to others, the way we negotiate with other living beings or structures. Self-care is also interlinked with other types of care – whether that is in community resources, psychosocial support, engagement with medical and health care institutions, and of course in collective agency and solidarity.

By Shikha Aleya
January 3, 2023
Interview – Raj Mariwala
The many hues of connections
A photograph of a mosaic pattern in hues of red and one streak of green. At the centre of the pattern is a circle surrounded by a semi circle.

Connection, to my mind, is one of those profoundly entrenched concepts manifesting itself throughout our lives. It is difficult to let go of.

By Adsa Fatima
October 17, 2022
The many hues of connections
When the Game is Set Against You, Why Play By The Rules?
A photograph of multi-coloured flower bouquets.
When working with clients at the margins, the effort is not just to find out what intersections they are at and what systems alienate or harm them, but also the internal factors that affect them in the process of exclusion and violence.
By Simran Kewlani and Vasudha Ramani
September 19, 2022
When the Game is Set Against You, Why Play By The Rules?
Of Identity and Belongings: The Gatekeeping within Queer Spaces
A close-up of chainmesh fencing.
No matter how much I wanted to be a part of the rainbow, it felt like the rainbow wanted no part of me. It was an elite space for the exuberant über cool gays, with access, privilege and a vocabulary filled with jargon. I couldn’t even decide if I was ‘gay enough’, let alone deconstruct my experiences, having being brought up in a heteronormative culture.
By Shubhangi
September 1, 2022
Of Identity and Belongings: The Gatekeeping within Queer Spaces
With Love: A Special Issue on Sexuality, Mental Health, Wellbeing, and Self-care
An illustration of the title of the article with a beige background. There are oblong-shaped blobs in peach and sap green on the upper left corner and the lower right corner. At the centre is the logo of TARSHI followed by three verticle rows of squiggly lines and the text that reads "In Plainspeak: Sexuality, mental health, wellbeing and self-care"
Any conversation on sexuality cannot exclude engagement with the myriad ways in which taboos around sexuality, the privileging of heteronormative ideals, the violence and marginalisation faced by people deviating from norms of sexuality and gender affect our mental health and well-being.
By TARSHI
June 15, 2022
With Love: A Special Issue on Sexuality, Mental Health, Wellbeing, and Self-care
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
Public Sex and the Police in Urban Spaces
A photo of heterosexual couple sitting cross-legged on a rampart beside the sea. The man is wearing a blue shirt and there are shopping bags beside him. Beside him, only the mid-length hair of the woman can be seen. In the horizon is the city skyline of Mumbai with skyscrapers and other buildings at golden hour.

While sex workers face repeated harassment by the police, many young couples face threats in a one-off incident if the police finds them with their partner/lover. They may face police surveillance of expressions of intimacy and affection in public.

By Shruti Arora
April 1, 2022
Public Sex and the Police in Urban Spaces
Editorial – Celebrating Sexuality
A colourful background with “100 % sexuality” written in blue with pink shadow around the text.

100 issues, 8 years! Thank you, dear readers and contributors! As we planned for this issue to put on our…

By TARSHI
March 15, 2022
Editorial – Celebrating Sexuality
Of filter coffee, marriage and mixed celebrations of sexuality
Of filter coffee, marriage and mixed celebrations of sexuality

Marriage also feels complicated when one approaches it through the lens of feminism. Marriage throws in two people and often their families into a system designed to perpetuate patriarchy, subjugate women, and bind men and women (in heteronormative marriage) into strict roles in the marriage.

By Vani Viswanathan
March 1, 2022
Of filter coffee, marriage and mixed celebrations of sexuality
Negotiating Expression
An abstract painting of teal squares with splashes of orange, white, blue and yellow.

I am still coming to terms with my own femininity, as with new learnings I find myself regaining many facets of my personality which were lost while trying to ‘act like a man’ and ‘act tough’.

By Ambica Naithani
March 1, 2022
Negotiating Expression
Editorial – Play and Sexuality
An image of vibrant and colourful watercolour cakes with a palette attached.

Coupled with the tendency to approach sexuality with seriousness, play often remains absent in discussions of sexuality. Sexuality shares the elements of fun, pleasure and spontaneity that are found in play.

By TARSHI
December 15, 2021
Editorial – Play and Sexuality
Of “unapologetically flawed” women and feminism-lite: A review of Four More Shots Please!
The poster of Four More Shots Please, featuring four women in Western clothing, posing, laughing, dancing and having fun.

Four More Shots Please! moves in the right direction when it comes to women (of a particular social stratum), their lives, and feminism at large – even if it takes small, stumbling, baby steps towards it.

By Srishti Gupta
December 1, 2021
Of “unapologetically flawed” women and feminism-lite: A review of Four More Shots Please!
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