Queer

Drag As Mapping Culture, Fun, And Resistance Onto Our Bodies
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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
Breaking new ground: Maja Ma’s portrayal of queerness in a traditional Indian family
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This reconciliation between Pallavi’s public (seemingly) heterosexual and closeted lesbian identities points to a distinctly Indian way of avoiding polarities through a new social arrangement where both identities are allowed the space to flourish.

By Juhi Sidharth and Chaitanya Ravi
March 1, 2023
Breaking new ground: Maja Ma’s portrayal of queerness in a traditional Indian family
At Chattar Manzil
A side view of a historical monument during daytime.

We are two boys in our early twenties
who can read touch like that, who have broken into
a 200-year-old mansion, without permission,
to see from above where people like them go
after 377 has been read down only for those
who can stay behind closed doors — in the custody
of cheap hotels, or houses that welcome nights
with the sound of latches closing.

By Aditya Vikram
February 16, 2023
At Chattar Manzil
Acting Like Myself
An illustration of stage-curtains in bright color.

Wesley D’Souza recounts the time his school put up a production of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, his preparations for its audition, and how the process was intertwined with an exploration and acceptance of his sexuality.

By Wesley D'Souza
January 3, 2023
Acting Like Myself
In A Heartbeat
Still from an animated video with two small boys sitting by a tree, looking wide-eyed with love at each other.

In A Heartbeat features a young man is quite literally torn between his heart and his mind when he develops feelings for one of his male classmates.

By Curated Content
January 3, 2023
In A Heartbeat
The Promise of Queer Failure as a Way of Life
A copy of the book The Queer Art of Failure being held up against a colourful backdrop that has the words 'Resistance and Resilience'. The book is being held up and the image shows the hand of the person holding it. The thumb is painted purple.

In a world where queerness is looked at as failure, The Queer Art of Failure allows for many possibilities to make sense of these failures.

By Rajeev Anand Kushwah
December 12, 2022
The Promise of Queer Failure as a Way of Life
Video: Sonali Udaybabu – Which Came First
the image is a screenshot from the video and has the shadow of Sonali Udaybabu holding a phone and recording themselves. on the left is the shadow of another person who appears to be a passerby. the text 'or my queerness?' appears as a subtitle.

Which Came First is a film about identity, desires, queerness–it captures the essence of self-discovery.

By Sonali Udaybabu
December 12, 2022
Video: Sonali Udaybabu – Which Came First
Masculinity, queer representation, and the motifs of movement in ‘Dedh Ishqiya’
A shot from the film featuring the two female leads, one is preparing a paan with the other’s face resting on her shoulder. Both the women are smiling.

The film has all the makings and trimmings of a commercial thriller – a dynamic story, song and dance, an action-packed climax – and at the same time, it is a cinephile’s film.

By Srishti Gupta
May 3, 2022
Masculinity, queer representation, and the motifs of movement in ‘Dedh Ishqiya’
The Time Machine – 5 In Plainspeak Articles that Celebrate Sexuality in its Diverse Forms!
Artificial golden stars against a blue background

The In Plainspeak team decided to time travel and re-discover previously published articles that explore the multiple ways in which people find joy and pleasure in their sexualities.

By TARSHI
March 15, 2022
The Time Machine – 5 In Plainspeak Articles that Celebrate Sexuality in its Diverse Forms!
Editorial – Sexuality and Coupledom
A colourful mosaic of human limbs and random geometric shapes

If we are to reimagine coupledom and sexuality, we need to expand and challenge our ideas about togetherness, romance, love, intimacy, desire, sex, attachment, and so on.

By TARSHI
February 15, 2022
Editorial – Sexuality and Coupledom
Interview – Coupledom is a mix of meanings
A photograph of colourful weaves of threads.

Coupledom may or may not be for everyone, and does not mean the same thing to everyone. Importantly, coupledom does not hold the same value or position in our lives, even in the lives of the individuals perceived to be parts of a couple structure.

By Shikha Aleya
February 15, 2022
Interview – Coupledom is a mix of meanings
On the Sustainability of (Non) Romance
A photograph featuring two women with their backs to the camera and their arms entwined, looking at a blurred scenery of a neighbourhood.

Contemporary and predominant imaginations of intimacy focus primarily on a sex-centric (romance-centric?) model which assumes that sexual desire exists and holds the same value for every person and every relationship regardless of their subjective positions. Sexual intent and desire are often the cruces of how relational aspects such as intimacy are socially constructed.

By Fariha Sameen
February 15, 2022
On the Sustainability of (Non) Romance
Acting Like Myself
An illustration of stage-curtains in bright color.

In this month’s issue of Play and Sexuality, Wesley D’Souza recounts the time his school put up a production of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, his preparations for its audition, and how the process was intertwined with an exploration and acceptance of his sexuality.

By Wesley D'Souza
December 15, 2021
Acting Like Myself
For the Joy of it
An illustration of a person’s face and neck in drab shades. They seem to be in great agony: there are scars and marks on the face, and the inside of the mouth as well as the neck are sketched in a web of overlapping vertical lines.

Of course, I knew I wasn’t the only person in the world writing about Sherlock Holmes. I, however, thought I was the only one in the world writing about them like that. You know.
Romantically.

By Saswati
November 1, 2021
For the Joy of it
Video: What Is Intersectionality? | Queer 101 | The Advocate

Would you be able to describe yourself in one word? The Advocate’s Ashley Jiang begins by telling us she has…

By Curated Content
September 1, 2021
Video: What Is Intersectionality? | Queer 101 | The Advocate
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