relationship

Editorial – Connections and Sexuality
Webbed pattern in cobalt blue.

Questions, questions and inevitably more questions! That seems to be the human condition when it comes to connections, especially our connections with other people. It’s complicated, right?

By TARSHI
November 15, 2022
Editorial – Connections and Sexuality
Issue in Focus
An abstract image of waves.

Expanding contexts give the word ‘movement’ different meanings and value. Physical, conceptual, technological, relationship, emotional, mental, power, knowledge, ability, access, may be amongst the contexts immediately identified.

By Shikha Aleya
May 3, 2022
Issue in Focus
Refusing the weight in waiting
Multicoloured psychedelic circles of varying sizes with tiny bubbles inside

As a girl, I was made to believe that pleasure was something that existed outside my body, something that I had to seek out, something that was necessarily a product of a partnered experience. I don’t think I was even allowed to want pleasure, especially in its sexual forms.

By Aathira Gopi
March 15, 2022
Refusing the weight in waiting
Interview – This is what you bring to the table!
A photograph of a number of multicoloured rainbows against the background of a blue sky.

In this write up, we’d like to share a sense of what emerges from a compilation of these responses. This is based on the thoughts and feelings that come through for those of us here at In Plainspeak who have had the joy of reading the original responses as they came in to us. (Some of the quotations that follow have been slightly edited for flow and to help connect themes.) We know that most things in the realm of art, information and ideas lend themselves to a wide range of inferences and insights depending on the individuals making the inferences.

By Shikha Aleya
March 1, 2022
Interview – This is what you bring to the table!
The Loves of Others
A red and white illustration of a spaghetti dish placed upon a chequered tablecloth. Strands of spaghetti are being slurped by two invisible entities. On the top left is a circle sticker with black background and a gold border. The sticker has the text “TNI CLASSIC” in a red and yellow top-to-bottom gradient colour.

Both rejections and affirmations of the couple are skewered on this doubleness: It is the fullest expression of love and proximity available to us, and it bears all the insufficiencies of present social relations. Monogamous romantic commitment, like infallible lifelong attraction to only men or only women, is surely a minority tendency expediently elevated to a general social principle.

By Curated Content
February 15, 2022
The Loves of Others
On Looking for Love
An illustration which depicts three heart-shaped pieces of wood suspended from wires, one of them clearly in the foreground, the other two a little smaller and in the background

I wanted to be one of those people who decide to never date again and actually follow through. Indeed, I decided that a lot. A resolution that was broken so many times that it became a running joke in my head.

By Wesley D'Souza
February 1, 2022
On Looking for Love
Conceptualising Love on the Aromantic Spectrum
An image of a vintage-style round mirror with brown frame and a pink-white dahlia with stem lying on the mirror

I now feel comfortable entertaining the thought that my ease with my selfhood does not necessarily have to be threatened by the possibility of love in coupledom. Indeed, comfort with one’s self can actually evolve into healthier forms of love towards the other(s).

By Shivani Rajan
February 1, 2022
Conceptualising Love on the Aromantic Spectrum
Brushstrokes: Why Being Asexual Doesn’t Mean I’m ‘Broken’
Asexual not Broken

There are a lot of prejudices and misconceptions about asexual people. This comic on Everyday Feminism sensitises us to asexuality through a deeply felt real-life story of finding love as an asexual person.

By Curated Content
February 1, 2022
Brushstrokes: Why Being Asexual Doesn’t Mean I’m ‘Broken’
Editorial – Sexuality and SISA Spaces
Close-up of a sunflower field and the sun rising over hills in the background.

We envision SISA spaces as non-judgmental, inclusive, rights-based and affirming spaces wherein people’s sexuality, their identities, wellbeing, choices, desires and pleasure are respected.

By TARSHI
January 3, 2022
Editorial – Sexuality and SISA Spaces
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!
It’s not ‘just’ play!
An illustration of handcuffs in dull shades.

Play is not only about cocks, balls, vaginas, paddles, or anything that happens between two consenting adults in the bedroom. It’s also about what goes on in a masochist’s mind before they submit to a cane, or a whip, and before they orgasm from the pain.

By Asmi
December 1, 2021
It’s not ‘just’ play!
Video: What It Means To Be Single Ft. Paromita Vohra | Leeza Mangaldas
Poster of the video “What it means to be single ft. Paromita Vohra | Leeza Mangaldas.

Paromita, an award-winning filmmaker, and founder of the multimedia platform Agents of Ishq, and Leeza, who tries to normalise conversations about sexuality through her online work, remind us that neither singlehood nor marriage is the only determining factor of our wellbeing.

By Curated Content
February 1, 2021
Video: What It Means To Be Single Ft. Paromita Vohra | Leeza Mangaldas
Brushstrokes: 11 Assumptions About Being Butch – And Why They Need to Stop
A poster of the comic ‘11 Assumptions about being a butch (and why they need to stop)’ A person can be seen on the left side of the poster. There is a speech bubble next to the person with the text “People make many assumptions about me because of the way I dress.

The misconceptions associated with the varied manifestations of femininity can be exceedingly deleterious and reinforce gender roles, traditional patriarchal ideas, and stereotypes related to bodies, expressions and the way we experience our sexual and romantic relationships.

By Curated Content
December 1, 2020
Brushstrokes: 11 Assumptions About Being Butch – And Why They Need to Stop
Editorial: Support Systems and Sexuality
On a jute-textured background, hand-prints in different colours form the leaves of a tree, the trunk and branches of which are a hand-print.

Connection is essential for our survival – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. We connect with people, form networks of care and support, and in a sense weave webs of safety and comfort that we can turn to when stressed or simply want to infuse a dose of joy into our day.

By TARSHI
November 16, 2020
Editorial: Support Systems and Sexuality
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