Science
Feminism and Science: Teaching and Learning ‘Science in the Making’
Chayanika Shah [1] in conversation with Vivek Vellanki Vivek Vellanki: You did your PhD in Physics from IIT in the 1980s,…
By Vivek Vellanki
Interview: Gender And Popular Science
Popular science stories can be exciting, educative and a lot of fun to read. But sometimes we come across that…
By Shweta Krishnan
October 1, 2014
Book Review: Come As You Are
You should venture to read Emily Nagoski’s book, Come As You Are in public. Not because you want to make…
By Shweta Krishnan
November 15, 2015
Marked Women, Unmarked Men
If a woman’s clothing is tight or revealing (in other words, sexy), it sends a message — an intended one of wanting to be attractive, but also a possibly unintended one of availability. If her clothes are not sexy, that too sends a message, lent meaning by the knowledge that they could have been. There are thousands of cosmetic products from which women can choose and myriad ways of applying them. Yet no makeup at all is anything but unmarked. Some men see it as a hostile refusal to please them.
By Curated Content
June 17, 2016
Of Braille, Fighter Pilots and a Sexuality-Informed Approach to Science
I spent time reading up the basics of gender-neutral design to understand the connect between science, society and gender. Sometimes, some people try to prove that there are ‘scientific’ reasons for inequality and injustice, for depriving one set of people of the same choices and opportunities that another set of people enjoy. This is not true. Times are changing. ‘Biased technologies’ are being altered.
By Shikha Aleya
Surrogacy: A Gift for Whom?
The two people involved in the transaction of surrogacy occupy different positions of power. The surrogate who bears the child is not a woman with similar economic and social standing as the one who receives the child.
By Ashima Mittal
July 1, 2016
Through the Non-Heteronormative Looking Glass
No one ever really talks about how queer people in STEM fields navigate hostile spaces. ‘STEM’ stands for ‘Science, Technology, Engineering, Math’. We Indians, of course, are well aware of what these fields entail because our parents, neighbours and teachers often push us towards them. Pursuing a career in the humanities/arts means deviating from the norm, so it makes sense that sexualities and gender identities which are considered ‘deviant’ often flourish in these fields.
By Kavya Kartik
July 1, 2016
Of Shame, Silence and Technological Innovations
A movement back to reusable cloth pads or even towards the use of menstrual cups aims not only to create ways of dealing with menstruation that are healthier for the body and the environment, but also to open up a dialogue regarding the taboos and inhibitions regarding menstrual blood that stem from culture as well as paid media.
By Oshin Siao Bhatt
July 1, 2016
No Means No
It began in the third year of my PhD. I had just returned from India and a fellow classmate sent me an e-mail. The e-mail was about his feelings for me, asking me to consider a relationship with him.
By Divya Swaminathan
July 1, 2016
Video Page: Arunachalam Muruganantham: India’s Menstruation Man
A short documentary on India’s menstruation man, Arunachalam Muruganantham, who wore an artificial uterus, was left by his wife for five years, and was called a pervert by the neighbours – all in his pursuit to create cheap yet effective sanitary napkins for women who cannot afford safe menstrual hygiene products.
By Curated Content
The (Pseudo) Science of Not Trusting Women
Medical abortion is a threat to scientific authorities because it is technology easily used without the help of a medical provider. Since there is doubt that women will use the drug safely without supervision (even though they did it before and are still doing it), some think the kinder option is to remove their opportunity to fail.
By Kristin Francoeur
July 1, 2016
Issue in Focus: Naturalising the Normative
Societal norms that are contested, especially around body and sexuality, are often passed as the ‘natural order’ of things. The objective study of ‘nature’ that science claims to do induces society to seek scientific explanations to verify naturalness. It has been shown in many cases that the questions that scientists ask, and the methods they use, are coloured by norms of society. Yet, the ‘scientific answers’ thus got help determine what is natural. In the process, the normative gets naturalised.
By Chayanika Shah
July 1, 2016
The Indian Girl’s Guide to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
The scientific establishment’s inability to attract enough women and keep them in the workforce is a large enough problem for it to feature in interactions between nation’s governments.
By Curated Content
The Future Is TransFeminist: from imagination to action
Facebook. Google. Apple. Microsoft. Amazon. As the white male-dominated Big Five in Silicon Valley monopolise most platforms that guide online interactions almost everywhere outside China, any aspiration towards a feminist revolution has become capitalised.
By Curated Content
August 14, 2020
I DELETE MYSELF: ANONYMITY AND SEXUALITY ONLINE
Cyberspace has given the queer woman a chance to problematize the existing gender and sexual identities which, like any identity, is not static. It allows her to create and occupy spaces which will give her freedom and power in a way that the misogynistic physical world cannot provide.
By Curated Content
August 14, 2020