sex
Editorial: Privacy and Sexuality
In our mid-month issue, we have Mamatha Karollil writing about how she asserted herself after an incident of privacy violation when a nude picture of herself was seen by someone from work without her consent, and how ripping through, or not getting into, the cocoon of shame and dishonour, can prevent much distress…
By TARSHI
September 16, 2019
Editorial: Literature and Sexuality
As we see through this issue of In Plainspeak, stories have in them the power of exposing brutal truths about society and therefore also bring with them the possibility of reform, change, and hope, and when not possible, temporarily escaping into other worlds.
By TARSHI
March 16, 2020
Editorial: Intimacy and Sexuality
In our mid-month issue, Rahul Sen writes of the impossibility of intimacy, of the gnawing pain and underlying cruelties it may unsheathe and how it is at best an illusion while Pavel reminds us of how, in our search for intimacy, we keep bits and parts of our lost loves and they keep parts of us, and how through being loved by them we learn also to love ourselves.
By TARSHI
February 15, 2019
Editorial: Choice and Sexuality
Choices are also influenced by our milieu, by socio-cultural norms, by the laws and strictures that operate to regulate what we may and may not do. Lest this makes it seem that we are mere puppets triggered by internal whimsy and simultaneously constrained by external forces, our contributors show that this is not so.
By TARSHI
March 18, 2019
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 – Masculinities and Sexuality
It’s time to scrape off the thick dark crusts of carelessly slapped-on murky hues of toxic masculinities and to bring out the brushes and the paints to paint masculinities in their true and glorious colours of life, freedom and love.
By TARSHI
May 19, 2025
Editorial – Comprehensive Sexuality Education
While there is an oversaturation of information on sexuality, accurate, inclusive and affirming information is few and far between. Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) offers us multiple pathways to address these dilemmas.
By TARSHI
August 25, 2023
Editorial – Anthology Jan 2026
To remind us of what spaces that are safe, inclusive and self-affirming for each person could look like, we have curated a selection of articles from the last five years of In Plainspeak for this anthology – our gift to wish you a wonderful 2026.
By TARSHI
January 16, 2026
Editorial – The Pandemic and Sexuality
This month’s offering of articles, poems and fiction is an eclectic mix that (mostly) reflects what was borne out of the pandemic, and its impact on sexuality, intimacy, relationships, and more.
By TARSHI
May 16, 2024
Editorial – Spaces and Sexuality
A space can make us feel constricted or liberated, and sometimes even both at the same and at varying times. The combination of spaces that we may be occupying in the moment, as well as those we have in the past, predisposes us to act, feel and experience our sexuality in different ways.
By TARSHI
April 18, 2022
Editorial – Sexuality and SISA Spaces
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 Coupledom
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 – Queering as a Way of Life
Queering is not about being queer but about doing queer – about going beyond binaries of gender and sexuality, questioning accepted perspectives, and challenging and upending normative ways of being in the world.
By TARSHI
July 22, 2024
Editorial – Language and Sexuality
The glorious heights of self-actualisation to which some words beckon us, the promises lying within others, it’s all language.
By TARSHI
July 16, 2025
Editorial – Consent and Sexuality
Looking down upon the earth from many miles up in the sky, the divisions between land masses and water bodies…
By TARSHI
March 17, 2025