sex
Singlehood and the sexuality of a woman who seemingly knows it all and yet, is confused
Why is it always so hard to find a place for intimacy and why do we have to lie and cheat our way into getting it? Everything related to non-committal sex was always so taboo, shrouded in secrecy, and eliciting raised eyebrows, that it turned me off.
By Sanjukta Basu
Bridgerton: Pairing-up Pressures
By and large, society expects a woman to marry. Often people in one’s circle judge a woman if she doesn’t marry, inquiring about what could be wrong but most never assuming that it could be out of choice
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
February 1, 2021
Poem: ‘A debauchee’s ode to self-love’
All I have known of loving men is emotional labour, And by that, I mean back-breaking, soul-sucking toil, Oh, the relief of carrying nothing but yourself, Oh, the relief of taking nothing but pleasure from their sex
By Malini Gopalakrishnan
February 1, 2021
PDA: Slippery Slope from Law to Moral Policing
Sexuality is taboo in our context, and expressions of it publicly or even in the home setting outside the bedroom, especially by those who are not in ‘legitimate’ relationships ‘alarm the modesty’ and are generally considered anti-culture or simply categorised as Western concepts.
By Yoshita Srivastava
September 1, 2020
Video: Run When Mom Calls | Sumukhi Suresh | Don’t Tell Amma
Stand-up comedian Sumukhi Suresh’s video I Run When my Mom Calls, part of her performance Don’t Tell Amma, is a…
By Curated Content
Sex: Can anything good ever come of it?
(Tread gently. This article has some potentially disturbing content) If the first words that come to your mind when someone…
By Suchitra Dalvie
June 15, 2020
The safest sex you’ll never have: how coronavirus is changing online
dating March 31, 2020 3.38pm AEDT When Tinder issued an in-app public service announcement regarding COVID-19 on March 3 we all had…
By Curated Content
Editorial: Safety and Sexuality
Safety and Sexuality… in these uncertain times of COVID-19 when most of the world is in some form or other of quarantine, safety has taken on a new meaning all together. People are encouraged to stay home, not step out unless absolutely necessary, practice social distancing, and so on. Is home the safest place to be? What about if home and family are where one feels least safe?
By TARSHI
April 15, 2020
Gerald’s Game – A Story Of Resilience In The Face Of Metaphorical And Emotional Bondage
This movie had instantly called out to me because the book had made a huge impression many years ago when I was going through a Stephen King phase and consuming as many of his novels as I could. It is a story of resilience where a woman had to rescue herself from a dangerous situation of metaphorical and emotional bondage as well as the physical and sexual kind.
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
I Recently Had Sex With A Girl
I am a 25-year-old cis woman and I recently had sex with another woman for the first time. It was new, it felt nice, but it just didn’t feel safe.
By Pallavi
April 1, 2020
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
Under His Eye: The Women and Unwomen in The Handmaid’s Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale leads one to re-examine these two forms of social hierarchy that women have to navigate: one where they apparently have equal sexual rights as men but have to bear most of the brunt of unwanted pregnancies, reproductive burdens and the like, and the other extreme where their decisions including those about sexual identity and procreation are institutionalised and they are robbed of all agency and autonomy.
By Pooja Priyamvada
Brushstrokes:The Lurid Covers of 20th-Century Pulp Fiction
Considering how sexuality was a running (and selling) theme in pulp fiction stories, and female sexuality was employed as a means to titillate and attract readers, the covers often reflected this.
By Curated Content
Book Review: Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
Much like any good erotic encounter, Balli Kaur Jaswals’ 2017 novel, Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, is a delightful romp that comes to a satisfying, sweet climax and an urge to fall back on the pillows.
By Sheena D'Lima
March 2, 2020
Editorial: Sexuality and Pleasure
Fragile and fleeting like soap bubbles, pleasure shines with many colours. But its iridescence is frightening for many. Perhaps because its colours change in unpredictable and uncontrollable ways, and though fragile and fleeting, it is a world in itself
By TARSHI
February 17, 2020