SISA spaces

Invisible Women
A poster of the film 'North Country'. On the poster: in the middle, Charlize Theron's face and shoulders. She is wearing a yellow bandana and a grey-beige t-shirt. She is looking at the camera, wide-eyed. Behind her is a crowd of men, a bit transparent. The lettering under her is in white, saying NORTH COUNTRY. Above her, the lettering says, 'ALL SHE WANTED WAS TO MAKE A LIVING, INSTEAD SHE MADE HISTORY' and underneath the title of the film are details about its cast and production.
Invisible Women

I recently watched North Country on Netflix, a movie based on a true story of a woman’s fight for equality at the workplace. It is based on the case, Jenson vs Eveleth Mines, in the United States in which Lois Jenson, fought for the right to work as a miner, and the right to work free of sexual harassment. She won the landmark 1984 lawsuit, which was the first class-action lawsuit on sexual harassment at the workplace in the United States and resulted in companies/organisations having to introduce sexual harassment policies at the workplace.
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
May 15, 2021
Invisible Women
Brushstrokes: Digital security guide: How to protect yourself on dating apps
An illustration of a ruled sheet. The lines are orange in colour. In the middle is a smartphone with a woman's face and torso on the display. She has curly brown hair and is wearing a blue turtleneck. Underneath is written, Lu, 28, and the symbols of Swipe Yes or No and two other buttons as on a dating app interface. On either side of the smartphone are flowers with stems and leaves. The flowers are red, and two in each bouquet. Above, in big letters, outlined in black and coloured in bright green: How to Date Online Safely. And underneath the smartphone illustration, in black, "Online dating can be fun. But there are some risks. Malicious actors can use your profile to blackmail, hurt, or harass you. This guide contains helpful tips and resources to protect you'
Brushstrokes: Digital security guide: How to protect yourself on dating apps

Online dating can be great fun but it comes with some risks. This quirky and in-depth Digital Security Guide by Access Now on How to Date Online Safely tells us how we can engage with fellow dating-app users while making sure we are safe from harm.
By Curated Content
May 15, 2021
Brushstrokes: Digital security guide: How to protect yourself on dating apps
Video: How Can Women & Non-Binary People Combat Online Violence?
A screenshot of Feminism in India's video How Can Women & Non-Binary People Combat Online Violence? In the middle is Japleen Pasricha, the founder of Feminism in India. She is wearing a grey-black full-sleeved shirt and her eyes are closed. She has deep brown hair reaching under her shoulders on both sides. Behind her is a wooden cupboard stacked with books, and a poster in blue with a woman holding a sign saying 'SMASH BRAHMINICAL PATRIARCHY'. On her left is an illustration that says, in pink, VOYEURISM and above it, an illustration with white circles on black to denote binoculars and a woman's silhouette at the centre. At the bottom of the screenshot are the subtitles: "(a)nd voyeurism, where someone records you in your private moments without your consent."
Video: How Can Women & Non-Binary People Combat Online Violence?

Japleen Pasricha, founder of Feminism in India, lays bare the violence women, LGBTQIA+ folks, and historically marginalised communities face in online spaces, ranging from identity theft, bullying, trolling, to having our private photographs and details disseminated without our consent and being blackmailed.

By Feminism in India
May 15, 2021
Video: How Can Women & Non-Binary People Combat Online Violence?
Does Your Period Tracking App Ask You About Your Sexuality Or Your Contraceptive Pills?
A graphic design. A white iPhone on the right and a pink screen-like background on the left. On the iPhone display, a big red dot saying 'Day 5' in white text and a calendar at the top. On the left, there are three blue chat bubbles with white text. The first says, 'Track my cycle' and under it, 'Don't plan to get pregnant right now'. The second bubble says, 'Trying to conceive' and under it 'Favourable days are important to me' and the third says, 'I'm pregnant' and under it, 'Want to track my condition'.
Does Your Period Tracking App Ask You About Your Sexuality Or Your Contraceptive Pills?

Period tracking applications can also inform you about your general reproductive health and also caution you in case of an anomaly with respect to it. As menstruators in our undergraduate years, the primary reason I saw my friends using period trackers were to keep a track of when to carry menstrual products to college or avoid the risks of pregnancy.
By Curated Content
May 15, 2021
Does Your Period Tracking App Ask You About Your Sexuality Or Your Contraceptive Pills?
Editorial: Vulnerability and Sexuality
A photograph of a brown coloured snail lying on green grass
Editorial: Vulnerability and Sexuality

Vulnerability – is it a condition we find ourselves in? A state of being we choose? Let’s keep it very simple: it depends on the approach we take to defining it. In the former approach, we are ‘done to’, while in the latter we are consciously ‘doing’.

By TARSHI
April 19, 2021
Editorial: Vulnerability and Sexuality
Issue in Focus: The Heart of Being
An abstractly painted image with magenta and blue and splashes of red, yellow, and black colour. In the background, two brown-black silhouettes.
Issue in Focus: The Heart of Being

To chase down our own vulnerabilities around sexuality is a short run around the corner, five minutes ago, last night sleeping alone, with a lover, a partner who lost interest, the Insta post that leaves you feeling you’re not good enough for the hug, the kiss, the cuddle and are you perhaps the A of LGBTQIA+?

By Shikha Aleya
April 19, 2021
Issue in Focus: The Heart of Being
Should I Say I Love You?
A photograph, against a dark background, of a zoomed-in fence with a square lock hanging. The lock is painted red, left un-coloured in a heart shape in the middle.
Should I Say I Love You?

Being vulnerable helps boost our self-esteem and self-worth by pushing us out of our comfort-zone. It provides us with an opportunity to overcome obstacles and reach deep down within ourselves to find strength and confidence to keep going even when the odds are against us.
By Shubham Ranjan
April 19, 2021
Should I Say I Love You?
Vulnerability and Romantic Relationships: My Struggles Navigating These Spaces
A zoomed-in photograph of a wall with differently coloured flanks.
Vulnerability and Romantic Relationships: My Struggles Navigating These Spaces

It took me some time to realise how important being vulnerable or, for that matter, being vulnerable during sexual engagement was for me to have great sex and how empowering it is for my sexuality. After much thought, I decided to open up to my partner about my past experiences and other things I never used to openly talk about.
By Grishma Trivedi
April 19, 2021
Vulnerability and Romantic Relationships: My Struggles Navigating These Spaces
There I sat down and wept
There I sat down and wept

“Be yourself, Sarah. Awkward smiles, empty silences, weird laughter, and all. It’s just a part of being human. Loving someone physically is never not awkward. Even if it’s a monogamous relationship. It’s only the comfort of familiarity that makes you think otherwise.”
By Anna Lynn
April 19, 2021
There I sat down and wept
Reclining Vulnerability
Reclining Vulnerability

Through multiple maquettes, I finally came across (since I myself did not know what the result of the form or figure would be) the Reclining Lady. She represents confident femininity and vulnerability. The feeling one has after taking a bath and sitting in the nude, drying oneself in unabashed nakedness.
By Noella Fernandes
April 19, 2021
Reclining Vulnerability
Interview – Indu Harikumar
Interview – Indu Harikumar

I was watching something recently that said it was a bad thing to be vulnerable, but I don’t think it is a bad thing. I do see that there is a certain amount of power in vulnerability, it also needs courage, in my experience.
By Shikha Aleya
April 5, 2021
Interview – Indu Harikumar
Brushstrokes: The AVR Method
A comic strip where two purple coloured figures can be seen snuggling on bed. There is a table with a laptop, two mobile phones, a slice of pizza, and a water bottle next to them. Behind the figures are two plants, a window and a bookshelf. On top left, ‘Let’s snuggle and forget the cruel world outside’ is written
Brushstrokes: The AVR Method

From being comfortable doing nothing in someone’s company or cooking and laughing together, to confiding in them our hopes and fears, feeling safe letting someone seeing us at our best as well as through our not-so-good moments is like ‘coming home’ in the world.

By Curated Content
April 5, 2021
Brushstrokes: The AVR Method
Editorial: Ageing and Sexuality
A photograph of a lush oak tree, its branches sprawling across a field of green.
Editorial: Ageing and Sexuality

Ageing is often associated with a loss, a lack of ability and strength. When combined with sexuality, in the popular imagination, fed especially by market forces, youth is to be lauded and ageing regarded as the impending horror that must be evaded for as long as possible.
By TARSHI
March 15, 2021
Editorial: Ageing and Sexuality
Being of Queer Age
A photograph of an old tree, its roots spread out on the surface, entwined.
Being of Queer Age

The conversion of the noun (adult) into the verb form (adulting) implies that ‘adulting’ is more performance than inevitability. Which is to say, there is no intrinsic understanding of ‘adulting’; it is something that can be learnt over time.
By Roshan Roy
March 15, 2021
Being of Queer Age
Brushstrokes: ‘The Art of Aging’
A black and white photograph by Arianne Clément of Marie-Berthe.
Brushstrokes: ‘The Art of Aging’

As Clément subverts ageist norms around beauty with her camera-work, the women and men (ranging in age from 70 to 102 years) who reveal themselves in this project give us a glimpse into their inner world and the rich and vibrant ways in which they experience sensuality.
By Curated Content
March 15, 2021
Brushstrokes: ‘The Art of Aging’
1 … 13 14 15 … 20