SISA spaces
These are their words, their vision,
a blade that left a cut in my veins
The intricate connections between sexuality, mental health, wellbeing, and self-care have been some of the core themes that In Plainspeak…
By the end of the evening, the room was suffused with the celebration of singlehood, rather than any explanation or apology for it. It appeared that the solitary life was envied and extolled by those who have opted out of it as well as many who haven’t.
The connection between mental and emotional wellbeing and stigmatised identities is perhaps most easily understood and therefore a good entry…
The skills, networks, and resilience we’ve built over years aren’t just stories from the margins; they’re tools the whole system can learn from.
Without explicit attention to desire, intimacy, and emotional negotiation, legal concepts remain abstract rather than practicable.
… technology, when designed with love and local wisdom, can transform both climate adaptation and sexual health outcomes.
I realise that a lot of men want (and need) to dominate women not because it is mutually pleasurable but because it reinforces patriarchal hierarchies. The taboo around kink, as a larger space of exploration, and BDSM, as a part of it, only furthers the violence, intensifying the apparent mystery of these subjects.
Practicing polyamory comes with the struggle of breaking down value systems and non-acceptance that may lead to ostracism not only from the heterosexual world but also from the queer and trans community. Claiming oneself as queer depends not only on how one identifies, but also, in society’s eyes, on who one’s partner is; being single does not qualify and neither does being polyamorous as the latter is considered ‘non-serious’.
We need to expand the way we look at work, the workplace and the human being, understanding our approach to sexuality, society and each other.
Wellbeing and sexuality for me therefore entailed thinking through and dealing with violence, understanding and acknowledging it as not the entirety of one’s experience, and going through a process of healing.
If my sexuality is an integral part of who I am, then friendship is where I hope I can be who I am.
The scope for unsafe sex, as discussed earlier, extends to STIs and STDs and therefore, the feeling of ‘un-safety’ during sexual intercourse must expand itself to actively include infections as an equally important factor for using contraceptives, as are unwanted pregnancies.
The bathroom stall becomes a sanctuary, a stage, a confession booth.
This was the time we were growing up, learning new things, reading new books and discovering something new almost every day, and this all-women space provided an opportunity to do that without requiring any pretence or catering to the male gaze.