Sri Lanka Archives • In Plainspeak

Sri Lanka

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A woman from Sri Lanka holding up a placard which has information on why abortion should be legal

In Sri Lanka, abortion is only permitted in cases where pregnancy or childbirth is life-threatening for the woman. Nevertheless the number of reported daily abortions taking place in Sri Lanka is more than 750.

By Sarah Soysa

April 1, 2014

Campaign for Safe Abortion in Sri Lanka

Ilustration of two sculptures from ancient sri lanka in an erotic pose

Coded/Un-Coded: Unpacking Erotic Tales from Ancient Lanka

As much as the dominant narrative sometimes wishes to tell us otherwise, erotica has been with us for a long time.

By Subha and Thilini

July 15, 2019

Coded/Un-Coded: Unpacking Erotic Tales from Ancient Lanka

Same-sex love in the time of decolonisation: Historicising hidden sexual lives in Selvadurai’s Cinnamon Gardens

Cinnamon Gardens, looking back on the early twentieth century, reveals the trauma of queer lives, in a country where queerness, family and the state are still irreconcilable with each other.

By Kaustav Bakshi

November 1, 2017

Same-sex love in the time of decolonisation: Historicising hidden sexual lives in Selvadurai’s Cinnamon Gardens

Themes

In Plainspeak publishes one issue every month, with a single theme running across two months. Our aim is to expand safe, inclusive self-affirming spaces.

CURRENT ISSUE:

February-March 2025: Consent and Sexuality

Consent means agreeing, freely and voluntarily, to engage in an activity, like sex. Often, it gets complicated by power differences attributable to ability, class, caste, employment status, gender, and other factors operating singly or as a composite. Who is asking? Who is being asked? Do they understand what they are saying yes or no to? What if they change their mind midway? Will there be negative repercussions for withholding consent? Or, if they are women, for actively consenting, because “good girls always say no”? These are some questions that immediately spring to mind. There are also issues particular to South Asia, like arranged marriage, child and early marriage, and the lack of legal recognition of marital rape. In our culture, where respect for elders and obedience are paramount, consent is not seen as a significant value. How does disregarding consent affect us not only in our intimate relationships but also in other spheres like the workplace, cyberspace (e.g. social media) and public spaces (e.g. on the streets)? In what ways does it affect people’s understanding of boundaries, respect, and sexual rights? How do we build a culture of consent that is Safe, Inclusive, and Self-Affirming (SISA) for all people? In this issue of In Plainspeak, we explore all this, and more.

UPCOMING ISSUE:

April and May 2025: Masculinities and Sexuality

Masculinities broadly refers to the sets of attributes, behaviours, and expectations commonly associated with men or ‘male power’ in a given culture. Masculinities are not performed only by people with male-assigned bodies. They vary across time and factors such as caste, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and so on, and are not fixed and unchangeable. There is a whole spectrum of masculinities from those that may be affirming to those that may be considered ‘toxic’. Different kinds of masculinities interact and even come into conflict with each other, with some forms being considered more powerful, hegemonic, central or idealised, and others more subordinate or marginalised, in any given location. How do they play out in terms of their development and expression in relation to sexuality? What factors produce certain kinds of masculinities – is it experiences during growing up, peer pressure, role-models, or popular culture that are influencing factors? Are there differences in the public and private performance and experience of masculinities with regard to sexuality? This issue of In Plainspeak looks at the fascinating (and sometimes frightening) interplay of masculinities and sexuality.

Would you like to contribute? Take a look at our submission guidelines!

For future issue themes, click here.

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Disclaimer

We curate content from other portals to amplify discussion around sexuality and rights. All rights remain with the original sources. Corners and Videos are embedded links and Brushstrokes and Blogrolls are republished from open sources with a link back to the original source. Older links may no longer be available.

We mostly use images with a Creative Commons license. If you are the owner of an image and find that the image has not been credited properly, please let us know at inplainspeak@tarshi.net.

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