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Photo of a group of transgender women celebrating someone's birthday

Bodies Beyond Rights

This piece attempts to think about how bodies are produced and circulate in moving registers and discourses, chiefly around the question of representation.

By Vikramaditya Sahai

May 1, 2014

Bodies Beyond Rights

A person with dark hair and glasses holds up a blue picture frame to display the mehendi on their hand and the chura on their wrist. A birthday cake with the number 29 is to the right, and a wine glass is to the left. The person's head is turned to the side; the backdrop is a red wall.

A person with short dark hair and silver earrings holds a sign that says "Sexual Rights To Me Means Control Over My Own Body". The photo is in black and white.

A poster that reads "No Going Back", with the word '377' crossed out. In front of it, there is rainbow-coloured Pride flag.

In Plainspeak English Audit In Plainspeak English Audit 100% 10 A photo of queer feminist activist Rudrani Chhetri. Her hair is tied up in a bun, and she is wearing a simple patterned top and jacket. She is also wearing gold earrings and a golden locket. Screen reader support enabled. A photo of queer feminist activist Rudrani Chhetri. Her hair is tied up in a bun, and she is wearing a simple patterned top and jacket. She is also wearing gold earrings and a golden locket.

A still from Gangs of Wasseypur, showing a man and woman discussing consent through speech bubbles.

Picture of a woman holding up a placard that says "Consent is respecting yourself and the other"

A still from the film, 'Friends With Benefits', that shows Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake seated on a sofa beside each other. They are wearing casualm clothes and seem to be in the middle of a conversation.

Picture of Afghani street artist Malina Suliman sitting in front of one of the street murals she has painted. She is wearing a white kurta with a purple cardigan and a purple headscarf.

Photo of safe abortion advocate Suchitra Dalvie. She is standing near a podium, holding up a mic. She is wearing a black kurta and a pink scarf around her neck.

A collage showing how the ideal body type has evolved over time

Illustration of a police official standing in a threatening pose and a woman lying on the floor looking terrified

A group of women circling each other and dancing while waving colourful streamers.

लकड़ी के तल वाले कमरे में काले रंग के परदे लगे है, जिसमे कुछ लड़कियां आपस में रंग बिरंगे रिब्बंस के साथ खेल रही है

Photo shows a tiled floor lit by yellow lighting. Two different sets of feet stand facing each other.

An illustration showing a series of women playing ancient versions of various sports

A female athlete with a headcarf around her head has her eyes closed and seems to be crying. She is being comforted by another woman in a white hijabn and a blue jersey.

A picture of sports personality Becky Hammon. Her hair is tied back in a tight pnytail and she wears a red and white jersey. There is a smile on her face.

A woman dressed in a black sweater and a green hijab, wearing dark-rimmed glasses

A woman wearing a blue saree and an orange blouse performing Kathak. She is wearing colourful bangles and jewellery on top of her forhead, ears, and neck. She is wearing kajal, a black bindi, and her hair is tied.

Stage performance of Persian dance. Two women hold a chunni above the head of a woman dancing in between them. They all wear colourful full-length, full sleeves clothing.

Cover of casette of singer Rasloon Bai. It shows her black and white face shot, and on top is written "Rasloon Bai" in Red.

Stage performance of a few women in white coats holding down a woman on a table to commit Female Genital Mutilation, while others throw red rose pertals in air. One woman stands in the front and centre of the stage looking solemnly.

Photo of disability rights activist Nidhi Goyal. She is wearing golden hoop earrings and has her hair tied in a ponytail

Photo of a lesbian couple, one of them dressed in Indian bridal clothes and the other dressed in Western bridal clothes

Illustration of two mothers of different body types, one of them holding a baby in her arms and another one holding up her toddler on her shoulders

Picture of three women standing in line, dressed in various bright clothing.

A woman giving birth in water. Her hair is tied in a pony tail, and she is wearing a pink bra.

In Plainspeak English Audit In Plainspeak English Audit 100% 10 A white woman holding a paper that reads in red, caps, and bold, "End revenge porn." She has open hair, and wears a white tee shirt. Screen reader support enabled. A white woman holding a paper that reads in red, caps, and bold, "End revenge porn." She has open hair, and wears a white tee shirt.

A poster that reads, "Female condom is a polyurethane sheath that has a flexible ring at both ends. It is approximately 3 inches wide and 7 inches long. Its efficacy is known to be around 79-95%. It reduces the risk of STI and HIV transmission." In the background is an image of a dictionary and a condom with a female face."

Photo of a class studying anatomy. A little girl pointing to the vagina of the person in the projected image on the board. The teacher stands on the side, looking on.

A poster reading "MDG3, the world has achieved equality in primary education between girls and boys"; "let's take action to achieve gender equality in all fields". There are several photos of black girls on the poster.

Venus figurine in golden colour in a pitch dark black background.

Chocolate sauce being poured on a three-layered butterscotch icecream.

An African woman carrying a baby on her back with the help of a cloth tied to her. She is carrying a milk bottle, and is trying to look behind her shoulder at the baby.

Uzma Noorani, a human rights activist, sitting on a sofa smiling. She is wearing an orange and pink Indian suit, and has her hair falling on her shoulders.

A toy figurine of Mickey Mouse. Hands and knees of the child kneeling around it to play with it are visible in the background.

A film still of Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor dancing with Holi colours thrown on them. Over the picture is a screenshot of a tweet that reads, "Balam pichkari joh tune mujhe mari, toh seedhi saadhi chhori ne harassment ki FIR likha di. & she was taken seriously. #FeministBollySongs"

Drawing of a cow sitting under a tree. But the face of the cow is that of a man wearing sunglasses. The ends of a red gamcha around his neck flow in the wind.

In the vein of an emergency fire alarm, "emergency sexist" is written in white on a red instrument. "Smash this" is written in green, pointing to the face of a man behind a glass.

Painting of people from the Victorian era. A man standing behind a woman holds her breast as another woman standing there watches.

A woman in a green tank-top and light blue jeans doing carpentary. Hher hair are tied up, she is wearing black-framed glasses, and a white mask on the mouth.

KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGES Sisters Tamara (left) and Irina Press were suspected to have been female impersonators.

RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Santhi (front) edges out Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Yalovtseva for second place in the women’s 800m final at the 15th Asian Games at Khalifa Stadium in Doha.

TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Bahrain’s Maryam Yusuf Jamal (C) poses with India’s Santhi Soundarajan (L) and Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Yalovtseva (R) on the winner’s podium at the Doha Asian Games, 2006.

COURTESY PUBMED CENTRAL Martinez-Patiño’s certificate of feminity.

YANNICK CORMIER FOR THE CARAVAN Santhi perfers to dress consciously as a man so as not to attract unwanted curiosity.

South Africa’s Caster Semenya raises her arms after her first place finish in her women’s 800m semi-final during the London 2012 Olympic Games on 9th August 2012.

YANNICK CORMIER FOR THE CARAVAN Santhi at Aide et Action, the NGO at which she works.

Safiya Alfaris without a hijab. She is looking straight into the camera, with her long black, silky hair falling over her shoulder.

A brown-skinned woman resting her hands and her cheek on a table, looking wide-eyed straight as if peeking at something. She is wearing black nailpaint.

A nude man with a bedsheet over his head, is holding a bunch of small white flowers. The photo is clicked from inside the bedsheet. He is visible from the lips till the midrif.

4 black men wearing jackets and caps carrying a big placard that says, "Black lives matter" written in black and bold on a white background.

Dolls Turn Into Real Role Models In the Hands of This Parent

Illustration of a heavily pregnant woman with her water broke, cowed in a corner scared of doctos approaching her with various medical instruments like injection, pump for the delivery.

A mother wearing jeans and a tee carrying her school-age son in her arms. She has tied her dupatta around her and her son, and tied it behind her back so as to make a support to hold the child.

Kink. A rod with a round-shaped end with spikes coming out of it held near a nude woman's navel by someone not visible in the picture.

A closeup of a smart speaker by Amazon called Echo. Behind towards the right is a very blurred out woman. Screen reader support enabled. A closeup of a smart speaker by Amazon called Echo. Behind towards the right is a very blurred out woman.

Screenshot of a digital animated game. Two women are standing on a patio, with one saying to other, "I love what you've done with the place."

Phoolan Devi Miriam Klein Stahl & Boff Whalley

Black-and-white illustration of a woman screaming with her mouth wide open. Screen reader support enabled. Black-and-white illustration of a woman screaming with her mouth wide open.

African Feminist Filmmakers and their Engagements with Film

A Self-care Approach to Life – and Sexuality

What I Learned Having Sex as a Young Woman in Pakistan

"Tere gharwaale tujhe likha-padha to rahe hain, par unki zimmedari to tere bhai ko hi uthani hai na."

"Ladko se itni yaari-dosti ki zarurat kya hai tujhe haan?"

"Meri baat maan, inko gud-chana khilaane se, ye x chromosome jo haiina beta passive ho jaate hain. Fir dekh ladka hi hoga."

"Kyu is month wax nahi karaaya kya tune?"

"Virginity to ham aurato ka gehna hai beti."

"Oh. Unmarried ho? Akele sambhal logi bachhe ko?"

"Sasural waale kya kahenge? Ek gol roti tak banaana nahi sikhaya?"

"Ye to ham aurato ki qismat me hi likha hai beta. Isse lado mat, bas accept karlo aap."

"Arre re, periods pe hai na? Baahar reh."

"Opinion dena ladkiyo ka kaam nahi hai beta."

"Naukri kyu karna hai? Pati kamaaega na tere liye."

"Beta marriage toh ladkiyo ko karna hi hai, time se hi karlo to achha hai."

"Itna loud makeup karke na, ladkiyaan utni decent nahi lagti."

"Toh beti, khushkhabri kab sunaa rahi ho?"

"Ladke waalo ke saamne bhi aisse jeans me mat aa jaana."

"Tu ignore kar, ladke to ched-chad karte hi hain. Kyu muh lag rahi hai?"

"Lekin dekho, hamesha husband jo allow kare wahi karna haan."

"Ladkiyo ka gaali dena na, bilkul achha nahi lagta beta."

"Fair and Lovely toh try kar hi liya hoga na waisse tune?"

"Education ka kya karoge beta, karna to chauka-chulha hi hai."

"Beta alcohol wagerah toh ladko ke liye hi theek hai."

A black-and-white picture of a woman sitting in a cafeteria and sipping coffee

A photograph of a woman from Meghalaya, smiling and working in the field. She's wearing a pink and red saree

Day 5 of #100IndianTindertales. Shared by Tinder user from #Delhi. “I am obsessed with feet. They turn me on. Like crazy”

P from #Delhi writes about a night of unbridled passion...

I am 2-1/2 days into my period but want to call him over. In the afternoon it seems like I can manage it. By manage I mean it isn't a torrential flow, just a light and mild drizzle. But I am still worried...

Sj from #Delhi writes about gettinng lucky and finding love on Tinder

Fresh out of a terrible break up, I was feeling really vulnerable and gross and hoped that Tinder would get my mind off things...

K from #Delhi thanks Tinder for lessons and orgasms.

A from #bangalore shares her tale. (Short sweet tale)

The image is a portrait of the author, Ece Temelkuran.

1. Clothing: Traditions are free of flaws and criticism, and though traditional desi clothes are universally considered amazing, you must uphold ALL kinds of traditions without giving yourself a minute to think with logic or reason.

2. Respect: Yes, they'll get sore sometimes from this position but it's all worth it because you are the most suitable girl in the damn world now.

The main photo is a collage of two girls, India Woods, black and white photograph. And the other is of Rhea Saldanha, a selfie of a girl wearing a black bindi. The rest of the photos are of the individuals who have shared their stories.

Painting of a woman enjoying a green landcape. There are clouds, mountains, flowers, a tree, and a butterfly.

Art work shows a man lying on a railway line to commit suicide. A woman wearing a red bindi and a white saree stares straight ahead in grief.

A protest by Dalit women carrying a huge poster of Dr Ambedkar

Somandla, Parktown, 2014. © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town and Johannesburg

A painting of a woman lying with a left arm under her head, staring somewhere above as if thinking something. Her right arm rests on her tummy which holds a notebook and a pen. She is wearing a yellow cut-sleeves dress with orange dots on it. There are used papers lying around, along with a cup of possibly tea, and a few green peaches. There are small white flowers lying around her too.

Ironing Out Wrinkles In Your Perception.

Nimisha Bhanot's painting titled "Money, Kitty Parties & Clothes Is All A Bahu Knows". A brown woman sits on a stool with her legs crossed, red wine in right hand, and cards in the left. She wears a cut-sleeves lehnga; heavy white jewellery in the neck and wrists; and mehndi in hands, full arms, and feet. The lehnga is pulled-up till the knee, showing her legs. She weas a bindi, a nose ring, and a red lisptick, and is staring straight-ahead expression-less.

Don't miss this one, called Sweeping Patriarchy Under The Rug

A photo of Nidhi Goyal with her hair tied back, wearing golden earrings, golden necklace, and a peach top. She is speaking.

June says the discomfort when her breasts grew was "the most beautiful feeling; my body was becoming what it was meant to be."

Bunkbeds at the shelter, next to the lockers that house the women's personal effects.

Toiletries donated to the shelter by the public.

June's apartment, filled with Asian pop art. Like 80 percent of Singaporeans, she lives in a government-supplied HDB flat (Housing Development Board).

The sitting room of the new shelter. The address of the building remains anonymous for safety concerns.

The new shelter is slowly being decorated with the same Asian pop Art June favours in her home. On the wall hangs a photo of June and her late sister, Irene.

An urn containing the ashes of June's sister, Irene, who was also transgender. She passed away last year.

A photo of the author of the piece, Anoopa Anand, with her dog.

Description: Two people are kissing on a balcony. Their eyes are closed and they are holding each other. Behind them, we see a purple wall, a string of lights and a clothes line, and to the left there is a full moon and a tree. Credit: Upasana Agarwal.

The 25th anniversary of the Kunan Poshpora event. Photo Credit: Kunan Poshpora Campaign via Facebook

An image of two little girls sitting at a table, facing their backs to the camera. Marcelo del Pozo / Reuters

photo of a drag queen with white paint all over her face and blonde hair

To the left of the image, a person with short dark hair with a flower in it sits in a chair, a small smile on their face and a coffee table in front of them. To the right, we see the reflection of a person’s back in a mirror on the door of a cupboard. The walls of the room are a warm yellow, and through a large open window we see birds, branches and a building. Credit: Upasana Agarwal.

An illustration of three plus-sized women sitting around a table. there are plates of food kept on the table, and one of the women are shown drinking out of a bottle

silhouette of a woman smoking against a black background - empowerment

illustration of a plus sized woman in a mermaid's costume. she has flowing red hair.

A man eyeing two girls sitting nearby in a bar.

Album cover of Rihanna's album 'Anti'. A little boy wearing a gold-plated eye mask as red paint is falling over him and the wall behind.

Picture of singers Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsale,. They are both dressed in sarees.

A young woman and young man are smiling at each other across a table overlooking a city skyline. The moon is full and there are fairy lights strung above them. There is a white trellis behind the woman. Credit: Upasana Agarwal.

picture of a girl sitting in front of a computer, browsing the internet

a woman with grey hair looks into the mirror and smiles

Illustration of girl sitting on bed looking out the window

An illustration showing women of diverse skin colours, body types and ethnicities

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

A poster of the fiction comic Unwrinkled Saris and Just Another Evening. In the background is a picture of the lower face of a person. The person is holding a red lipstick between their teeth. The lipstick has an inscription that says FAE. The person is wearing gold coloured earrings. A green coloured blouse and saree is also visible

Sketch of two persons sitting with their heads, hands, and legs touching each other

A black-and-white line drawing of a woman with wavy hair, multiple necklaces including one with a beetle pendant, earrings in the shape of a dice. There are stars on her face, and the only colour in the artwork is in the woman’s eyelids, which have been conceptualised as rainbows.

Call for Submissions to the April 2023 Issue of In Plainspeak on Sports and Sexuality. Submit your Writing and Art to inplainspeak@tarshi.net by 2nd April 2023. Details and submission guidelines can be found at tarshi.net/inplainspeak

Photo from India's first-ever KinkCon. Two hands clasping each other, one of them has a black and red cuff around the wrist.

three people hugging each other. two femme-presenting individuals are in the foreground and both are wearing black lingerie. the top of the third individual's head can be seen. In the background is wooden panelling with a window in between. the window has a banner hanging. The banner has blue and black strips as background and a red circular pattern in the middle.

A black and white photo of hands tied by rope.

needles pierced through the back of an individual who is also wearing a collar.

A remote landscape with mountain peaks and a few trees. There is a yellow windmill and a small path leading up to it. The sky is a shade of green-blue and the landscape is largely shades of green apart from the windmill.

An illustration of a rubik's cube with various portrayal of beauty and intimacy

Call for submission poster for the April-May issue on Masculinities and sexuality.

Call for submission poster for April-May issue on Masculinities and Sexuality

Call for submission on language and sexuality issue for June 2025

Call for submission on language and sexuality issue for July 2025

Call for submission for August 2025 on the theme of climate change and sexuality

An illustration that plays on the word solidarity with different cups holding hands

Community Needs Care - an illustration with hands watering a flower

an illustration showing Meri Trustline with a number . The illustration shows a hand holding a phone screen with a landscape behind.

A portrait of Taarina Therese Chandiramani

An illustration of a character trying holding onto flowers. About growth. BY Olga Mrozek for IPPF x Fine Acts

January 15, 2014

LGBTQI Speak Of Their Inspiring Struggle For Equal Rights Through These Powerful Picture Messages

A still from the movie "Tomboy", showing a young child in a white vest and blue jacket that's falling off her shoulders.

Reel Review: Tomboy – Innocent, Subversive, Powerful

Celine Sciamma’s ‘Tomboy’, is a brilliantly woven tale that dissolves rigid gender and sexual boundaries and defies quite a few…

By Parigya Sharma

January 1, 2014

Reel Review: Tomboy – Innocent, Subversive, Powerful

An illustrated sketch of two men leaning against each other intimately.

Brushstrokes: Sketches

[slideshow_deploy id=’1299′] Khaki dots the railway station as they try to look official, lolling in their plastic chairs. Routine checking…

By Curated Content

January 1, 2014

Brushstrokes: Sketches

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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:

June-July 2026: Information and Sexuality

We value information and trust it to be based on fact. But today, with a surfeit of information, we are often hard put to sift facts from fiction, and truth from purposefully concocted lies. Misinformation (inaccurate information) and disinformation (deliberately created untruths) affect not just political elections and our responses to global events, but also how we think about sexuality in our daily lives. Our sexual behaviours, choices and actions are influenced by the information swirling around us, be it through the ‘news’ we receive, the papers/books we read, social media posts and AI or LLM-generated content we consume, or the stories we repeat or hear from our friends. From malicious deep fakes at one end to beautifully presented fact-based information at the other, information can be manufactured by anyone these days. Information is power, and in the control of information lies the control of power. For this issue of In Plainspeak, we ask: in the realm of sexuality, who puts out information? For what purpose? Who controls it? What does information do? Does it empower us? Confuse us? Paralyse us into inaction, despair? What sorts of information, and from which sources, affirm our sexuality, improve our health and nurture our wellbeing?

जून-जुलाई 2026: जानकारी और यौनिकता

हम जानकारी को महत्व देते हैं और उस पर भरोसा करते हैं कि वह तथ्यों पर आधारित है। लेकिन आज, जानकारी की भरमार के चलते, हमारे लिए अक्सर तथ्यों को कल्पना से और सच को जान-बूझकर गढ़ी गई झूठी बातों से अलग कर पाना मुश्किल हो जाता है। ग़लत जानकारी (ग़लत सूचना) और भ्रामक जानकारी (जान-बूझकर गढ़ी गई झूठी बातें) न केवल राजनीतिक चुनावों और वैश्विक घटनाओं पर हमारी प्रतिक्रियाओं को प्रभावित करती हैं, बल्कि यह भी प्रभावित करती हैं कि हम अपनी रोज़मर्रा की ज़िन्दगी में यौनिकता के बारे में कैसे सोचते हैं। हमारे यौन व्यवहार, चयन और कार्य हमारे आस-पास मौजूद जानकारी से प्रभावित होते हैं – चाहे वह हमें मिलने वाली ‘ख़बरों’ के ज़रिए हो, हमारे द्वारा पढ़े जाने वाले अख़बारों/किताबों के ज़रिए, सोशल मीडिया पोस्ट और एआई यानी आर्टिफिशियल इंटेलिजेंस (AI – कृत्रिम बुद्धिमत्ता) या लैंग्वेज लर्निंग मॉडल (LLM – भाषा को समझने और बनाने वाला बड़ा मॉडल) द्वारा तैयार की गयी सामग्री के ज़रिए, या फिर उन कहानियों के ज़रिए जिन्हें हम अपने दोस्तों को दोहराते है या उनसे सुनते हैं। आजकल कोई भी जानकारी बना सकता है। ऐसी जानकारी जो एक तरफ़ नुकसान पहुँचाने वाले नकली डीपफेक वीडियो होते हैं, और दूसरी तरफ़ सही तथ्यों पर आधारित, अच्छे से पेश की गई जानकारी। जानकारी ही ताकत है, और जानकारी पर नियंत्रण में ही ताकत पर नियंत्रण छिपा होता है। इन प्लेनस्पीक के इस अंक में हम निम्न सवाल उठाएंगे। यौनिकता के क्षेत्र में जानकारी कौन देता है? किस मकसद से? इसे नियंत्रित कौन करता है? जानकारी हमारे साथ क्या करती है – क्या यह हमें सशक्त बनाती है, उलझन में डालती है, या हमें सहनशीलता और निराशा में धकेल देती है? किस तरह की जानकारी, और किन स्रोतों से मिलने वाली जानकारी, हमारी यौनिकता को स्वीकार करती है, हमारे स्वास्थ्य को बेहतर बनाती है और हमारे समग्र ख़ुशहाली को सहारा देती है?

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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.

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