{"id":11502,"date":"2017-05-15T11:05:59","date_gmt":"2017-05-15T05:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak?p=11502"},"modified":"2018-09-19T16:03:57","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T10:33:57","slug":"editorial-money-and-sexuality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/editorial-money-and-sexuality\/","title":{"rendered":"The Editorial: Money and Sexuality"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201c<\/em>Some boys kiss me<\/em><\/p>\n

Some boys hug me<\/em><\/p>\n

I think they’re ok<\/em><\/p>\n

If they don’t give me proper credit<\/em><\/p>\n

I just walk away\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2013 Madonna, lyrics to <\/em>Material Girl<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

When money can determine so many of our decisions \u2013 entire courses of lives \u2013 how can it not have a powerful, almost inextricable relationship with sexuality? Money determines economic conditions and social relations, having the power to both sustain and disintegrate value and culture systems.<\/p>\n

Sexuality is just as crucial in determining the course and quality of lives. Aspects of sexuality such as aesthetic taste, body image, sexual orientation, desires and aspirations, self-esteem, gender expression, reproductive choices, and more, are all interdependent with the impact of money in our lives and that of those around us. Indeed, our systemic relationship with money has a direct influence on how we \u2018value\u2019 ourselves.<\/p>\n

So, how is the \u201cmaterial girl in the material world” doing? In Plainspeak<\/em>\u2019s Money and Sexuality issues investigate just that. Vani Viswanathan in her Issue in Focus<\/a> article, and Shikha Aleya in her Voices piece give us an overview of the many intricacies of money\u2019s funny bond<\/a> with sexuality.<\/p>\n

In the Video Page short film, money\u2019s intersection with class and sexuality<\/a> are insightfully drawn up. Manjima Bhattacharjya does a thought-provoking review<\/a> of the films Indecent Proposal<\/em> and Aastha: In the Prison of Spring<\/em> \u2013 both \u201990s flicks made in different parts of the world but sharing common ideas on how money can complicate the normative marital relationship.<\/p>\n

In the Hindi section are republished articles from our earlier issues: Rupsa Mallik’s feminist analysis<\/a> of reproductive technologies, and the first edition<\/a> of Meena Saraswathi Seshu and Aarthi Pai’s seminal article on whether sex work is work.<\/p>\n

The Food Corner explores disparity in the distribution of wealth and its links with gender relations \u2013 how the transition of women from the informal cook in the home to the professional chef<\/a> in the hospitality industry has its effects on aspects of sexuality.<\/p>\n

In the mid-month issue, Sutapa Majumdar and Rohini Sahni assess how the demonetisation that struck India in 2016 affected sex workers<\/a>. We also republish an interview from last year in which Shaifali Agrawal chatted with Varsha Kale, the honorary president of the Bharatiya Bar Girls Union, on the complex controversy that erupts from dancing for money<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bhanu Priya writes about how financial access influences her exploration<\/a> of desires and ideas of desirability. Medha Kalsi addresses the exploitation of house help in so-called upper-class and upper-middle-class homes in India and the particular failure to acknowledge<\/a> their sexual needs and desires.<\/p>\n

The second edition<\/a> of Meena Saraswati Seshu and Aarthi Pai\u2019s article on whether sex work is work is translated into Hindi by Somendra Kumar.<\/p>\n

In the Blog Roll section are three curated articles with interesting takes on the links between money and sexuality: A Critical Analysis<\/a> Of The Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2016<\/i>, A Peek Into the Life<\/a> of Bihar’s Anaarkali of Ara<\/i>, and How Pakistani and Indian Women in Three Countries Confront Marital Economic Abuse<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

The Brushstrokes section features photographs taken by two artists who were inspired by the kind of respect and esteem women garner in the culture of matrilineal communities in Meghalaya<\/a>, India. The FAQ Corner is a republished section of lessons Meena Saraswati Seshu and Aarthi Pai have learned and written about<\/a> from the sex workers\u2019 rights movement.<\/p>\n

Next month\u2019s issues will be on the Internet and Sexuality, so do send in any ideas for contributions to blogeditor@tarshi.net.<\/p>\n

Until then, happy reading!<\/p>\n

The TARSHI Team<\/p>\n

\n

Cover image taken from the music video Don’t Hurt Yourself<\/em> by\u00a0Beyonc\u00e9<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aspects of sexuality such as aesthetic taste, body image, sexual orientation, desires and aspirations, self-esteem, gender expression, reproductive choices, and more, are all interdependent with the impact of money in our lives and that of those around us. Indeed, our systemic relationship with money has a direct influence on how we \u2018value\u2019 ourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,65,1208],"tags":[1230,1227,1256,1253,1254,66,1218,1232,1226,1257,1258,1089,1229,1244,1220,1252,1228,34,734,724,1255,304,1251,738,1247],"class_list":{"0":"post-11502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-categories","8":"category-editorial","9":"category-money-and-sexuality","10":"tag-aarthi-pai","11":"tag-aastha-in-the-prison-of-spring","12":"tag-anaarkali-of-ara","13":"tag-bar-dancing","14":"tag-bhanu-priya","15":"tag-desire","16":"tag-indecent-proposal","17":"tag-labour-rights","18":"tag-manjima-bhattacharjya","19":"tag-marital-economic-abuse","20":"tag-matrilineal","21":"tag-medha-kalsi","22":"tag-meena-saraswathi-seshu","23":"tag-meghalaya","24":"tag-money-and-sexuality","25":"tag-rohini-sahni","26":"tag-rupsa-mallik","27":"tag-sex-work","28":"tag-shaifali-agrawal","29":"tag-shikha-aleya","30":"tag-somendra-kumar","31":"tag-surrogacy","32":"tag-sutapa-majumdar","33":"tag-vani-viswanathan","34":"tag-varsha-kale"},"menu_order":948,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11502"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15191,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11502\/revisions\/15191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}