Why global north INGO’s are so scared of this framework And why it is the only way forward.

Illustration credit: Sonaksha Iyengar

Meaningful youth engagement: walking the walk not just talking the talk. Intersectional SRHR advocacy and gender specialist Srushti Mahamuni reflects on the lessons learnt from program staff perspective for program staff.

‘Youth engagement’, ‘Co-creation’, ‘Youth led advocacy’, ‘youth lie at the heart of what we do’ –are phrases that have become common jargon within the world of development aid cooperation in recent years. However, despite the best of intentions to engage youth in the work that

Feminist. Mama. Immigrant. This is what my bio on Instagram reads. It may strike you as odd that I would choose to share that information in a motivation letter to a winter school program but becoming a mother has currently reduced my feminist engagement to merely that – Instagram captions. Once, a vibrant academic scholar with three master’s degrees in gender studies, engaging in elaborate discourse across continents about the multiple patriarchies that shape our lives and experiences, now all I have the emotional bandwidth for, is vomiting my lived experience of motherhood into a 500 word Instagram caption and bask in the momentary glory of comments from friends and acquaintances: “You’re so inspiring” “I relate to this so much” “Thank you for sharing”.

Is it safe to have sex when pregnant? YES! If you feel like it and want to, that is. Pregoland is a landmine full of judgment grenades waiting to explode at every step and a lot of this judgment is often internalized.

In a survey where 500 adults were asked the first word that came to their mind when they heard the word pregnant, most people said ‘cute’. When we label an adult as cute we take away their complexity and reduce them to childlike qualities. The same survey also asked heterosexual m

Discovering you are pregnant when you were not expecting or planning to get pregnant can be extremely stressful. Carrying the pregnancy to term or considering an abortion can be a highly emotional decision. The internet is not always super helpful, given the highly politicized nature of this intimate dilemma!

Of course, a woman has a total and complete right to her body, and while this decision should involve or at least take into account the partner’s opinion and feelings with regards to the p

So often during sex, people can unknowingly do things that may be disrespectful of their partner or that might be outright sexist. Even though you may be a very considerate person and not want to do anything to harm your partner, sometimes, some things happen in the bedroom that can be very problematic. And just because they don’t say anything doesn’t mean that it doesn’t matter. Read on to find out if you might be unknowingly sexist in the bedroom.

1. Assuming that your partner owes you sex

C

The Female Orgasm: No two words in history have been the source of so much curiosity and hoopla while being so underexplored at the same time. While the whole world had been lamenting about the elusive female orgasm for centuries, not much had been done to find out why the elusiveness. Until now. Lo and behold, it’s 2019 and gone are the days when women were secretly wishing and praying that a miracle occurs and they have an orgasm. More and more research is being done about female bodies and re

The answer to this question — NO, masturbation will not make you go blind. Unless maybe if you get copious amounts of jizz in your eye, many times. JK, Maybe not even then.

As ridiculous as this question sounds, it points to the plethora of myths surrounding masturbation. Want to demonize something? Surround it with myths, add some stigma and stir! The idea of pleasure scares the powers that be in a patriarchy, and the idea of self-pleasure, of women of female identifying bodies experiencing th

“What’s the worst reason a guy has broken up with you?” I asked my girls one Sunday afternoon at brunch. This seemingly clichéd question provoked a discussion that lasted all day and had my usually-in-agreement-with- each other group fiercely divided. My friend Rashi* met this guy in college, they hit it off from the first day and were the best of friends for 2 years. During a college fest, they share a drunken kiss and their friendship turns romantic. Wanting to take things slow they decide to

In a world full of NOs, I want to talk about my right to say yes. In a world full of stories of sexual violence and assault, I want to talk about pleasure.

“ This is not the time to do that, hush, let people tell their stories of pain, of wrongs done, of boundaries crossed, lines undone.”

I see this, I see you, you who wants to tell your story.

I hold space for you and above all, I believe you.

I hear you and yet I want to talk about pleasure.

Because I have a right to talk about pleasure