“To be both an athlete and a darling”: How a game of women’s cricket helped me see the transness I longed for
Excerpted from 'On the Brink of Belief: Queer Writing from South Asia,' edited by Kazim Ali and published by Penguin India.
BodiesExcerpted from 'On the Brink of Belief: Queer Writing from South Asia,' edited by Kazim Ali and published by Penguin India.
BodiesTrans masc persons struggle to be seen and desired as masculine while they resist toxic tropes. Will cishet and queer communities catch up?
RelationshipsExcerpted from the book ‘Desi Queers: LGBTQ+ South Asians and Cultural Belonging in Britain’ by Churnjeet Mahn, Rohit K. Dasgupta and DJ Ritu published in India by Westland Books
CultureSometimes, love looks like someone holding your hand through a panic attack
RelationshipsHow two women from Mumbai’s fishing and dabbawalla communities taught me that gender can’t be put in a box
BodiesScars are often seen as symbols of pain. Can they also be markers of agency and growth?
BodiesCompanies are adopting queer-friendly policies and hiring more queer employees. Why does the alienation persist?
WorkIndian films and TV shows are obsessed with masculinity. But only of the cis-male variety.
CultureTrans people often die young. Narratives about those who grow old often emphasise tragedy. These older trans folks are creating joy in the everyday.
CultureCaste has built a wall of shame that divides the city. Across the Nala attempts to knock it down.
CultureParayan Marana Kathakal’s resounding success seemed poised to change Kerala theatre forever. But seven years on, its promise remains unfulfilled.
CultureThe collective behind Bengaluru Pride has split into two factions. queerbeat examines the undercurrents that led to the split and what it reveals about the queer movement.
Queer RightsMakeshift solutions are uncomfortable and imports are expensive. So queer people are now building the undergarments that help them be seen.
BodiesQueer platonic love is the ailaan [proclamation] that my love can form any and every shape, that it can shift, that it is beyond definition.
RelationshipsIndia’s new criminal code fails to protect LGBTQ+ folks from rape. Everybody agrees it’s a problem. Few agree on the solution. How did we get here?
LawShe was made to accept shame and silence. Queerness gave me the tools to understand desire and intimacy on my own terms.
DesireGay spas in Delhi are a sanctuary for many men, offering rare spaces for them to find desire and kinship.
CultureThe liberation of disabled men doesn’t lie in trying to fit into normative standards, rather, they must embrace their otherness.
Bodies