While a dumb movie seems* to suggest that it’s ok to pretend to be gay and get the girl you love based on false premises, reality isn’t quite so entertaining. An article here on the tremendous challenges that lesbians in India face, including forced marriages, forced sex with men, and often, plain dismissal that their […]
Posted on November 18th, 2008 by apu
Filed under: Women & Feminism in India | 3 Comments »
Reading this piece by the Indian Homemaker on in-laws and expectations, I was led to thinking on some strange things associated with the phenomenon that is the Indian family. Now, I have really nice parents-in-law (and no, they don’t read this blog, so I’m not saying this to be safe:)), so I don’t have much direct experience […]
Posted on November 18th, 2008 by apu
Filed under: Women & Feminism in India | 3 Comments »
You would be safe, if only you didn’t wear such inappropriate clothes. They attract attention, you know. You go to unsafe areas, what else can you expect? You go out too late, without a man to accompany you, surely there will be trouble. You go to places that are too crowded, or too isolated. You travelled by […]
Posted on November 9th, 2008 by apu
Filed under: Women & Feminism in India | 5 Comments »
Just a tip, to an interesting post by Laksh, over at Poison Penn, where she asks,
“I wonder whether my life would have been different if my mother had decided to work outside, if she had become disillusioned with the inequities that exist in the pay structure based on sex, if she had tired of the […]
Posted on November 7th, 2008 by apu
Filed under: Women & Feminism in India | No Comments »
First, a break from Diwali, then a viral infection/cold/cough that is making me feel dull and too lazy to post anything. But. I did manage to put together some thoughts for a piece at Ultraviolet, on the subject of female foeticide, something that’s been on my mind for some time now. While I have no […]
Posted on November 5th, 2008 by apu
Filed under: Women & Feminism in India | 2 Comments »
Reading Nita’s latest post on legalising live-in relationships got me thinking about this whole concept of marriage and financial arrangements. First, the story so far. In January 2008, the Supreme Court of India ruled that live-in relationships (if stable over a certain period) were as legal as marriages, and the children of such relationships would […]
Posted on October 15th, 2008 by apu
Filed under: Women & Feminism in India | 3 Comments »
Politicians and political types in my home state of Tamil Nadu are quick to pounce on women for alleged acts of disrespect to Indian culture, with dress codes often being the first line of attack. So, some time ago, we had these self-proclaimed defenders of culture attacking actress Shreya for wearing skimpy attire at an industry […]
Posted on October 9th, 2008 by apu
Filed under: Women & Feminism in India | 5 Comments »
I’m not a parent myself, but all around me, friends seem to be having children and coping with the challenges of raising children, often in nuclear families, with very little outside support. So, while I haven’t yet gone through the diaper-changing and losing-sleep routine, I have seen enough of it to appreciate how hard a job it […]
Posted on September 18th, 2008 by apu
Filed under: Women & Feminism in India | 8 Comments »
In a heartening development, the Supreme Court has made it clear that nobody has the license to rape a woman and claim that it’s ok because she has already been sleeping with others. The disheartening thing of course is that the Supreme Court is needed to point this out, when it should be perfectly obvious. […]
Posted on August 29th, 2008 by apu
Filed under: Women & Feminism in India | 10 Comments »
It is now almost 20 years since the Visakha guidelines were first put in place, to protect working women from sexual harassment at their place of work. Still, it is clear that in many cases, the implementation is not clear at all. Two days ago, Nisha Bhatia, a Director at the RAW Training Wing in […]
Posted on August 21st, 2008 by apu
Filed under: Women & Feminism in India | 3 Comments »
