A Gender and Sexuality Magazine
Maya is a name affectionately selected for the ease through which it conveys complexity. ‘Love’ in Nepali, ‘illusion’ in Sanskrit, and many more meanings that it holds within its two syllables. What do we attempt to do, here, with this queer magazine? What does Maya mean for us? Maya as it is, provokes us to…
I write this short paper as a comment on Sara Mills and Michel Foucault’s works. Sara Mills analyses Foucault’s observations on sexuality from his book titled, ‘The History of Sexuality Volume 1’. This paper reacts to some of the critical observations and analysis by Mills as well in her book titled ‘Michel Foucault’. It is…
Such epistemic murk around the L word. Aren’t all trying to work around the L word? No Shireen for me, no Heer, I’m no Qais, Other desires too lurk around the L word. Jehangir’s City, Shalimar, Anarkali, Left my heart there to bark around the L word. Tigresses may take all in Sundarbans, A male,…
[This artwork has been contributed by Mishika Chowdhary, law student, Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat. She is also the Creative Editor of Maya.] This is an adaptation of Kira Blake Schnitzler’s art work.
Indeed, while it is popular today to condemn the period of the Muslim rule in India as regressive and narrow minded, attitudes towards homosexuality were far more progressive among Muslim rulers than the British who replaced them. There is a vibrant debate taking place in India over decriminalization of homosexuality. While the Supreme Court did…
(Muana has specific meaning in the context. Muana refers to the ‘place of origin’. In this poem, Muana is trying to locate herself in the society after accepting that she was a lesbian. It is where she finds her real self and tries to endure the pain of being sabotaged by the societal stigma and…
The code of conduct of an ideal ‘bro’ includes celebrating the entitlement heterosexual men commonly share in talking about their girlfriends, hook ups and dates not in a manner that celebrates the agency of the women’s sexuality, but how she got fucked, and how he “wrecked” her pussy. That this problematic language does not invoke…
Not just the narratives from the scriptures but also various priests hold a view in support of same-sex marriages. Like Shakuntala Devi in her work, “The world of Homosexuals” interviewed a priest from a Vaishnava temple, Srinivasa Raghavachariar, who married two same-sex individuals. The priest justified the wedding by arguing that under the Hindu belief…
These pictures have been contributed by Meenakshi Ramkumar, law student at Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat. She is also the Editor of Maya. Meenakshi participated in Sydney’s “Yes” campaign for marriage equality plebiscite during her exchange semester at the University of New South Wales in the year 2017.
I needed to reflect the ‘agendered individual’, not as someone who was starkly different from the way the men characterize themselves in appearance, but someone who looks just like them. I wanted to take everything that they, and I, had used to create power for us and fear for the rest, and turn it on…
[This artwork has been contributed by an anonymous student at O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat.]
[These pictures have been contributed by Mishika Chowdhary, law student, Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat. She is also the Editor of Maya.]
I genuinely wanted to know if boys hated their body hair like most women do or are conditioned to do. I asked most of my male friends. All of them replied in a very careless manner. Some of the replies were “ Oh! I don’t know. Never thought about it.” “Yes, body hair looks bad…
You make it look like you’re in all the way You never refuse when I ask you to stay It’s more than just a bond; it’s a connection so deep I know that when we’re together I can peacefully sleep Yet you become so different when we’re out of our room I don’t like bringing…
I sensed it, With no assurance, If you do, Next time, Stroke your left brow, With your right hand. [This post was contributed under the pen name KOS KOS.] Feature Image: Marc Anthony Macon, Flickr.
The tip of my pen does not write the words I feel, I end up writing a dozen times- I love you, I love you. I wonder if these three words explain my feelings enough. As I hold you close every night, I wonder if I am still close enough. As this heteronormative world with…
Bundles of Navy shore black bracelet and a holy red thread in one hand. She had an expressionless expression. She slept with different boys every night and made coffee for them, to leave. She told me that Kafka gave a theory that during an era, human body separated into two and thus “they complete each…
What crime did a Transgender do? Imagine living in a body that isn’t you. Fundamental rights and entitlements apply to us too, Humiliation and marginalization because we’re just a minoritized few? Lying in wait for a raging storm to build and brew, That’ll uproot and destroy our conservative and outdated roots. Stigmatizing, stereotyping and othering…