Queering Goa

People coming together through social interactions create space, and you will always enter spaces that function in ways you cannot influence. Spaces can be accessed but do that alone make them accessible? Spaces are themselves gendered rather than neutral. It is divided into the binary of masculine and feminine. Social stratification and norms get converted into rigid spaces geographically. The public space is even today considered a masculine sphere, and the private productive space of reproduction is that of femininity. Women are restricted to the space close to their homes and semi-private spaces showed to be highly important for everyday activities and primarily domestic work. Restricted mobility in spaces is also conditional on various factors like caste, social age, etc. Women with a higher social age attain greater mobility in the same spaces over time. Space is socially and culturally produced. Gender roles define how various spaces are claimed differently by different genders....

Equality for Transgender People in India: An Elusive Ideal Despite being touted as a fundamental principle of modern societies, the ideal of equality remains elusive for transgender people in India. Transgender is an umbrella term used to describe people whose gender identity is different from the sex assigned to them at birth. While the definition of equality may suggest that transgender people should have the same status, rights, and opportunities as others, the reality is quite different. In this write-up, I will explore the various ways in which transgender people in India are excluded from mainstream society and argue that the ideal of equality remains an illusion for them. Firstly, transgender people in India face discrimination in accessing education, employment, healthcare, and other public services. For instance, many schools and colleges refuse to admit transgender students, and those who do often face harassment and bullying from their peers.  Similarly, many employers a...

With the increasing number of users of the internet in this growing age, it’s become imperative that we think to make it as inclusive as possible. Today, the internet has become a powerful platform for connecting people and binding together communities that would possibly be lost in the conundrum of the physical world.  With the advent of the globalisation, there is upliftment of niche communities that have found solace in shared interest and likings, banding together in the online world. These spaces are sacred with their own set of unsaid rules and boundaries that make it different and safer than the physical world. Granted, it is ironical that certain individuals are truly themselves behind the veil of anonymity or an alias on the internet, but before these platforms this feat was not possible at all. It is an era of liberation carefully balanced on the shoulders of screens and carefully curated identities.  In a similar vein, it has become possible for queer individuals to...

               Have you ever questioned the practices prevalent in society? Do you sometimes feel suffocated being bound by the tightness of the so-called “Right Way” of living? I know I feel. It, therefore, becomes imperative for us to raise our voices against all the injustices that seem to tie us down whenever we try to live life “Our Way”. The Queering Goa project is an initiative of the Goa Institute of Management under Give Goa to reach out to all those oppressed people who feel the need to have a voice against everyone who tries to subdue them. Queering is not just about the LGBTQIA+ community, it refers to all those feelings that people have within themselves and are afraid to speak out in front of everyone. They constantly fear that if their actions do not conform with those existing in society, people might just label them as outliers. People through generations have kept their desires hidden and hence it is time that we speak about the...