Two takes on Queens and Kings

As I sat with the prompt, “Kings and Queens” that the editors of Qurbatein gave me, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to express some thoughts I have recently had about the drag scene in India. Deep ambivalence soon followed the sense of excitement about what drag is doing here. I was also tempted […]

Honey, do you really think you have daddy issues?

“ Fuck me, Daddy ” is a widely reiterated phrase in pornography. Spaces of heterosexual porn that have been problematized by feminists are filled with categorizations of porn that include incest porn, step-mother, step-father and MILF porn categories. Amia Srinivasan (2022) illustrates the manner in which porn functions as a prescription to sex, particularly for heterosexual couples. […]

The Politics of Erotic Empowerment: Repulsion and Irrationality

This short essay explores the twin registers of repulsion and irrationality through which queer erotic intimacies are painted in public consciousness through analysis of medieval histories, discourse around the monkeypox and HIV/AIDS pandemics and other medical and legal texts. This essay proposes a queer politics of erotic empowerment that counter the hegemony of abjection and […]

Three Stories of Indian Womanhood: A Queen, Courtesan, and Actress

In the performance cultures of south India, expressions of sexuality and sexual desire converge and diverge from expressions of gender normativity. As scholars who are also trained in south Indian dance, we draw on our academic expertise and embodied training to call attention to the myriad ways that gender and sexuality are expressed through performance […]