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Tag Archives: india

The Transgender Bill Doesn’t Amend Rights, It Erases Us – Article 14 Architecture of Erasure: How the Transgender Amendment Bill 2026 erases those it claims

Misinformation campaigns and the future of Bangladesh-India relations – The Daily Star Hasina fled Bangladesh, leaving behind a ‘beaten’ Indian security establishment – Nenews Cannot

>> Read in PDF << Part 2 – Continuing anti-gender offensives Gender politics: good news Inevitably, the political situation described in part 1 of this

>> Read in PDF << Part 1 – Democracies in dispute Introduction As we have pointed out in previous editions, in recent years sexual politics

English Post-election A Non-BJP Government Will Be Unstable, But It is Our Only Hope to Save the Constitution – The Wire To Deal With His

EnglishModi’s Power Keeps Growing, and India Looks Sure to Give Him More – NY Times Simultaneous Elections Will Be a Blow to India’s Popular Sovereignty

>> Download and read in PDF << First Words This edition of the SPW newsletter covers the main events in sexual politics since July, roughly

>>> Read/download in PDF <<< Opening Words This newsletter describes and seeks to contextualize the developments in sexual politics since February 2023. In times of

Child rights body NCPCR asks states not to work with UNICEF — ‘involved in activities out of its purview’ – The Print Rahul Gandhi disqualification:

By Kalpana Wilson This contribution was first presented at the 2 December 2022 workshop on Transnational “Anti-Gender” Politics and Resistance, part of the AHRC-LSE project on Transnational

>> Read in PDF << First words In 2022, we adjusted our perspective for monitoring and analyzing sexual politics. In the previous two years, our

>>> Read in PDF  First Words Since April 2020, SPW newsletters have been tracking and analyzing sexual politics in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

>>> Download the PDF version here. First Thoughts The last 2020 SPW special hypothesized that during 2021, because of vaccines, Covid-19 would no longer be

By Dr. Debjyoti Ghosh* “That’s the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an

Use of UAPA Against Journalists is Last Nail in Coffin for Press Freedom in Kashmir – The Wire ‘Third World Region of a Third World

Delhi Progrom Victims Getting No Treatment Due to COVID-19 – National Herald FIR against Scroll’s Supriya Sharma for story on Varanasi woman’s lockdown ‘misery’ –

MAY / JUNE LGBTQ Inequality and Vulnerability in the Pandemic – HRW LGBT: Covid-19 forced me back home where I’m ‘unwanted’ – BBC LGBT Nonprofits

India’s New Laws Hurt Women Most of All – Foreign Policy We Are Seeing, for the First Time, a Sustained Countrywide Movement Led by Women

“The violence unleashed against Muslims in Delhi by armed Hindu mobs during President Donald Trump’s visit to India is a portent and a lesson. […] More than an echo of the past, the recent violence in Delhi is a lesson”. Read SPW’s compilation.

Transgender Rights Bill India’s transgender rights Bill faces ‘unanimous opposition’ from trans people – RNZ India’s Trans Community Faces Continued Discrimination – The Diplomat Regressive,

India’s protests against citizenship law – Al Jazeera Why are so many Indians protesting against the citizenship law? – Al Jazeera As Protests Rage on

Indian police have shot dead four men suspected of raping and killing a young female vet in Hyderabad last week. The men were in police

Rainbow wave: record number of LGBTs running for office in India – The Times of India Riding the rainbow: first Lok Sabha elections since Section

Highlights Algeria and Sudan: A revived Arab Spring? –  Almost six years after the Arab Spring waned under the shadows of the Sissi regime, political

India chief justice Ranjan Gogoi’s accuser quits sexual harassment inquiry – BBC Woman who alleged sexual harassment by CJI Ranjan Gogoi withdraws from committee proceedings

The Brazilian perfect storm We apologize for the delay in the circulation of SPW’s October 2018 monthly announcement due to the stormy process and result

By Sonia Corrêa Last year, in London, I saw a superb retrospective of Bhupen Khakar the Indian painter who died in 2003. I was fascinated.

22nd International AIDS Conference:  On July 22, Pedro Villardi, from GTPI-ABIA, participated in the  Challenging Criminalization Globally Pre-Conference, one of the more important satellites events

Supreme Court judgement – Supreme Court of India Supreme Court Refuses to Delay Section 377 Hearing – The Wire Indian Supreme Court Considers Decriminalizing Homosexuality

The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, introduced in 2016 by the Minister for Women and Child Development and approved in February 2018 by

As 2018 begins, SPW highlights the main events and trends as well as tensions and challenges traversing sexual politics worldwide. Trends and Facts January In

Turkey introduced a draft bill allowing religious leaders to perform civil marriage ceremonies. Women’s rights activists claim it will only make it harder to monitor the ceremonies

Two outstandingly positive news are to be reported in sexual politics worldwide in August 2017. In India, the Supreme Court issued a groundbreaking decision on

The Supreme Court decision expanded the interpretation of the right to privacy to also address cultural diversity, plurality and more importantly, to recognize it as

Calling Queers with creative juices and a political edge…for a collaborative visual arts project Is the strong desire for Modi amongst his bhakts ‘erotic’? (Why)

In April and May, Brazilian crisis has deepened further more, prompting colossal political chaos which reverberated in sexual politics. Sonia Corrêa, SPW co-chair, assess the deep connections within the crisis regarding threats to abortion rights. Celebrations and good news came from around the world. In Bangkok, researchers and activists gathered

Post by Sarah Ather* originally published at Kafila on May 05, 2017. Available here. My life has revolved around the concept of God. I have

Text by Essar Batool [1] published at AWID, on Feb 22, 2017. Available here. In 2016, the Indian-occupied state of Kashmir once again erupted in

Six countries in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) have established a national human rights institution (NHRI), all of which include

In January, the first and foremost events to be reported are avalanche of draconian and regressive policy measures adopted in the chaotic first two weeks

The arts hold great sway on how sexuality is viewed, represented, and understood. Does art imitate life, or life, art? Or can it be tossed away as an inscrutable mix of the two influencing each other?

SC allows abortion of 24-week foetus, but why should women go to court in the first place? The Supreme Court on Monday permitted a woman

As 2017 begins, SPW highlights the main events and trends as well as tensions and challenges traversing sexual politics worldwide. January In January, the Zika

By Laura Trajber Waisbich . As a first exercise, we will give a brief background to how social participation has been played out in the BRICS. After one full cycle of BRICS chairmanships, since South Africa joined the group in 2011, civil society engagement with the BRICS (both at the national level and internationally) has evolved significantly, albeit in a setting constantly full of obstacles.

Kerala is an enigma. With its high social indices of literacy, sex ratio and low female infanticides, it projects the image of a progressive state, one way ahead of the others. But ask the women who actually live there and they will have a different story to tell.

With great sadness SPW informs about the departure of Agniva Lahiri, a young Indian activist from Kolkata, who was deeply engaged in local and global

The study findings point to the need for a nuanced understanding of gender among medical educators and students. The introduction of gender could pave the way for an opening up of medicine to delve deeper into how signifiers such as class, caste, gender etc. have a bearing on health. The medical curriculum and training must undergo fundamental changes to integrate gender so as to ensure the creation of a gender-sensitive and socially-relevant medical force in the country.

The past three decades brought important developments to the area of women’s access to abortion, especially with the advent of medical abortion methods. However, the

The Supreme Court Wednesday declined to examine all over again a plea filed against validity of IPC Section 377, which makes homosexuality a criminal offence punishable with a sentence up to life term. The joint petition has been filed by some prominent gay personalities — celebrity chef and restaurateur Ritu Dalmia, hotelier Aman Nath and dancer N S Johar, among others.

If we really want to clean up sexual expression among adults, let’s adopt a new standard: consent.

By Orinam Jun 13 2016 A makeshift memorial with flowers and handprints rests in a parking lot near the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. source:

Even Western babies can be nurtured in the bellies of foreign women — each one paid to endure pregnancy and the pangs of childbirth. Those arrangements, facilitated by the global surrogacy industry, have boomed in the past decade.
But there are signs that this trade in surrogate services is up against a formidable backlash.

Every month RESURJ – a global alliance of feminists – members share and reflect on some news highlights affecting sexual and reproductive, environmental and economic

The State has a responsibility for protecting the LGBTI community from violence, a UN expert said on Wednesday, adding that he hopes that the Supreme Court of India makes an “enlightened” and “progressive” decision on the matter.

In February, there were good news to report from both Haiti and Europe. In the case of Haiti, the Penal Code reform is underway and

The human rights of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) people have reached centre stage. Curative petitions have been referred to a Constitution Bench with observations by Chief Justice of India (CJI) T.S. Thakur that “the issues sought to be raised are of considerable importance and public interest …”.

Conservative estimates would place us at 2% of any population. In India that’s a delightful 2.5 crores who are potentially criminal for indulging in sexual intercourse with other adults of the same sex, as per the perverse Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

As the year heads toward its end, SPW recollects main trends and facts in sexual politics worldwide. January Pope Francis drew global attention after urging

I will critically discuss the campaign for (full) criminalisation of marital rape to call attention to ways by which this campaign reduces a potentially tranformatory agenda on gender, sexuality and marriage, to one of law, crime and punishment.

Below is an edited excerpt from Manu S.Pillai’s forthcoming book from Harper Collins, The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore. The book throws interesting light on gender and political power in the matrilineal royal houses, and offers tantalizing hints about the pre-colonial roots of brahminical patriarchy in the region.

I have absolutely no problems with flag filters on Facebook. Or for that matter, profile-picture revolutions that happen all too often. I’m not, in the least bit indignant about such a competitive exhibitionism of feeling – indexed through a currency of memes and emoticons. In an age of such mass-production of violence (‘terroristic’ or ‘humanitarian’), it is no surprise that the event of mourning must become a symptom of the incompatibility between ‘act’ and ‘response’.

The Partners for Law in Development has launched the Feminist Law Archives (FLA) to celebrate the rich and vibrant history of feminist engagement with law in India.

The legal status of trans* individuals in India was discussed quite extensively in the 2014 case of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgment by the Supreme Court of India.

Originally published on Daily IO on 30/09/2015. Available at: http://www.dailyo.in/politics/modi-us-visit-mark-zuckerberg-silicon-valley-facebook-digital-india-democracy-vhp-rss-branding/story/1/6529.html Shiv Visvanathan @ShivVisvanathan   If Facebook has face value, Modi’s interview with Mark Zuckerberg at

SPW has the great pleasure to announce the publication of Working Paper nº 11 Emerging Powers, Sexuality and Human Rights: Fumbling around the elephant. Authored

Originally published on DailyIO on 09/08/2015. Available at: https://www.dailyo.in/politics/narendra-modi-porn-ban-yoga-baba-ramdev-homosexuality-valentines-day-5557 Shiv Visvanathan @ShivVisvanathan   Narendra Modi’s economic and technological policies might have limited impact despite the

by Dr Nozer Shariar Past Secretary General & Chairperson, MTP Committee, Federation of Obstetric & Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI); Past President,Mumbai Obstetric & Gynecological

This policy brief summarizes the impact of intimate partner and family violence on the HIV vulnerability of men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender

In 2015, SPW has for the first time featured the work the Indian Artist Baaraan Ijlal. Ijlal, lives and works in New Delhi, India whose

SPW presents its Working paper n. 9, in which Justin Perez (Univesity of California, Irvine) procedes to a critical understanding of lesbian and gay tourism,

The Coalition of African Lesbians, the Gay and Lesbian Archives and the Centre for Indian Studies of the University of Witwatersrand, in partnership with Sexuality

An Indian Court has banned a movie in which one of the men convicted in the murder of a woman victim of a gan rape

April – In a landmark decision, Indian Supreme Court allowed transgender people to identify as a third gender and directed the central and state governments

DECEMBER 4, 2014 tags: Against Capital Punishment in India, Death Penalty, Nithari Case,Surinder Koli by Shuddhabrata Sengupta Taken from: http://kafila.org/2014/12/04/appeal-to-stay-the-execution-of-surinder-koli-concerned-women-individuals-and-groups/ Guest Post by Concerned Women, Womens’

Among the main events in November, we highlight the Men Engage Symposium, held in Delhi, in which SPW was present with the participation of our

Members of the Indian LGBTQI community issued an open letter to the editors of Bangalore Mirror, after the journal reported the arrest of a married man

(I had spent a week in Gujarat in February-March,2007 and published two reports in TEHELKA. Reproducing the first part to remind myself that it was

Prostitutes are subject to repression, violence and abuse – even at the hands of law enforcement, research shows Prof Chris Beyrer speaks at the International

By Rashika Rakibullah Staff Writer Early last week, Indian authorities began preparations for the country’s 2014 general elections, a nine-phase, month-long event that will break

The four figures of the law:  Brief theoretical inquiries into the Queer movement’s relationship with law Vqueeram Aditya Sahay* This piece is about what the

The 2013 Indian Supreme Court decision on section 377: beyond the law Jordan Osserman * While many LGBTQ activists across the globe expressed mourning, rage

“When the light of our century may blind us” Nitya Vasudevan* When does the idea of a global solidarity threaten to compromise contextualised political struggles?

Moving forward, perhaps: The 2013  India Supreme Court Decision on Section 377 Gautam Bhan* In the immediate moment, it simply felt difficult to breathe. It

SPW is on Twitter and Facebook! Follow @sxpolitics and like our Facebook fan page to read more on our activities and sex politics around the

The Queer body between the Judicial and the Political – reflections on the anti-homosexuality laws in India and Uganda akshay khanna* Nostalgia for a recent

New York Times brings an article on how new Indian government can adress the Section 377, upheld by the Supreme Court in december and which

Sexual and reproductive rights global landscape in March and early April 2014 During March and early April, Brazil was under the spotlight in terms of

Read the final publication of the EROTICS: sex, rights and the Internet project here.

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of India allowed a transgender people to identify as a third gender and directed the central and state

During the year of 2013, sexual and reproductive rights were threatened by state decisions in various places around the world. At the year’s end, three

Read “Decoding India’s Proposed Online Porn Ban – I”, that reportes the day-long “Connect Your Rights!” meeting held in Mumbai in November 2013. The meeting

India Supreme Court has decided to re-criminalises same sex sexual activities between consenting adults, bringing the legacy of the British Empire back to life with

In a case that has the potential to break the binary gender norms of male and female in law and administrative practices in India, the

Read women’s rights lawyer Flavia Agnes’ article about the fate of the woman raped and killed in India last year. “And so she lives on

Read about a New Delhi community organization that offers care and counseling, but also empowers gay, lesbian and transgender people. Here.

India: Though sex workers weren’t even permitted to participate, they managed to take a stand at the International AIDS Conference, which took place in USA, in july 2012. Besides, more than 1,000 sex workers from India and other nations convened in Kolkata for the “Sex Worker Freedom Festival”. Read more.

APC launches the final reports of the EroTICs: Sexuality and the Internet – an exploratory research, with the full research findings from Brazil, India, Lebanon, South Africa and United States, that delve into the complexities of policy and legislative trends on internet content regulation, map key actors and processes, and document how sexuality figures as a central theme in this debate. Read more.

Read Where have India’s baby girls gone?, published recently by The Economist presenting the data from the 2011 Indian census, which shows that there are now 914 girls aged 0-6 years old for every 1,000 boys of the same age.

2.4 Laws, policies and politics Australia: Australia recognises ‘non-specified’ gender. Read more. USA: A restriction on abortion coverage was added to the health care bill

STATEMENT FROM THE UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP) ON THE DELHI HIGH COURT’S DECISION ON SECTION 377 OF THE INDIAN PENAL CODE July 2, 2009

India: The New Delhi High Court decriminalized homosexual intercourse between consenting adults, by striking down section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

Section 377 repealed of the Indian Penal Code Preliminary views, we need to read the judgment carefully: Question 1) Is this judgment only applicable in

The Pink Chaddi Campaign in India has recruited more than 21 thousand people. Read more about the campaign here.

By Radhika Ramassuban* India continues to have on its statute books a 150-year-old anti-sodomy law enacted in the mid-nineteenth century by the British colonizers in

resumo

SPW, ABIA and Conectas Human Rights facilitated a South American Consultation on Right to Health called by Anand Grover, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, March 25th and 26th, in São Paulo, Brazil.

SPW Newsletter No. 14 discusses recent developments in law relating to same-sex desire in India and Uganda > Read more in this issue  

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