Because I Have a Voice

Because I Have a Voice

Product ID: 17105

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Author: Arvind Narain
Gautam Bhan/
Editor(s): Arvind Narain / Gautam Bhan
Publisher: Yoda Press
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 287
ISBN/UPC (if available): 81-902272-2-X

Description

To speak of sexuality, and of same-sex love in particular, in India today is simultaneously an act of political assertion, celebration, defiance and fear. Indeed, in times when the issues of queer sexuality is beginning to find more space in popular representation, as seen in recent Bollywood films and the mainstream media, this groundbreaking collection of writings states boldly and clearly that queer lives and politics are inextricably linked with each other. The words of this anthology are those of the queer community itself, spoken in their own voice, as one and yet as individuals, each of whom has a story to tell, and a view to share.

In giving voice to a concept, an identity and a politics that is only now, and slowly at that, beginning to enter the consciousness of the nation, the two editors of the anthology and its thirty contributors discuss the queer movement in terms of its definition and composition; the legal challenges which face the community, particularly the activism against Section 377 of the Indian Penal code, queer protests and demonstrations which have played a strong role in building wider public consciousness about the issue; a burgeoning queer culture, and the everyday lives of queer people which become in themselves creative sites of resistance.

The volume is divided into three parts. The first attempts to place the diverse sexuality-related struggles within a conceptual framework, the second narrates untold stories of activism, and critically reflects on the directions of the Indian queer movement, and the last, and perhaps the most critical, records the personal journeys of queer lives which articulate what it means t live a life on the margins of institutions such as marriage, monogamy and family. This volume is in many ways an unprecedented effort, as the voice of a community that refuses to be silenced, and the words on these pages are, perhaps, the beginning of its own moment of assertion.

Contents

INTRODUCTION

ARVIND NARRAIN AND GAUTAM BHAN

CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES TO SEXUALITY AS A FORM OF POLITICS

How Natural is Normal?
Feminism and Compulsory Heterosexuality

Challenging the Limits of Law
Queer Politics and Legal Reform in India

It’s not my job to tell you that it’s okay to be gay
Medicalisation of Homosexuality, A Queer Critique

Crisis in Desire
A Queer Reading of Cinema and Desire in Kerala

Beyond Sexuality?

STORIES OF STRUGGLE

Many People, Many Sexualities
A Personal Journey

Solitary Cruiser

Englishpur Ki Kothi
Class Dynamics in the Queer Movement in India

The Roads that E/Merged
Feminist Activism and Queer Understanding

Voicing the Invisible
Violence Faced by Lesbian Women in India

Complicating Gender
Rights of Transsexuals in India

Queering Kerala
Reflections on Sahayatrika

Fire, Sparks and Smouldering Ashes

Queering the Campus
Lessons from Indian Universities

Amitie
Organising LGBTs in Small-town India

PERSONAL NARRATIVES

A Hijra’s Own Story

Leaving Home to Go Home

She Came from the world of the Spirits

Death of the Gay Man

On Being Gay and Catholic

Islam and Me

Is Being Gay about Multiple Sex Partners?

An Indian Christian Kothi Speaks Out!

In a Loongi in Chimbhave

Convivial Misgivings
The Political Economy of Commerce Southern
Sum Total-A Matrimonial

Notes on Editors and Contributors