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Indian | Queer | Leftist | Inclusive

[queer-azadi]

Welcome to the Blog!

We are mod River (she/they/he) and mod Ghost (they/them). We are here to talk about our views on politics and queer stuff. We are literature students based in West Bengal, India and our content may be affected by that.

We are interested in viewing history and politics through a queer and leftist lens. Our posts will probably skew aromantic topics, since we are both aromantic and interested in discussing our experiences in an Indian context.

Tags we use are:

mod.post

politics

queer

positivity

personalities

art

feminism

trans

aspec

india

resources

history

intersectionality

[wearequeer-andwearehere]

on 13 march, the transgender persons (protection of rights) amendment bill was proposed in the lok sabha.

it narrows the legal definition of who counts as transgender. transgender would go from having the broad definition of anyone whose gender doesn't match their gender assigned at birth, to only including people with a certain sociocultural identity such as hijra, and intersex people.

a new medical ‘authority’ would be introduced in the form of a medical board which the district magistrate must consult before issuing transgender identity certificates, adding a layer of medical gatekeeping.

medical institutions performing gender-affirming surgeries would also be required to report details of patients to the relevant district magistrate and the newly created medical authority.

advocate raghavi shukla called the bill “an existential threat to trans-queer persons across the country”, warning that it risks “undoing years of hard-fought legal and social progress”. her central concern was the departure from self-identification — “clearly recognised by the supreme court in the NALSA judgment” — and what that means in practice. for many in the community, she noted, the legal recognition of gender identity is directly tied to access to identity documents, welfare schemes, healthcare, education and employment. “weakening these protections could leave many trans persons uncertain about their legal status and access to basic rights,” she said.

trans people deserve the right to self identification without having to jump through bureaucratic hoops and prove ourselves to medical institutions and to the state. we deserve the dignity of being respected when we say who we are. we don't need government officials to go through evidence before they determine whether or not they approve who we are.

to my fellow indian trans people, and to any allies: we're in this together. you are not alone. we need to speak out against this and show that we care, show that we will not stand for this erasure, this narrowing of definitions and access. read up on this bill, and the recent history of trans rights in india--i've hyperlinked two articles in this post. reach out to your local queer organisations and ask how you can help, and if they're doing anything to speak up against this bill. make your voice heard. make it clear that we refuse to go backwards.

[the-aromantic-dragon]

Was doing research for an Aromantic Awareness Month post, and I compiled some info on Aromantic History. Thought I should post it here too

13th century - Beguinage: to house religious women who lived in community without taking vows or retiring from the world Qing dynasty (17th century) - The Golden Orchid Society: included women who married other women and women who did not wish to marry, have romantic, or sexual partnership Late 19th century - early 20th century - Boston marriages: the cohabitation of two women who were independent of financial support from a man. Some of these relationships were romantic in nature; others were not 1979 - Dorothy Tennov spoke of “non-limerant” people in her book Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love, and recognized that romantic and sexual love were not necessarily linked 2002 - Possibly the first use of the word “aromantic” on Haven for the Human Amoeba 2005 - Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage by Stephanie Coontz discussed that historically marriage wasn’t originally about a relationship between a man and a woman, but about making ideal relationships such as having desirable in-laws, strong alliances, and increasing that family labor force. 2006 - the word "aromantic" used on the AVEN forums 2010 - The term "queerplatonic" was coined by S. E. Smith and Kaz 2011 - National Coalition for Aromantic Visibility founded 2011 - First flag proposal 2012 - Professor Elizabeth Brake defined amatonormativity as "the widespread assumption that everyone is better off in an exclusive, romantic, long-term coupled relationship, and that everyone is seeking such a relationship" in her book Minimizing Marriage 2014 - Aromantic Awareness Week suggested (later becomes Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week) 2014 - Second and third (current) flag proposal 2016 - Arocalypse created 2017 - Aromantics Wiki created 2018 - “Aromantic” added to the Oxford English Dictionary 2019 - Aromantic-Spectrum Union for Recognition, Education, and Advocacy created 2021 - Aromantic Awareness Month first observed 2023 - Aromantic Awareness Day and Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Day first observed

Collected the info from: Wikipedia, AUREA, sennkestra on Arocalypse

[genderkoolaid]

This Black Drag King Was Once Known As the Greatest Male Impersonator of All Time

Florence Hines deserves recognition in the long line of queer, Black, stud performers, from Gladys Bentley to Lena Waithe.

So it is with Florence Hines, a Black singer and drag king who got her start on the stage sometime around 1891, when she began to receive particular notice for her performances with Sam T. Jack’s Creole Burlesque. When the show came to Paterson, NJ, on November 23, 1891, “hundreds were turned away from the doorway” before the Creole Burlesque was even scheduled to take the stage, according to the Paterson Daily Caller. In their review, they called out Hines in particular for being an “excellent male impersonator.” The Creole Burlesque was a standard minstrel show, featuring all Black performers, led by a white manager, giving skits, songs, and scenes that featured standard variety acts (everything from clog dancing to drag) set in a pre-Civil War Southern plantation fantasy. But within a few years, Sam T. Jack would launch The Creole Show, an important milestone in Black performance in America. For the first time, an all-Black revue was presented as a modern, staged performance — not as an “authentic” recreation of Black life. According to Whiting Up, a history of white face entertainment by Black theater historian Marvin McAllister, The Creole Show was “a major outlet for Black artists interested in… developing a comedic tradition that was racially grounded but not riddled with stereotyping.” In another important departure from tradition, instead of hiring a man to play the traditional lead role of interlocutor or master of ceremonies, Sam T. Jack hired Florence Hines. As a drag king, Hines performed a routine that made mock of the “dandy” — flashy, modern, young men who drank and dated openly, and wore the latest clothes. One of her most famous numbers was “Hi Waiter! A Dozen More Bottles,” whose first verse went: Lovely woman was made to be loved, To be fondled and courted and kissed; And the fellows who’ve never made love to a girl, Well they don’t know what fun they have missed. I’m a fellow, who’s up on the times, Just the boy for a lark or a spree There’s a chap that’s dead stuck on women and wine, You can bet your old boots that it’s me. Many white drag kings of the day also performed this song, and similar dandy characters. For these performers, the dandy was a way to needle the men in the audience. But for Black performers, taking on a dandy role was also a way of resisting degraded depictions of Black people that were common on stage at the time. As Kathleen B. Casey wrote in The Prettiest Girl on the Stage is a Man, “when worn by a Black performer, the tuxedo with tails, cane, cape and a top hat countered the image of the ragged, shoeless plantation slave.” Thus, Hines made a natural choice for a show that wanted to show an entirely new kind of Black performance. By 1904, The Indianapolis Freeman would report that Hines “commanded the largest salary paid to a colored female performer.” In their book, Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889-1895, Lynn Abott and Doug Seroff wrote that “Hines’s male impersonations provided the standard against which African American comediennes were compared for decades.”

[transguyarchive]

the Trans Guy Archive December '25 zine is now available to read!

Read the rest HERE!

Thank you so much for everyone who participated in the "In Our Own Words" section! This was a ton of fun to make. Here's to a great new year!!

[ftmtftm]

If transfeminism is going to base its theory off Black, intersectional feminism, we do actually have to discuss and acknowledge trans men's experiences with gender and oppression in the same ways Black feminists have been acknowledging and discussing Black men's experiences with gender and oppression for decades.

You can't just take the words of Black women that are convenient for you and drop the rest. When bell hooks said Feminism Is For Everybody did you actually internalize that or what?

[dorian-they]

[typhlonectes]

[zorthania]

A piece about survivors guilt.

This comic isn't perfect. I started it back in October 2023, and every time I picked up my pen, I wept.

I bring this to you today, on 9/11, in hopes that you reflect on this day a little differently than how most Americans would. Let it move you to continue to boycott, protest and challenge your family, friends and colleagues. You have a bigger impact than you would believe.

Thank you for reading this with an open heart.

From the river to the sea...

I'd like to bring to attention the fact that the figures depicted above are a gross undercount of the actual number of deaths. I scoured the internet high and low to source my findings and not a single one could break down the devastation that befell an individual ethnicity. Instead, they lumped a bunch of ethnicities together, provided a general timeline, and called it a day, reinforcing the sheer scale of dehumanization propagated in the west. The only consistency between all the articles I looked up was the 4.5 to 4.7 million figure I've included above, and even then, they were all published by western media news outlets... the very same that have been so unreliable and complicit in the genocide of Palestinians today. So I have to take everything they say with a grain of salt.

We are not just numbers.

All of us have ambitions and desires and lives worth living.

With that said, this is your friendly reminder to:

Donate an e-sim

Donate to PCRF to provide Palestinian children aid

Donate to Pious Projects to provide woman with feminine hygiene kits

Donate to CareForGaza to provide food to displaced families in Gaza either through their Gofundme or their paypal

Donate to any of the vetted gofundme campaigns on GazaFunds to help Palestinians trying to flee Gaza.

And if you or someone you know sees or experiences a hate crime and can afford it, SUE. This is a more effective use of your money than most realise. The reason zionists act with impunity is because of the normalization of white supremacy and oppression of ethnic minorities. Challenging that in any capacity tells them that there are consequences to their actions and makes them think twice before engaging in hate crimes and helps raise all of us up against the systems currently in place that let them get away with it.

If you can't donate or spend any money, you can:

Do your daily clicks.

Boycott targeted companies on the BDS list (if you're like me and you don't want a single dollar to go towards anything supporting Israel right now, you can use Bdnaash to double check what products are okay to buy, but the BDS list is sufficient as it is a strategic attack and proven very effective thus far)

Flood your representatives emails and voicemails with how you won't be voting for them unless their politics align with an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Attend a protest, be LOUD.

Challenge your circle of friends, family and colleagues with conversations about Palestine. (THIS IS THE MOST UNDERRATED AND MOST EFFECTIVE THING YOU CAN DO)

and if you're really up to, be disruptive in any capacity that you can think of towards major corporations benefiting from this onslaught. (i.e. halting military manufacturers from production + shipments, sticking boycott stickers on products at your market etc)

And finally, if your country wasn't mentioned in the above excerpt, it was no deliberate omission on my part and I encourage you to come forward and tell your story about the suffering of your people so that this may be a learning opportunity for everyone.

You are seen.

You are not alone.

Thank you again if you've read this far.

From the river to the sea...

[letters-to-lgbt-kids]

My dear lgbt+ kids, 

Let’s talk about miscarriages. 

First of all, a simple definition: A miscarriage is when a pregnancy ends on its own before the baby can grow enough to survive outside the womb. 

When we say “miscarriage”, we refer to the pregnancy spontaneously ending in the first 20 weeks (so up until halfway through a typical 40-week pregnancy). If it happens closer to birth (after 20 weeks of pregnancy), it’s referred to as a “stillbirth”. We will focus on miscarriages rather than stillbirth in this letter.

A pregnancy spontaneously ending in an early stage is more common than it happening closer to birth. Most miscarriages happen in the first 13 weeks.

A miscarriage usually involves vaginal bleeding. It can range from light spotting to heavy bleeding. It may also include the passing of tissue or blood clots. Abdominal pain or cramps may also be present. (This is why a miscarriage that occurs before the person is even aware they’re pregnant may be confused with a heavy period). 

However, some people may only experience the lessening of pregnancy symptoms (such as a sudden stop of morning sickness) that alerts them to the miscarriage. Some miscarriages also occur without any noticeable symptoms at all and may only be discovered at the next ultrasound. 

Let’s look at some myths and facts about miscarriages: 

Myth: Miscarriages are rare. 

Fact: About 10 to 20% of all known pregnancies end in miscarriage (and the “real” number is probably even higher, since many miscarriages happen before the person even knows they are pregnant). 

Myth: Miscarriages happen because you do something wrong or aren’t careful enough. 

Fact: Most miscarriages happen because of severe problems with the unborn baby’s DNA. These are usually random genetic glitches in the egg or sperm - meaning there’s nobody to “blame”. The baby wouldn’t have survived, no matter how careful the pregnant person is. 

Myth: When we talk about “medical treatment” for a miscarriage, we are talking about people who choose to have a miscarriage. 

Fact: Nobody chooses to have a miscarriage. It’s by its very definition the spontaneous ending of a pregnancy. A person may need to undergo medically necessary treatment because of a miscarriage. It may be necessary to remove tissue that remains in the uterus. This isn’t the trigger of the miscarriage, it is done after the pregnancy already naturally ended. It is done to prevent infection or stop heavy bleeding. This procedure is called a D & C (dilation and curettage) and it can be a lifesaver!

Myth: If you had a miscarriage, it’s a sign you deep down resented the baby. 

Fact: The most wanted pregnancy ever could end in miscarriage. People who tried  for years and finally got pregnant could experience a miscarriage. People who jumped through legal hurdles and spend a lot of money to be able to undergo sperm donation or IVF could experience a miscarriage. This is just a horrible and untrue thing to say about people who experience a potentially traumatic health event that’s entirely out of their control. 

Myth: It’s easy to get over a miscarriage. 

Fact: It’s a life-changing experience. It’s always emotionally challenging. There’s the aspect of the unexpected (and potentially scary) health event, and of course there’s also the aspect of a loss, of grief. It shouldn’t be surprising that, for most people, it’s not something they can easily shrug off. There are a lot of emotions that can come up - during, right after and also months or years after. There’s no time limit on when someone will be “over it”. In fact, they may never feel “over it”, just learn to live with it as part of their reality. 

Myth: If it was an unplanned pregnancy, the person should be relieved to have a miscarriage. 

Fact: There’s no “Should” in loss. Even if they didn’t want to be pregnant, they may still grieve. Even if they do feel some relief, it may be tinged with emotional pain, frustration, feelings of helplessness or guilt… And all of that is valid. Nobody but the person who experienced the miscarriage has a right to say how they feel about it. 

Myth: If you had a miscarriage, it means you’ll never be able to have biological children. 

Fact: Nearly 90% of people who miscarry will go on to have normal pregnancies and healthy babies! 

With all my love, 

Your Tumblr Dad 

[local-demon-in-your-area]

Women can't speak to each other in Afghanistan

Women can't speak to each other in Afghanistan

Women can't speak to each other Afghanistan

Women. Can't. Speak. To. Each. Other. In. Afghanistan.

No conversations

No hearing another woman's voice, no hearing her speak or pray

No way to share experiences no way to ask questions no way to organize

And if you ban education then they can't communicate by writing either

Women can't speak to each other in Afghanistan

Women can't communicate with other women in Afghanistan

People can't communicate with other people

That's how low we've gotten

Please don't forget about them.

[arandomshotinthedark]

#RisingBeyondCrisis You are providing hope and help. You are making a difference. Your donations help immigrant families in the U.S. and wom

Charity Navigator rating 4/4

Afghanistan | Malala Fund

Founded by student and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, Malala Fund invests in girls' education programmes to help girls go to school and re

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[o-nexis]

“children live here”... “people”... “people here”... “children”... “people and children”...

these are inscriptions on the walls and fence gates of Ukrainian houses. mostly destroyed ones.

[robynochs]

May 17 marked 20 years of marriage equality in Massachusetts and the 20th anniversary of our wedding.

The Town of Brookline MA put up a display in their public library & featured us because we were the first same-sex couple married there.

Peg & I went over to check it out.

[shamebats]

[shamebats]

Peer-reviewed tags

[genderkoolaid]

in order to not succumb to sex negative conservatism you have to accept that people will get off to things that are upsetting to you. and you cannot assume anything about what they have or have not experienced, what they do or do not believe, and how they act based solely on what gets them off. even if it's extremely confusing and disturbing to you. there are people who have only ever had heterosexual vanilla sex in missionary with the lights off, who actively contribute to more real world harm than your average fetish artist. kink is not a reliable source of information on someone's moral standing. it just feels good to think that way.

[genderkoolaid]

also "real world harm" is not evidenced by "it makes me really uncomfortable" or "well what if through a highly specific chain of potential events being horny causes THIS–" there needs to be actual people who are being hurt by an action directly.

[queen-thick-dick]

I love seeing posts like this on here, but I think it's one that people reblog alot to show support for the idea without really grappling with it.

There is some real, legitimate, Uncomfortable Weird Shit that turns people on, and some of it, *is* going to set off all your gut reaction alarm bells. You're going to be so so sure that there is some harmful angle to it and you're going to be fucking wrong.

If you agree with the ideas above, the best way you can prepare yourself for whatever kink you don't know about that will one day squick you is to interrogate why you think Wrong actions are Wrong. In most cases when you examine a scary kink or fetish closely, you'll realize that it isn't actually causing any harm to anyone, and while you can judge as you like, you won't be any better than the people practicing that kink. Furthermore, you need to be able to do this to take an effective stand when something is actually wrong. For example, if you're walking around knowing that Pedophilia is wrong, but you can only think as far as "it's bad because I know to hate pedos" then you're going to be basically worthless at protecting children from sex crimes because your disgust prevents you from learning that there even is an issue, and your fear of the topic makes you totally unable to teach children proper safety practices. It makes you attack two random trans girls because one asked to be called "Mom" in the bedroom, while actual serious harm happens to children all around you without you even noticing because you think Ageplay porn is what actual pedophilia looks like.

Your fear of people practicing the wrong kind of sex is blinding you to real harm and you're causing real harm of your own by trying to go on a stupid crusade anyway. Basically all you will ever be able to check about someone's morality based on their sex life is: 1) Are they only sexually interacting with adults, 2) Do they seek consent before physically interacting.

"But that's only two things someone can do wrong sexually that I should ever care about!"

Yeah, almost like everything else is beyond your ability to judge and not your business anyway.

[liesmyth]

Full names and details of every man who was convicted of raping Gisèle Pelicot. The list includes 50 men who could be identified, besides Gisèle's husband, ranging in age from 27 to 74. Among them are a firefighter, a journalist, a nurse, a construction worker, and a prison guard. Most have families of their own, and only about half had previous convictions.

[liesmyth]

as some people weren't familiar with this case, here is a summary of it. cw rape

Gisèle Pelicot is a 72 year old woman living in Mazan, France. She has 3 children and grandchildren. For a decade, she was systematically drugged and assaulted by her husband Dominique, who invited dozens of men to rape her while he filmed it. This was arranged primarily through a website, and was never reported

Gisèle found out after her husband was caught taking upskirt videos of women in a local supermarket. After the police searched the house and her husband's computer, they found the videos. She didn't recognise herself at first

Gisèle chose to waive the protection of anonymity that French law guarantees to victims of sexual assault because she believed the case would have a bigger reach with her name and story attached to it. Trial proceedings were made public at her request

Gisèle suffered several health issues as a consequence of the drugs and thought at one point she might have brain cancer. She also contracted multiple STDs.

Of the 72 men recorded by Gisèleʼs husband, 51 could be identified. One died of cancer awaiting trial; the other 50 were all convicted this week. Multiple other cases came to light during the investigation, including other rapes, hidden cameras, and possession of child pornography

This case has had a tremendous impact in France and, to a lesser extent, other European countries. It brought to the forefront conversations about rape culture, “unexpected” victims, “respectable” perpetrators and the culture of silence that surrounds sexual assault, and this case has had a tremendous impact in France. That's why I thought it was worth sharing here, and I encourage you to read up on it if you're not familiar, even if it's difficult to stomach.

[its-tea-time-darling]

by victoria villasana

"The shame must change sides" - Gisèle Pelicot

[counttwinkula]

hey did you know that uhh

i. the monster's body is a cultural body

ii. the monster always escapes

iii. the monster is the harbinger of category crisis

iv. the monster dwells at the gates of difference

v. the monster polices the borders of the possible

vi. fear of the monster is really a kind of desire

vii. the monster stands at the threshold… of becoming

[counttwinkula]

oh shit i didn't expect this to actually get notes lmao

these are all direct quotes from jeffrey jerome cohen's "monster culture (seven theses)" (full pdf linked) i highly encourage you to read it yourself!

that said, while i think cohen's writing is evocative, it can be a little dense, so while i'm here, here's my capsule summary (you can also hear me talk about this in the first episode of my podcast) (listen to @ghostswerepeopletoo)

i. the monster's body is a cultural body - The monster is a work of fiction to be analyzed through tools of literary and sociological theory.

ii. the monster always escapes - As long as the cultural fear from which the monster stems persists, the monster will reappear in retellings, reimaginings, and sequels.

iii. the monster is the harbinger of category crisis - Monsters defy binaries and challenge easy comprehension or categorization.

iv. the monster dwells at the gates of difference - The monster represents the Other.

v. the monster polices the borders of the possible - Tales of the monster exist to discourage unacceptable or taboo behaviors.

vi. fear of the monster is really a kind of desire - Subjects can vicariously participate in the disruption of the social order through the monster.

vii. the monster stands at the threshold… of becoming - Within the monster we find information about the self.

[counttwinkula]

i just want to say that i appreciate the love people are showing this post so much, and i also want to recognize that SO MANY of the people sharing this post are trans. i think that's so rad

cohen's theories are useful for analyzing propaganda, and we can recognize the way that transphobes monsterize transgender people in their rhetoric. monster studies has roots in the analysis of how gender deviance is punished; not only does cohen mention and dissect this in "monster culture (seven theses)", he borrows the concept of category crisis from majorie garber's book, Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety.

i've spent a decent amount of time researching the relationship between transphobia and monsterization. i implore that you read "my words to victor frankenstein above the village of chamounix: performing transgender rage" by susan stryker. here's an excerpt:

Hearken unto me, fellow creatures. I who have dwelt in a form unmatched with my desire, I whose flesh has become an assemblage of incongruous anatomical parts, I who achieve the similitude of a natural body only through an unnatural process, I offer you this warning: the Nature you bedevil me with is a lie. Do not trust it to protect you from what I represent, for it is a fabrication that cloaks the groundlessness of the privilege you seek to maintain for yourself at my expense. You are as constructed as me; the same anarchic womb has birthed us both. I call upon you to investigate your nature as I have been compelled to confront mine. I challenge you to risk abjection and flourish as well as have I. Heed my words, and you may well discover the seams and sutures in yourself.

and i would also like to turn your attention to the book Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, And the Rest of Us by kate bornstein:

So much violence is perpetrated in the name of that fear and that loathing [of gender transgressors]. […] Transphobia is one term in vogue with some transsexuals. Fear of crossing? Fear of transgressing? If this term were allowed that sort of breadth—that is including the fear and hatred of any kind of border-dwellers—then it might have some possibilities.

bornstein's book reads as an early nonbinary manifesto (one that predates terms like "gender nonbinary" and "cisgender") and so much of what they have to say connects to this topic of monsterizing trans people, i hope you consider looking for a copy

i'm thrilled (though not entirely surprised) that so many people on tumblr are interested in monster studies, even if it's just my summary of cohen. take this lens and apply it to the world around you. take note when you see the Other being turned into a monster—horror has its place, but monsterization is a dangerous rhetorical device

[guzhufuren]

Some happy things from the first day of marriage equality in Thailand 💗❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

First three couples who registered their marriage in different districts:

some openly queer actresses and a director celebrating this historical day: