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April has been my favourite month since I was in school: the excitement of new class, the fragrance of the new books, covering new notebooks and so on. Let us look at the events and and voices that created impact in our feminist world last month.
Things begun with the news that India got its first transgender sub-inspector K. Prithika Yashini from Chennai, and her struggle also raised several LGBTQ issues of gender identity and social acceptance.
Lucknow embarked on its first #Pride on April 9, where we got to see trademark queer quirky messages alongside the rainbow flags and glitter. The month also witnessed another memorable moment for same-sex marriage in Punjab on 22nd April 2017, with enthusiasm and love.
From celebrating sexuality, fighting for gender identities, prejudices against and within the LGBTQ community boxing in the social construct, we witnessed a revolution against the patriarchal social construct and applause to all those never-ending voices against the oppression and violence.
The end of this month beheld the Kerala Trans Sports Meet in Trivandam on 28th April, 2017.
‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ has been receiving worldwide recognition: the Hollywood Foreign Press picked the film, in early April, for the opening night screening at the International Film Festival, Los Angeles (making the movie eligible for the American Golden Globe awards), questioning the Censor Board for Film Certification’s denying the film certification in India. Voices in support of the movie have led the censor board to reconsider their decision: the movie, certified ‘A’ with some voluntary cuts, will be released soon.
A charity from Argentina ‘MACMA’ came up with a clever way to avoid censorship: their video for breast cancer awareness called Everybody Loves Boobs sings the glories of breasts, with lips replacing nipples and with sarcasm towards censorship on social media.
Another crowd-funded documentary about arranged marriages in India ‘A Suitable Girl’ is premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary took four years to complete and the women behind it organized and executed the project through an online fundraising campaign.
Since we are talking about the emerging voices against the oppression, we cannot miss the campaign Let’s Talk About Trolls by the Hindustan Times, fighting vicious misogyny and cyber violence on social media. HT published a series of articles featuring influential women who have been active on social media, in which they express their political views and talk about their experiences of online trolling. Meanwhile, this report via News Deeply states that the gender gap between women and men when it comes to using computers and the Internet is increasingly widening, an important issue when it comes to gender equality and basic rights.
In our last ‘On Topic’ post, we talked about how the tax on sanitary pads has been removed in Delhi. An online campaign by Youth ki Awaaz “#IAMNOTDOWN” talks about several issues surrounding menstruation, such as accessibility and affordability of sanitary napkins, as well as the social stigma around menstruation, which can have deadly consequences on young women’s lives.
Reports say that India will have its first free condom stores for HIV prevention and awareness, brought about by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF). Although the government currently provides affordable contraception to citizens, it is reported to be of low quality.
April also witnessed elections for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (the MCD). The Bhartiya Janta Party, which has been in control of the MCD for the last two terms (10 years), won the elections. Of 270 seats, 124 seats were been secured by women.
The United Nations on the 22nd of April made a surprising announcement as they elected Saudi Arabia to the women’s rights commission. The 45 member body works towards promoting gender equality and empowerment of women worldwide. According to The Independent there are several political reasons behind this decision. Several countries were questioned about the vote counts and their stands on the declaration. Saudi Arabia was already in the news the month before for holding its first “Girls Council”, with photos showing zero girls on stage.
Here at Zubaan:
Amidst the chaos of the renovation at Zubaan office inside and political parties campaigning outside, we managed a quick book club meeting discussing the internet phenomenon Worm. Next meeting: our very own Kuzhali Manickavel’s Insects Are Just Like You and Me Except Some of Them Have Wings.
Prisoner No. 100 is back in stock. We bade farewell to our intern Sarah and everybody misses her (and her zucchini bread); our office manager Elsy is back stronger and more relaxed after a brief surgical battle, and you could maybe manage to get some discounts from her. So don’t forget to visit us, and happy reading!