Smashboard

Technology

The Musk Problem: a Mega-Rich Troll Thinks He Knows What Free Speech is All About

Musk’s recent tweets, his mockery of “woke progressives” and his union busting activities make it amply clear that his moral compass swings to the right, and therefore, his understanding of “liberty” is warped.

by Smashboard Admin

2 min read

Muslim Women's Rights

What Does a Misogynist Sanghi Future Hold for Indian Women?

Women backing communal violence who are not standing up for Muslim women today are wrong if they believe that their religious affiliation will grant them safety in the long run. In the misogynist hell created by this hatred, there will be no escape for any women.

by Smashboard Admin

1 min read

Rape Culture

Women Politicians in India are Promoting Rape Culture With Impunity.

Banerjee dehumanised the victim, is treating the victim’s family with apathy, and shielding a rapist. Her behaviour must be condemned. Why should women politicians get any support from women voters if they are not only incapable of supporting women's rights but are actively harming their interests?

by Smashboard Admin

2 min read

Culture

Does Bridgerton's Hybrid Genre Encourage Feminist Assertion or Limit Its Potential?

Are we expected to practice some kind of radical suspension of disbelief to imagine that everyone in the world of Bridgerton is rich? Including the servants? Box ourselves in, a bit like Marie Antoinette and just assume there’s always brioche for everyone in Bridgerton?

by Noopur Tiwari

5 min read

Sexual Assault

What is the Most Important Thing to Remember When Supporting Survivors in the Aftermath of a Sexual Assault?

People who face sexual assault will experience some degree of trauma which, in many cases, can be severe. Yet most personnel in law enforcement, medical institutions, legal practice, mental health services (if available at all) and even feminists are still not trauma informed.

by Smashboard Admin

2 min read

Disability

I Just Want to Be Ordinary Not the Star of Your Inspiration Porn

Non-disabled people weaponise their pity and put inordinate pressure on disabled people to be extraordinary and inspirational.

by Srishti

5 min read

Trans Representation

What Is India’s Medical Community Doing to End the Apathy and Abuse Trans* People Face in Healthcare?

Any mental or emotional health crisis queer/trans* folks face is seen as their fault, directly or indirectly caused by their queerness or transness. This is the cishet gaze, and mental health practitioners have only started learning about queer-trans* affirmative therapy practices.

by Riju Banerjee

5 min read

Trans Representation

Some Amazing On-Screen Trans Stories and the Case for Authentic Representation

Simply pushing trans stories into heteronormative spaces is no longer enough. Being mindful of authentic representation is indispensable. What we need in the industry is more room for trans creatives. After all, trans folks have waited long enough to own their narratives.

by Usri Basistha

5 min read

Labour

Who Finds Joy in Cooking?

For me, cooking is self-care because I don’t face the “time poverty” that leads to a lack of leisure in the lives of many women. For my mother and so many other women, cooking has always been inescapable care work for others.

by Sanjukta Bose

5 min read

Intersex Rights

Indian Courts Must Understand What Being Intersex Really Means

A lack of understanding of the difference between trans and intersex has led to judicial fumbling in Indian courts and left intersex people behind.

by Atreyo Banerjee

5 min read

Cis-Heteropatriarchy

The Rise of the Girlboss Bride

Just how far can the girlboss bride's wedding-day deviance take her? Are her wedding-day glories any guarantee that her marriage will indeed be a site of feminist liberation?

by Maitrayee Sarma

5 min read

Muslim Women's Rights

Questions Bigots Ask You When You Oppose the Hijab Ban and Some Answers

How to respond to people who try to derail you when you defend the right of Muslim girls to wear the hijab to school.

by Smashboard Admin

2 min read

Culture

Time Out: Punctuality Is Not a Virtue but a Privilege Only a Few Can Afford

The understanding that punctuality is essential to all organized work is a capitalist construct, designed for an efficient extraction of labour and to maintain its unsparing control in the hands of a few.

by Isha Adhikari

4 min read

Culture

The Burden of Beauty: Female Nerds in Pop Culture Are Still Not Free

Imagine a story in which a woman's appearance is irrelevant to her intelligence. Perhaps, she would still be desired and considered beautiful—albeit unconventionally—like Benedict Cumberbatch.

by Pragya Bhagat

5 min read

Submissions

Submission Guidelines

We are a open to submissions for our feminist online magazine. Find our submission guidelines here.

by Smashboard Admin

3 min read

Social Media

What You Need to Remember About Self-Disclosure on Social Media

Self-disclosure is rewarded with popularity on social media. Whether we choose to make this self-disclosure or applaud those who do, there are some things to keep in mind.

by Smashboard Admin

2 min read

bell hooks

Where To Start With bell hooks

Never read bell hooks? Want to re-read her? Here's a book list for you.

by Smashboard Admin

15 min read

Law

Justice Is a Long Road for India’s Undertrial Prisoners

In India, despite the constitutional right to a "reasonable, fair, and just" procedure for a person accused of an offence, the prison system is overflowing with undertrials—those who have been arrested but are yet to be convicted.

by Akshi Singh

4 min read

Public Spaces

How Women’s Dissenting Abilities Are Impeded by Lack of Access to Public Spaces

Structural obstacles impeding access to public spaces is intensified for those excluded from groups that hold privilege based on caste, gender, sexuality, religion, and physical ability.

by Priyanka Joshi

6 min read

Sexuality

Being Asexual in a Country Where Sex Is Taboo

India’s culture of sexual repression creates discomfort around sex, so how does someone determine whether one is really asexual or if the aversion to sex is nothing but sexual repression?

by Saachi Gupta

5 min read

Parenting

The Cycle of Abusive Indian Parenting Needs to End

Indian parents have an infamous reputation worldwide for their orthodox parenting techniques. Regardless of which country they raise their children in, they tend to follow the same archaic protocols for child rearing in which emotional neglect and manipulation are a staple.

by Namrata Bhattacharjee

5 min read

Environment

India’s Land of Forests and Its Resource Curse

Due to incessant mining, Jharkhand or “the land of forests” suffers from the 'paradox of plenty'—the impoverishment of the local population in a resource rich land. This photo essay is a stark reminder of the ruthless exploitation of people and the devastation of the once-green land.

by Joyona Medhi

3 min read

Culture

How Unconventional Family Dramas Reimagine Parenting

Is there a parenting healthier than a righteous, moralistic, and disciplining parenting that polices children’s choices?

by Nidhi K

5 min read

Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer Is a Health Crisis, Not a Cosmetic Crisis

Mastectomy is about survival not about an assault on "two-breasted femininity".

by Smashboard Admin

2 min read

Health

Gynaecologist Clinics Are Patriarchal Spaces and That Needs to Change

Whether it is the lack of infomercials about contraceptive methods or the symbolic silence staged by censoring words like “vagina”, health spaces for women are often restrictively designed, with negligible emphasis on their lived experiences and their sexual needs.

by Kirti Wadhwa

5 min read

Bodily Autonomy

Should Your Partner Or Employer Be Tracking Your Period?

Contrary to what they claim, period tracking applications are contributing to the curbing of women’s bodily autonomy by creating sophisticated forms of surveillance.

by Yogita Suresh

4 min read

Body Politics

Of Breasts and Body Politics

There’s something inherently perverse about how the patriarchy thinks about breasts. While it freely sexualizes and glorifies women’s breasts in a toxic bacchanalia of misogyny, women themselves aren’t free to do the same. Female desire, after all, is at the margins of India’s popular culture.

by Sindhu Rajasekaran

5 min read

Law

Deception and Sexual Consent

If the consent to a particular sexual act is obtained via deception, can the sexual act still be considered consensual at all?

by Shardha Rajam

5 min read

Climate Change

More Feminists Must Be Allowed to Lead Climate Action

120 climate feminist organisations are coming together to push governments and financial institutions worldwide to take urgent action and to include more women leaders in the action for climate justice.

by Smashboard Admin

3 min read

LGBTQIA+

The False Binary of Nature and Nurture: Shifting Narratives in the Queer Galaxy

Queerness and its articulation are not static but dynamic; not homogenous, but diverse. Queerness is “liberation from” rather than “bondage to” fixed ideas—the latter would undeniably be a form of violence.

by Suvrita

4 min read

Body Image

It’s Time to Ditch the Thin Ideal

The conventional female lead we get to see—no matter how quirky the character, no matter how different, intelligent, brave, strong, or “badass”—is almost always skinny.

by Vara Raturi

5 min read

Podcast

Therapy Tuesday - Reframing Resilience

How can we redefine resilience from an empathetic lens? Is it solely the ability to bounce back and be strong in the face of adversity? How can we move away from looking at pain and distress as something that needs to be ‘fixed’ and acknowledge what it needs to heal?

by Smashboard Admin

4 min read

Gender

Gender Neutral Pronouns: A Guide

A guide to using gender neutral pronouns.

by Smashboard Admin

3 min read

Culture

Bharatanatyam: The Choreography of a Brahmanical Past

How hereditary dancers’ communities were shamed and “rescued” by a Brahmanical morality that could not accommodate women whose sexuality transgressed the norms.

by Rituparna Pal

10 min read

LGBTQIA+

Why We Need to Centre Queer People for Whom Pride Is Neither a Celebration nor Rebellion

The casteism and cis privilege reflected in mainstream media are, sadly, very much a part of the Indian LGBTQ+ community itself—a space that is supposed to be for “everyone”.

by Saachi Gupta

5 min read

Opinion

Why Gandhi Is No Longer Relevant for Many Indians

Why is Gandhi, a leader who could mobilise millions so effectively once, becoming increasingly irrelevant for a majority of India’s population?

by Banavath Aravind

4 min read

Podcast

Therapy Tuesday

Therapy Tuesday is a fortnightly podcast for people looking to have conversations about mental health from a feminist perspective.

by Smashboard Admin

6 min read

Child Sexual Abuse

#MeToo in Chennai Schools: The Big Red Flag We Shouldn't Ignore

Sexual abuse robs children of their childhood and has a “devastating, irreversible impact” on their well-being. But the conversation around child rights has only gained momentum in India the past few decades.

by Vaishnavi C

5 min read

Trans Rights

The Body Positive Movement Has a Lot Left to Learn from Trans Folx

In a cis-normative world, dysphoria is often perceived as body negativity and trans persons’ desire to physically transition is often incorrectly viewed as a patriarchal aspiration.

by Ditilekha Sharma

6 min read

Sexuality

The Internalised Bias in the Bisexual Experience

I routinely traverse a minefield of reminders that I am living a double life. While I put on my best online activist hat and pontificate about queer rights being human rights, I deliberately omit doing so from the stance of a queer person. I am what you might term ‘partially closeted’.

by Usri Basistha

5 min read

Activism

Why We March (and You Should Too)

When we march, we collectively offer solidarity to the oppressed and a message to the oppressors and their allies that we all bear witness to their crimes and are no longer passive bystanders. When we march, we act—with purpose and deliberation.

by Sanjana Pegu

5 min read

Culture

Does “The Family Man” Season 2 Vilify a Largely Misunderstood Movement?

The Family Man (Season 2) is a series of missed opportunities to tell the story of power and pain of a community now displaced and isolated from their homeland.

by Hannah Stephen

6 min read

Podcast

Therapy Tuesday - Healthy Boundaries

What are healthy and unhealthy boundaries in a relationship? How do we recognize them? Why does every relationship need healthy boundaries? Setting boundaries can be uncomfortable and confusing, so, how do we go about establishing them? Ruchita answers these questions.

by Smashboard Admin

7 min read

Depression

Grief Is like an Ocean

When I lost my 59-year-old father to suicide in 2019, I was forced to join what I call the 'dead parents society' and came to be introduced to the gargantuan force that is grief.

by Nyla Saldanha

5 min read

Fatphobia

How I Transcended Internalized Fatphobia to Reconnect with My Body

For as long as I can remember, I have been fat—first, a chubby kid and then, an overweight adult. Somehow, it never bothered me. No one spoke about dieting or achieving a target weight in my family. I was happy the way I was, or so I thought.

by Khushi Mishra

4 min read

Podcast

Therapy Tuesday - Social Media & Mental Health

In this episode, we look at the relationship between social media and mental health. While social media can be valuable for networking and enhancing connections with loved ones, it can also worsen mental health issues. Ruchita gives us some techniques for managing social media behaviour.

by Smashboard Admin

9 min read

Culture

Five Films and Series That Portray the Reality of Mental Health Challenges

The entertainment industry has a long way to go when it comes to depicting mental illnesses in a manner that doesn’t perpetuate stigma. However, a recent spurt of shows and films seem to have kick-started some nuanced and healthy conversations.

by Soumya Mishra

4 min read

Opinion

Re-Reading Ambedkar’s Insistence on Inter-Caste Marriages

Inter-caste marriages reinforce casteist principles in insidious ways when lower caste spouses are forced to curate their lifestyle, food habits, and demeanour to match those of the dominant caste culture.

by Banavath Aravind

4 min read

Opinion

Arranged Marriages Uphold the Same Tradition That Promoted Sati

Caste endogamy is the defining feature of the hierarchical concept of caste and has stayed immutable through time immemorial. This perpetuation of caste supremacy via the concept of purity is primarily preserved today through the institution of marriage—especially arranged marriages.

by Yashi Verma

4 min read

Vaccination

Vaccine Apartheid: What It Is and Why We Should Vigorously Oppose It

The politics of intellectual property around life-saving pharmaceutical drugs has been marked by Big Pharma's brazen disregard for human lives, a cavalier attitude to laws, and a cult-like devotion to ever burgeoning profits.

by Sanjana Pegu

5 min read

Trans Rights

The Intertwined Realities of India’s Transgender Act 2019, Digitisation, and the COVID Vaccination Drive

The disproportionate dependency on technology continues to further curb the access to COVID-19 vaccination for those on the wrong side of the digital divide in India. What does the trend towards digitizing identity mean for transgender persons, a historically marginalised population group?

by Brindaalakshmi K

5 min read

Health

The Curious Case of Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is the fourth most commonly occurring cancer. In India, it is one of the leading cancers affecting women. The irony is that it is also one of the two types of serious cancers that can be prevented with a vaccine—so why don't people know about this?

by Anika Eliz Baby

4 min read

Social Media

The Other Side of Cancel Culture

The dependence of social media activism on virality creates a hierarchy of outrage. In this hierarchy, each cause is given weightage based on its value as a viral commodity. So who gets saved?

by Sreemoyee Mukherjee

5 min read

Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder: What Women’s Narratives Can Tell Us

Popular media has played a significant role in projecting women with borderline traits as manipulative, controlling, or socially inept.

by Rathi R

4 min read

COVID-19

Break The Chain: What You Can Do to Stop the Virus from Spreading Even More

Slowing down the COVID-19 contagion requires physical distancing and masks. There is no other way to do this at any stage of the spread anywhere. The virus is deadly and it's hell-bent on spreading—it's designed to, as all viruses are.

by Smashboard Admin

4 min read

Podcast

Therapy Tuesday- Men and Depression

In this episode, we discuss men's depression- what the symptoms can look like, and how men need to develop safer spaces for themselves and unlearn the violence they have internalized towards themselves and the people around them.

by Smashboard Admin

5 min read

Opinion

Can Indian Communists Really Even Dream of a Revolution?

Organizing the working class without addressing the caste issue is a shrewd way of the privileged caste Communists to pave a way to maintain their grasp over power in the name of proletariats while the marginalized and underprivileged continue to languish in the prison of caste.

by Abhijeet

4 min read

Award

Smashboard Has Won the UNESCO-Netexplo Grand Prix. What Is It All About?

We won the UNESCO-Netexplo Grand Prix. Many of you voted for us! So what's the prize all about?

by Smashboard Admin

1 min read

Trans Rights

How India's Brutal Lockdown Was a Calamity for Trans-Communities

Plunged into crisis during the lockdown, deprived of the basic needs for survival, many trans people battled with mental health issues and deepened dysphoria.

by Vihaan Vee

4 min read

Submissions

Submission Guidelines

We are a open to submissions for our feminist online magazine. Find our submission guidelines here.

by Smashboard Admin

3 min read

Internship

Internships

Find more details about our internship here.

by Smashboard Admin

2 min read

International Women's Day

Top 5 Women's Day Ads That Do Anything But Empower Women

Each year International Women’s Day intensifies the competition for the best advertising campaigns. These campaigns are tiring because they make empty promises with mixed up clichés about women empowerment. Their jingles and tokenistic branding show how poorly they align with feminism.

by Rishita Chaudhary

5 min read