Workshops on Gender, Sexuality, Law, and Diversity

Why these workshops?

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We are committed to discussing the many intersections at which we encounter pleasure, identity, consent, inequality, and rights. These issues need to be contextualised within the larger spectrum of sexuality and gender, and our goal is to be sex and pleasure positive even as we discuss the many pitfalls that are attendant upon both of them. In our hope to generate non-judgemental dialogue that can help build critical perspectives on these complex issues, we conduct sessions on essential questions that arise from our everyday encounters with sexuality:

 

Are gender and sexuality fixed entities? How do I recognise my desire? How should I respond to another person’s desire? How and where do I draw the line on sexual interaction? How should I act on my feelings of attraction? What are the legal frameworks that surround sexuality in India today? We cover a wide range of topics including bullying, law, caste, physical and intellectual diversity, societal norms, media representations, culture, the workplace, relationships, stigma, and shame.

These workshops are conducted in English and Hindi. However, they can be adapted to other languages and contexts, and we would be happy to provide support for such translations. In addition to conducting these workshops in schools, colleges, and workplaces, we also conduct training for trainers, social workers, teachers, employers, and grassroots organisations.

All four workshops, combined, fulfil the requirements of a gender sensitization program or PoSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) Training. We have facilitated versions of these workshops in various academic institutes such as the University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Ambedkar University, National Law Universities,  Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Don Bosco School, Step by Step School and Mamta Modern School. We have also facilitated these workshops in workplaces big and small, some of which include METRO Cash and Carry, Feminist Approach to Technology, Centre for Internet and Society, and Parichay.

   Framing Gender

 

This workshop presents and interrogates basic questions around gender and sex. It thinks about how individuals navigate their experience of a particular gender. We look at popular media and film in an attempt to build our critical faculties and understand how the world dictates rigid gender norms. While covering issues relating to lived experience, LGBTQIA+ identities, societal norms and power dynamics, we simultaneously share how people challenge conventional notions of masculinity and femininity.

            Exploring Sexuality

 

This workshop attempts to complicate our understanding of sexuality as being fixed and singular. It moves away from the assumption that sexuality is exclusively about sexual orientation, and also investigates questions of consent, pleasure, and self-expression. We will think about whether sexuality is innate or learned, fixed or mutable, single or multiple. Focusing on our experiences, the workshop aims to complicate our notions of desire, sexual relationships, and agency.

    Understanding the Law

 

This workshop will impart a working knowledge of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Act, 2013. We will bring up questions of accountability and power, as well as impart a basic framework of how and when to file complaints. We will also think about the role that the law plays in regulating our self-expression, while demonstrating to participants that when looked through a gendered lens, the law is not as impartial as it might seem. We will keep in mind the prevention of sexual harassment policy of the institutions in which the session is to be conducted.

         Expanding Diversity

 

This workshop will think about diversity across multiple sites, including gender, sexuality, caste, religion, and physical ability. We will look at intellectual and physical structures that can be made accessible and inclusive, not just as a policy, but also as a practice. Expanding the very definition of diversity as it ranges from an individual’s gender and sexual identity to the various intersections at which those identities get formed and challenged, we will think about practical measures by which such diversitycan be achieved and embraced.

For getting in touch with us to conduct these workshops, please see our brochures for schools, universities and workplaces.

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