By YKA Staff:
In a society that thrives on gender stereotypes, where is the space for all the identities that aren’t ‘male’ or ‘female’, and are hardly given due recognition? On February 27, Youth Ki Awaaz and Cake hosted ‘Redefining Gender’, an event that did just what the name suggests – discussed gender beyond the rigid definitions of ‘male’ and ‘female’. Held at Antisocial in Delhi, it was the first of many interesting conversations that YKA will be hosting across the country, in partnership with Social.
A packed audience at Antisocial participated in a variety of conversations along with our panelists Pramada Menon, queer, feminist activist and co-founder of CREA, Vikramaditya Sahai, trans/queer activist and professor at Ambedkar University, and Shambhavi Saxena, features writer at Youth Ki Awaaz and Cake. Manak Matiyani, queer activist and Executive Director of the YP Foundation moderated the discussion.
Here are the highlights of the event, in tweets and photos.
Howdy folks! In just some time, we'll be starting our event, 'Redefining Gender', in Delhi! Follow the conversation with #YKAatSocial!
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
Manak Matiyani initiates the discussion.
#Gender is fluid and varying according to space – @Dafliwala starts the panel discussion. #YKAatSocial @TheYPFoundation
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
The male, female and 'other' categories fix you in rigid structures – @Dafliwala at #YKAatSocial#RedefiningGender
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
Let’s start early.
How to create a space whr children rnt assigned a gender identity by the parents & not pushed to the 'normative'? – @Dafliwala #YKAatSocial
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
Shambhavi Saxena asks a very important question.
Why is sexuality 'sexy' but gender just 'women's problems'? @Shamwoo raises some pertinent questions at #YKAatSocial
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
.@Shamwoo talks abt the pressures to fit in the spectrum of gender while growing up @thecakeofficial #YKAatSocial
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
Why is ‘feminist’ a bad word? Pramada Menon makes some crucial points.
"In the early 90s if I asked in meetings what about gender, they said she is a feminist." – Pramada Menon speaks #YKAatSocial @OfficialCREA
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
#PramadaMenon of @OfficialCREA brings out the struggle to reach where we are now in terms of #gender and #sexuality #YKAatSocial
— Anugraha Hadke (@AnugrahaHadke) February 27, 2016
#PramadaMenon of @OfficialCREA – We never talk about what does it mean to be trapped in a gender at birth. #YKAatSocial
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
Why is it about how you look and not how you feel?
My body dictates how the world interacts with me instead of how I want the world to interact with me #PramadaMenon #YKAatSocial
— Anugraha Hadke (@AnugrahaHadke) February 27, 2016
We have to look at gender as a country with tightly patrolled borders – #PramadaMenon smashes #patriarchy
#RedifiningGender #YKAatSocial— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
Just as we are transphobic, homophobic, heteronormative, etc, we are also gender normative- Pramada Menon at #YKAatSocial
— Abhishek Jha (@naalmot) February 27, 2016
Vikramaditya Sahai says it like it is.
Just as we are transphobic, homophobic, heteronormative, etc, we are also gender normative- Pramada Menon at #YKAatSocial
— Abhishek Jha (@naalmot) February 27, 2016
"Gender is also about our complicity with its pleasures" – Vikramaditya Sahai #YKAatSocial
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
"The truth of our desires is directly proportional to the intensity of conflict – the social plot of love" – Vikramaditya Sahai #YKAatSocial
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
It’s not just about women.
"We fall into the trap of looking at fact that gender is just women" – Pramada Menon on the need to talk abt men as well #YKAatSocial
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
Some thought-provoking questions from the audience.
https://twitter.com/sahil_1203/status/703468702524534784
https://twitter.com/kirrat_sachdeva/status/703468708430110720
"Objects by themselves do not have a gender, we have assigned them a gender" interesting comment made at #YKAatSocial
— Youth Ki Awaaz (@YouthKiAwaaz) February 27, 2016
We’re glad the audience had a good time! And subscribe to our email list for information on such events that we host in the future!
Another step forward in crushing/quashing gender/sexuality stereotypes by @YouthKiAwaaz @anshul_tewari #YKA@Social
— Swarnima (@SwarnsB) February 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/anshul_tewari/status/703477072061009920
At an interesting #ykaatsocial talk on understanding gender @YouthKiAwaaz pic.twitter.com/VezAYnQ2a4
— Faith Gonsalves (@faithgonsalves) February 27, 2016