Boyish is a monthly newsletter expanding the discourse on masculinity in India 🇮🇳.
Sent on the first Saturday of the month.
and heard 🎙️ on BrownPeopleWeKnow, Pops In A Pod
Welcome to Boyish 🙏🏼. Boyish aims to be a place where you arrive if the topic of masculinity in the context of India 🇮🇳 intrigues you.
So much of discourse on gender and feminist discourse is focused on the numerous consequences of patriarchy for women. That is the right thing to do but we haven’t paused to question if patriarchy can have dastardly consequences for men too, erasing the opportunity for them to live their true selfs just as it does for other genders.
Boyish aims to change that. It is an emerging platform rooted in the belief that patriarchy is not the sole expression of just masculinity, patriarchy is an expression of immature understanding of gender, and it hurts us all. Patriarchy is an attack on masculinity in its fullness just as it is on femininity in its fullness.
Masculinity is a lot like the movie Fight Club. The first rule of masculinity is that you don’t talk about it. This has to change if we want a gender equitable world. Boyish’s goal is to be of service in this direction ✨.
Men weren’t really the enemy. They were fellow victims suffering from an outmoded masculine mystique that made them feel unnecessarily inadequate when there were no bears to kill.
Previously, I've been the maker of 2 educational books for girls: Menstrupedia and She Can You Can.
By working on projects focused on education and empowerment of girls, I slowly began to realise and learn how gender norms impact not just girls but boys as well. This is honestly why I created Boyish.
With Boyish, my aim is to unlearn my own conditioning and to invite others to think more deeply about masculinity in the context of India 🇮🇳.
Kaviya Sekhar
Illustrator
Liesl Goecker
Consulting Editor
Ajin Mohan
Illustrator
Mrinalini Khattar
Editor
Rachel Aneesha Rao
Supporting Writer & Research Aid
Samira Shaikh
Supporting Writer & Research Aid