What are the linkages between sexuality and violence against women – beyond sexual violence? Do poor rural women want to talk about sex? What does it mean to take a political approach to sexuality? Should pleasure be a part of this politics? How can women’s rights activists be persuaded to prioritize sexuality in their work? How do categories of caste, class, rural, educated, intersect with sexuality? These are some of the questions that Nirantar, a women’s NGO working on gender and education in India, sought to answer. Nirantar ran a programme of 13 sexuality workshops with 300 participants, including both rural, Dalit women and NGO staff members. The experiences and reflections are shared in this working paper.
This paper is also available for download in Chinese (pdf).