The Kerala High Court recently upheld that women students have the same freedoms as men. The implications of these college rules go far beyond the campus. It goes against the understanding that the potential of young women is up for sacrifice without a second thought, as long as we can keep them in line.

As Indian girls, we are raised with the strict instruction that our bras should not be hung out to dry like the rest of the dirty linen we wash in public. Perhaps the reason that the bra has come to be a trigger garment is not because men can’t deal with it, but because with all our hiding we haven’t really given them a chance to.

Police in Tamil Nadu say that more than 50 women have been sexually abused by a four-member gang in Pollachi. Yet the plight of the survivors has gone unnoticed and reported sparingly by the mainstream media.

A few days ago, I invested in a house of my own. I want a home where I don’t have to spend three days in a month lurking outside the kitchen because it’s “that time of the month”. I want a house where I can’t be removed from no matter what (or who) I do. Not by misogynist landlords or housing societies that randomly decide they don’t want “bachelors”.

Days after I outed my abuser at the height of the #MeToo movement last October, I was overcome by gut-wrenching guilt. A big part of it was seeded in my belief that for the most part, people deserve second chances. Were a few unwelcome dirty messages a crime big enough to warrant the obliteration of his public image?

Periods are used as convenient tools to dismiss and overpower women. This experience is so common to patriarchal societies that frankly, I was baffled that a documentary as simplistic as Period. End Of Sentence. was considered insightful enough to earn an Oscar. Perhaps that’s what makes it relevant.

In endorsing the superhero spectacle, Black Panther for “Best Film”, the Academy has responded to today’s age and yet, its crusade to popularise aberrant films is still catalysed by the dominance of the male genius. What else explains the exclusion of female directors from the Best Director race this year?

At 19, my aunt, who I once suspected of being a little bit butch, lashed out at my mother for trying to fix my engagement with a girl. She understood that I was different, just like her. And that #LoveMovesForward in different ways.

The world applauds the woman who cracks the IIT, but immediately gets their knickers in a twist if a woman drinks, parties, or puts herself first. Through the years, women’s magazines have shown women how to fall in love with themselves. Maybe, this is what makes people so uncomfortable.