Knowledge is power. — When I was in my early twenties, I had an unwanted pregnancy and needed to find out how to have an abortion. I turned to Google for information, typing in “medical abortion”. Back then, among the first few results to appear on the search engine were two sites that were…

A woman’s right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy has nothing to do with how she got pregnant. — It makes me uncomfortable when those defending women’s rights over their own bodies resort to using the case of rape to showcase how horrendous it is to ban abortion. It feels like they are feeding into the arguments of anti-abortion activists, who would like to use the law to impose…

Answers to those questions you are afraid to ask — and some that you didn’t know you had! — This year I started my biggest project yet: writing a book. When the idea first came to me, it felt straightforward enough. I was a writer. In terms of word count, I’d written several books worth of articles, reports, and university essays. I had no idea how little I knew…

But she is part of the BJP, a Hindu nationalist party with a history of discriminating against Muslims. — Droupadi Murmu made history last week when she became the first person belonging to India’s indigenous communities to become president. “My elevation as president is not just my achievement but that of everyone in the country, that they can dream of reaching this level,” Ms Murmu said after being sworn…

Oh no, wait, it’s just my period. — Each time, I forget. My mood plummets. I feel like everything is falling apart, like everybody hates me and who even cares anyway cos life has no meaning. So fuck it. And then, a day or so later, I see blood in my panties, and I think to myself “ooooh…

PHOTO ESSAY: Life in a city that is sinking. — The eternal question is whether Venice will be submerged by tourists first, or by the rising tide wrought be climate change. According to the latest estimates, the city will be underwater by 2100 if climate change trends continue uncurbed. And yet a different risk is already threatening Venice. Locals often…

This little town is a vestige of how the French Riviera must have looked before developers moved in and poured concrete on it. — The painting shows a dark alleyway, painted in dingey tones of beige and grey. At the end of the narrow street is an arched passageway leading under a house. The only flashes of colour are the dusty green shutters, and the clothes on a washing line dangling lopsidedly on the…

And how to get closer to one another. — Have I already written about how sleeping together brings us so much closer? Not that kind of sleeping together, hehehe. That would be too obvious. A large part of sex involves creating minus spaces between two individuals, so it doesn’t get much closer. No, what I mean is that sleeping…

Yet again, we are left woefully underprepared for adulting. — I didn't drive for five years after getting my license. I didn’t even touch a steering wheel. Learning to drive had been a special kind of nightmare. My instructor’s teaching techniques were limited to bullying, screaming at me every time I made a mistake, and telling me to accelerate when…