Saving flood victims as we look for solutions
The year was 1988. My uncle was going to the United States for his undergraduate degree. He was the first family member to do so. The trend in those days was England. And, not just England, but Oxford and Cambridge.
Spot the patriarchy
What do you do when someone infantilises you because you're a young(ish) woman? There were men in that room with the same credentials as I. Did anyone ask them if they were teaching assistants?
The case for angry women
When I “talk back” (bell hooks, 1989) at institutional and personal oppression I am labelled an angry woman. As if my anger is not just. Justified.
Minority lives matter
It is not a coincidence that Bangladesh survived Cyclone Mora with few casualties while a landslide in the Chittagong Hill Tracts caused by torrential rains has left over 150 dead. Deforestation and hill-cutting are known causes of “natural disasters” like landslides, but illegal land grabbing in the CHT is at the root of deforestation and hill-cutting in the first place.
In the wake of Cyclone Mora
As the news of the cyclone named Mora (a Thai word which means 'star of the sea') erupted on social and traditional media, I couldn't
Only yes means yes
As we try to make sense of consent, we have to recognise that consent is a nuanced issue. We have to unlearn what the media and mainstream entertainment have taught us about rape—that it has to be violent and involve physical coercion for it to be rape. We cannot underestimate the power of coercive control, or manipulation.
Independence from tokenism
We often lament, especially on days like our Independence Day, about how little our people (particularly the younger generation, always the younger generation) know about our history. We talk about how people conflate the day with the Language Movement,
Not a coincidence
On this International Women's Day – the one day that we women get to call our own – we had the Women's Strike. But, I went to work because I wasn't sure I had a choice in the matter. Turns out I did, but that is another story for another day.
Is abusive behaviour a choice?
I was once called a whore. Chances are, so have you, if you're a woman. And like me, you've probably been called other names too (and I'm sorry that you have), but this is the one I choose to focus on because this one befuddles me.