Author: Swathi
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When the stigma is from within: A story of my feminist values and a narcissistic mother
I’ve seen my mother face domestic violence since I was a child. Growing up in an environment where individual liberty and self expression had no space for existence, I soon learnt to survive by making myself invisible. But in my most private thoughts, I always felt the need to fight for women’s rights. Maybe it […]
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What makes You: Values or Behaviour?
I have a friend who is a feminist. She stands for the ideals of equality. She believes in a just society where all genders can exist in harmony with no violence or aggressions. I became close to her because of this camaraderie I felt for a fellow feminist. How wonderful it is, I thought, to […]
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What I learnt from my Imposter Syndrome.
Yesterday, a professor from my department retired. He is an eminent scholar in the field of cultural studies. There was a zoom meeting to celebrate his career over the years. Several experienced professors, intellectuals, ex-PhD students and academicians attended the meeting. I wasn’t prepared for the sense of doom that rushed through my body at […]
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Intellectualizing vs. Experiencing.
“How much true it is today, when almost everybody sees, hears, feels, and tastes with his thoughts rather than the power within himself which can see, hear, feel and taste.” – Erich Fromm ( Pschoanalysis and Zen Buddhism) Except for the evident exclusionary gender terms in the above lines, a profound truth can be understood. […]
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Why do we parentify our romantic partners?
Questions like “What do you expect in your romantic partner?” leads to interesting answers. One of the most common answer I’ve come across is, “I want to be myself around them. Someone who will accept me for everything that I am.” At first glance, this expectation seems perfectly valid. After all we don’t want to […]