Facing the Mirror: Lesbian Writing from

A groundbreaking book where lesbians found their voice for the first timeFor decades most lesbians in India did not know the extent of their presence in the country networks barely existed and the love they had for other women was a shameful secret to be buried deep within the heart. In Facing the Mirror Ashwini Sukthankar collected hidden forgotten distorted triumphant stories from across India revealing the richness and diversity of the lesbian experience for the first time. Going back as far as the 1960s and through the forms of fiction and poetry essays and personal history this rare collection mapped a hitherto unknown trajectory.In celebration of the Supreme Courts reading down of the draconian Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code this twentieth-anniversary edition with a foreword by author and activist Shals Mahajan brings to readers a remarkable history that illuminates the blood and the tears the beauty and the magic of the queer movement in India. The raw anger and passion in them still alive the writings in Facing the Mirror proudly proclaim the courage the sensuality the humour and the vulnerability of being lesbian. Review A courageous and unabashed recording of lesbian realities . . .Facing the Mirror bravely eschews that and shatters all possible stereotypes . . . [It] throws up a Ferris wheel of voices a pathbreaking beginning for lesbian literature in IndiaOutlookOne of the first curated collection of stories that revolve around lesbian relationships. From personal experiences to purely fictional expressions of the woes of being a woman in [this] worldGaysiFacing the Mirror is a compilation of stories poems essays and personal histories-some of them very explicit. . . . The 77 contributors included a Haryanvi housewife a Mumbai domestic worker professionals activists. The book belongs to these women who put their thoughts and lives on scraps of paper or tapeIndia TodayThis collection is something of a milestone dealing with the experience of Indian lesbians across caste religion and to some extent class and region tooNew internationalist About the Author Ashwini Sukthankar was born in Mumbai in 1974 grew up in Papua New Guinea and lived in India for many years. She currently works as a trade union activist with UNITE HERE a union representing hotel and food service workers in the US and Canada. As director of Global Campaigns her work involves close partnerships with labour movements all over the world including in India. She remains proudly committed to all forms of queer and trans* liberation.