Pleasure, ‘education’, and erotism

An intersectional reading of gender, sex, and sexuality in Agents of Ishq Zines

Bibliographic Data

ID22003361
AuthorsS S Bagchi (0009-0004-7542-3451, Alliance University, corresponding author), Liju Jacob Kuriakose (0000-0001-7726-0554, Alliance University)
Year2025
Volume16
Issue1-2
Pages352-368
Publication date2025-03-04
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Graphic Novels & Comics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2150-4857 • E-ISSN: 2150-4865
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21504857.2024.2358062
OpenAlexW4398770163
LanguageEN
References cited14

Situated at the crossroads of scholarly inquiry in gender studies and counter-cultural studies, this paper analyses how the two zines by the multimodal platform Agents of Ishq viz. What is normal? AKA Heteronormativity Kya Hai? and The Political Power of Pleasure, ‘perform’ as a space for sexuality-studies sensitisation and create a platform for inclusive and intersectional sex education. The use of handmade illustrations, intermingled languages, ‘cut-and-paste’ collage style aesthetic, nonlinear narrative, and nonconformist content pose compelling questions related to erotic subcultures, cultural taboos, heteronormativity, and discrimination. The analysis focuses on how the visual-verbal format of zines contribute to the need for narratives that focus on differences in experiences, instead of imposing single-axis ideas and representations, to explore how these texts represent the voices that lie at intersections by opposing homogenisation of identities and cultures. It highlights the need to acknowledge the intersectionality of sexual identities to practice a more inclusive and sensitised social activism

Human sexuality · Linguistics · Pleasure · Psychotherapist · Sociology · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Cinema and Media Studies · Gender Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · South Asian Cinema and Culture

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