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Sakhiyani is the result of ten years of research by Giti Thadani for the 'lost' lesbian tradition in India. She challenges the erasure of indigenous language and histories which 'describe an erotic context for those who love their own sex (particularly language describing the female experience)'.
One of the extraordinary achievements of Sakhiyani is the way it reclaims the meaning of words like Sakhi, Bhagini and Jami. As one learns to see these words in their original context one also learns to acknowledge a tradition of lesbian desire in ancient and modern India. Rich with photographs and paintings this book is a pleasure to read.
Giti and her friends have set up the first lesbian archive and activist group in Delhi. They made their first public statement in 1990 in Bombay Dost, a gay magazine which is published from Bombay. The salient points of the statement by Sakhi were the 'necessity of networking, the creation of lesbian visibility, the challenging of lesbophobia and the internalization of heterosexual roles even within lesbian relationships, and the demarcation of its differences with the male gay movement. It also challenged the contemporary feminist, leftist and civil rights movement on its silence on lesbian issues.' (Sakhiyani, P. 115)
Over the years Sakhi has organised a number of seminars including the one on alternative sexualities in 1993. As the only open lesbian group in India Sakhi has done path breaking work to help the lesbian movement in India gain some visibility.
As I write this, I recall how upset a colleague of mine was when she heard that Adrienne Rich, her favourite poet, had a woman lover. I also recall a male friend's anger and indignation when we spotted a lesbian erotic sculpture in one of the temples of Orissa. It is because I know the homophobia (particularly lesbophobia) of my own society only too well I know what courage it must take to keep an organisation like Sakhi going.
Our congratulations to the women at Sakhi.
Sakhi can be contacted at:
P.O. Box 3526, Lajpat Nagar
New Delhi
110024
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