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Our history and journey
The Ladies Finger started a few months into the rage, activism and introspection that followed the 2012 Delhi gang-rape. And here we are today, a few months into the age of #MeToo. Our essential mission remains the same – to report Indian news with a gendered lens and to tell vital stories about Indian women’s experiences and lives that are never discussed in our mainstream media if they’re not particularly heroic or tragic. We cover politics, culture, health, sex, law, books, work and everything in between. We’re not afraid to say what we think.
Five years later, we feel the ground has shifted…a little. You must have noticed it too this Women’s Day. Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon of women’s issues as a ‘seller’, but how many stories about women’s lives did you actually read that week that were worthwhile, that meant something to you, that moved you or told you something new about your world?
Sexual harassers, Aadhar and demonetisation’s effects specifically on women, the joy of fashion mags, cruel gynecs, testing menstrual cups, the fun women have in loos of pubs, what they don’t tell you about breastfeeding, selfie issues, women’s most unforgettable sexual encounters, how to get over the stigma of leaving work on time, what’s therapy like for women today, and on and on…Finger still represents something unique in Indian media, and we’re still surprised at how easy it is for the mainstream media to miss women in plain sight in a news story, or miss the gender bias underlying a story, or just altogether ignore vast parts of women’s experiences.
Finger understands that women are interested in more than just diets and fear-mongering, that women across class have a great hunger for gender-equal perspectives, and that most of all, journalism must take Indian women’s lives seriously. We try to do this with freshness and wit and without taking ourselves too seriously. We try to stay alive to absurdity, adventure and value not just politics but also other pains, other pleasures.
Some of our best, most fun and award-winning stories are collected here, here and here.