International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8th every year. To mark the day this year, Love Matters India is launching a week-long campaign ‚ÄúPleasure in pop culture ‚Äì For women, by women‚Äù to celebrate women‚Äôs pleasure in popular culture ‚Äì through the female gaze.¬†
The campaign will focus on celebrating and affirming positive and diverse representations of women’s sexuality, pleasure and desire through everything that comes under the umbrella of ‘popular culture’Рmovies, television shows, shows on online streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime directed or written by women, popular art, photography, books, magazines – by women, and focusing on pleasure of women; writers, bloggers, comic strips, stand-up comedies – where women have taken the lead to articulate their own interpretation(s) of women’s pleasure – which have otherwise usually been presented on-screen and in popular culture through the dominant male gaze.
The objective of the campaign, therefore, is to highlight, celebrate, and contribute to conversations online and offline about enabling more spaces for diverse, bold,  inclusive and fun representations and discourses of women’s pleasure – by and for women! 
The campaign will take place both online and offline. As part of the online campaign, we are calling on women artists and designers to submit their work on the theme “What does pleasure mean to you?”
Talking about the campaign, Vithika Yadav, Head of Love Matters India said, ‚ÄúPopular culture and especially Bollywood movies have been a major point of reference for Indian culture. Women have for most part always been portrayed within male-constructed stereotypes. This women’s day we want to talk about and celebrate the work of some women who are breaking the stereotypes related to women and the phenomenon of the ‘Indian Woman and pleasure’ coming-of-age.‚Äù
We will curate the submissions, and share it on our social media channels, as well as at a small exhibition during the offline event scheduled for March 9th in Delhi. 
The offline event will take place on March 9th, Saturday, at Raasta, Hauz Khas from 4:30 pm to 7 pm. 
Many women performers will take the stage and use various means of performance arts to highlight female pleasure. 
Activities 
- Titled ‘Pleasure in pop culture For women, by women’  – the campaign #ByWomenForWomen will focus on the representation and portrayal of female sexuality and pleasure in popular culture in India
- The offline event #ByWomenForWomen will take place on Saturday, March 9th, at Raasta, Hauz Khas from 4:30 pm to 7 pm
- Performances by various female artists on the theme of female pleasure and sexuality 
- Showcasing a slideshow of snippets from various movies, books and other examples where female pleasure has been talked about from the perspective of female gaze
- Art work exhibition of top 5 submissions from women on the theme Р‘What does pleasure mean to you?
Event details 
Date: Saturday, March 9th, 2019
Time: 4:30-7 pm
Venue: Raasta, Caribbean Lounge, Green Park, New Delhi 
Join Event Page: Click HERE 
Register here if want to attend: Click HERE
To get updates about the event, follow the link: Click HERE
Hashtag: #ByWomenForWomen 
So join in the celebrations on March 9th, Saturday, from 4:30 – 7 pm at Rasta!
About Love Matters 
Love Matters is a global multimedia project engaging young people to talk about love, sex and relationships, with a presence in 5 countries around the world: India, Kenya, China, Latin America (Mexico and Venezuela) and Egypt. Love Matters believes love, sex and relationships should be a right, a choice, and a pleasure. The first step towards making this possible and having an impact on young people’s lives is offering access to information. 
LM India is the first bilingual sexual reproductive health (SRH) site to offer comprehensive youth-friendly information in English and Hindi. 
Since the launch of the bilingual site on January 14, 2014, it has had over 20 million yearly visitors, and has the current website monthly reach of 2 million visitors. Their Facebook community has a following of more than 1.4 million making it the most popular sexual health Facebook page in India.
Website: https://lovematters.in/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lovematters.india/ 
Love Matters India‚Äôs Women’s Day event 2018¬†
In 2018, Love Matters India celebrated International Women‚Äôs Day with the theme “Women talk about sex…get over it!” as a way to normalize the fact that women can and do talk about sex, and we ought to create more spaces for women to have more of such conversations so we can collectively reduce the stigma and shame around women’s sexuality, and bring about a positive change in the broader culture around talking about sex.
As part of this theme, Love Matters India organized an open mic event aimed at encouraging women from all backgrounds, regardless of their age, class, caste, sexual orientation, occupation, etc. to share their experiences, struggles, and wins related to talking about sex across diverse settings and spaces using variety of formats – storytelling, dancing, art, spoken word poetry, etc. 
