Capturing the Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life....

A mother posts a heartfelt birthday message for her child. Hundreds respond. The post goes viral. But the child is just a few rooms away. This blog begins with that moment— and asks a simple, unsettling question: When did love become something we perform for others? From birthday posts to changing names, this is a story about how social media is quietly reshaping how we feel, love, and present ourselves. A Birthday Post, A Quiet Room, and the Performance of Love It began with a notification. A birthday post. A mother had written a long, emotional message for her child— full of love, memories, pride. Photos. Emojis. Warmth. Hundreds of likes. Dozens of comments. “Such a beautiful bond!” “So lucky to have a mother like you!” And yet, what stayed with me was a simple question: The child lived in the same house. Just a few rooms away. The Distance Between Two Rooms Somewhere inside that house, there could have been a hug. A whispered “Happy Birthday.” A quiet moment that belonged only ...

We often think in binaries: victim or perpetrator, right or wrong, truth or falsehood. But what if reality refuses these categories? This piece explores the uncomfortable grey zones of gender, power, and allegation — drawing on feminist theory to ask: Can we pursue justice without losing nuance? Because sometimes, the hardest thing to do is not to choose a side — but to think. Beyond Binaries: Gender, Power, and the Ethics of Allegation Let me begin with a risk. This blog post may be misread — as a defence of patriarchy, as a dilution of feminist concerns, or as a provocation. But perhaps that risk itself tells us something about the moment we inhabit. We are increasingly compelled to think in binaries: victim or perpetrator feminist or anti-feminist just or unjust And anything that attempts to inhabit the in-between — the uneasy, unstable grey — is often flattened into one side or the other. Unlearning the Comfort of Certainty This insistence on binaries is not accidental. As Judith B...