Boyish - Rajat Mittal — The Desi Collaborative

featuring Rajat Mittal

‘Boyish’ by Rajat Mittal: A monthly newsletter discussing gender stereotypes faced by boys in India

Boyish is a monthly newsletter consisting of inspirational stories of Indian men who have defied gender stereotypes in their respective careers.

Boyish is an 11-part essay series by engineer-turned-creative-maker, Rajat Mittal. Delivered to your inbox every month over the course of a year, Boyish seeks to discuss masculinity and the experience of growing up for boys in India. Each essay brings to light different stereotypes that Indian boys often have to deal with, and then tells the story of a successful individual who defied them.

Born and raised in a small town in Uttar Pradesh, Rajat grew up with a restricted idea of masculinity. As he moved onwards and upwards in life, education and interactions with people from diverse backgrounds redefined and challenged his long-held cultural beliefs about manhood.

Before Boyish, Rajat co-authored 3 books for young women namely Menstrupedia: Friendly guide to healthy periods and two editions of She Can You Can: The A-Z Book of Iconic Indian Women. “By working on projects focused on education and empowerment of girls, I slowly began to realise that gender stereotypes hurt not just girls but boys as well. This is honestly why I created Boyish. With Boyish, my aim is to unlearn my own conditioning and to invite others to think more deeply about masculinity and how we raise boys in India.” says author Rajat Mittal.

When Rajat became father to a boy, he didn’t want his son to face the same pigeonholing gender norms he did growing up, and so wrote this essay series to attempt to challenge the limited idea of manliness that prevails in our culture. It does so by nudging the reader to think more deeply about masculinity and how boys are often raised.

For Boyish, Rajat interviewed 11 Indian men who have broken into and excelled in traditionally non-masculine fields, ranging from ballet dancer Manish Chauhan to make-up artist Elton Fernandez (full list below). Through the series, Rajat hopes that readers can discover newer role models and also realize that in today’s world, our lives should not be limited by the genders we were born with.

Boyish is a light read, and is relevant to anyone with a young person in their lives, or to anyone who is looking to expand their view of gender. The stories in the series have been beautifully illustrated by Ajin Mohan.

Boyish can be subscribed to for free by visiting boyish.in. The first essay is delivered within 24-48 hours of subscribing, with subsequent essays delivered on the first Saturday of each month. You can learn more about Rajat and his previous work at lifeinafolder.com.

Full list of profiles in Boyish:

1. Ballet Dancer - Manish Chauhan

2. Cartoonist - Pran

3. Social activist solving menstrual hygiene for women - Arunachalam Muruganantham

4. Belly dancer - Ishan Hilal

5. Nurse - Stanly Jones

6. High school teacher - P.K. Srinivasan

7. Zumba instructor - Mohsin Syed

8. Poet - Jayanta Mahapatra

9. Makeup artist - Elton Fernandez

10. Environmentalist - Anil Agarwal

11. Social activist helping sex workers - Dr. Girish Kulkarni