Raqeeb Raza is a storyteller with a purpose, an Instagrammer with a cause. Introducing body positivity in the Indian male domain, through a delightful visual odyssey, he’s helping dismantle the toxic stereotypes around manhood and sexuality, one photograph at a time.
Search for @daintystrangerphotos on Instagram, and you’ll witness a beautifully curated tapestry of coloured, black and white, and sepia-toned images. Of men—nude and semi nude, single, with their lovers, or in groups. It may confound you, or perhaps overwhelm...stun, even. It is not often, after all, that you see men baring their bodies—and their souls— to reveal their deepest scars, saddest secrets, and biggest vulnerabilities.
The page, with a modest 2,298 followers when we checked last, is a far cry from the digital sensations that some body positivity accounts have come to be; but it is certainly an unexpected sensory offering—for the eyes as well as the mind.
Founder Raqeeb Raza describes the page as capturing “intimate portraits and intricacies of male sexuality”. In reality, it is much more than that. Through these photographs, Raqeeb’s page also captures intimate stories—of mental and physical trauma caused due to male body shaming, and calls out the toxic intricacies of stereotypes associated with manhood.
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Denne historien er fra June 2019-utgaven av Cosmopolitan India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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