Tesro is an editorial project, not a blog. Every page on the site passes through a documented editorial process before it goes live. This page describes that process, for the benefit of readers, for the benefit of regulators, and for our own discipline.
Register and tone
The register of the site is adult, cultural and non-graphic. We describe intimate material at the level of a mainstream wellness magazine or a serious cultural publication. We do not publish pornographic prose or sexually explicit imagery. Readers who want a graphic treatment of the same subject matter should consult a modern annotated translation of the Kama Sutra itself.
Sources
The primary source for every page is the Kama Sutra itself. We work chiefly from three modern editions:
- Doniger, Wendy and Kakar, Sudhir. Kamasutra. Oxford World's Classics, Oxford University Press, 2002. This is our default reference edition.
- Daniélou, Alain. Le Kama Sutra. Éditions du Rocher, 1994. Used for cross-checking on debated passages.
- Burton, Sir Richard F. And Arbuthnot, Forster F. The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana. Kama Shastra Society, 1883. Treated as a historical document.
For historical and cultural context we consult standard reference works on classical Indian literature, and where appropriate the medieval commentaries on the Kama Sutra (often the Jayamangala of Yashodhara) and the later medieval erotological literature (the Ratirahasya, the Ananga Ranga).
Fact-checking
Every factual claim on the site is checked against at least one of the sources listed above. Where authorities disagree, we note the disagreement rather than choose sides silently. Where dating or attribution is genuinely uncertain, as with the exact date of the Kama Sutra's composition — we say so.
Draft, review, publication
Each page is:
- drafted by a single named member of the editorial team;
- reviewed by a second editor for accuracy, tone and register;
- read once more, aloud where possible, before publication;
- dated on publication, and re-dated whenever it is substantively revised.
Style
We write in careful, plain English. We prefer short paragraphs to long ones. We prefer concrete words to abstract ones. We avoid marketing language and superlatives. We do not use exclamation marks or emoji. We keep italics for foreign words and for the titles of works. We use British English spelling as our house standard but do not correct American English quotations.
Attribution
Where we quote a translation, we identify the translator. Where we paraphrase, we do not pretend to be quoting. Where we lean on a specific scholarly argument, we say so.
Corrections
When we get something wrong, we correct it. Our Corrections Policy describes the process. Corrections are made quickly and, where the correction is substantive, noted on the page.
Editorial independence
Our judgement is not shaped by commercial partners because we have none. See the Publishers & Operators page for detail on our funding and independence arrangements.
Complaints
Readers, subjects and regulators who consider that we have breached these standards are invited to write to the editor at the address given on our Contact page. We take all such correspondence seriously and respond within the time frame described in the Corrections Policy.
Adult-content responsibilities
Because our subject matter is adult, we observe additional standards of care. Our Regulation & Compliance page describes those in more detail. we mark every page as adult in its metadata, we do not publish graphic imagery, and we do not intend the site for children.
The people behind the standards
See the our editorial pages page for the editorial team.
Full editorial index
Readers who arrive here directly should know that this page is one section of the main resource, our editorial resource on the Sanskrit treatise by Vatsyayana. The wider guide is the natural place to start.
The team behind the pages is introduced on About and Publishers & Operators.
How the pages are produced, corrected and regulated is set out on Corrections Policy and Regulation & Compliance.
The legal small print of the site lives on Privacy Policy, Cookies Policy and Terms of Use.
For editorial correspondence, use Contact.