A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Some of the bios might be dated

Aahung is a Karachi-based NGO that works on improving the sexual and reproductive health of men, women and young people. Through capacity building and information dissemination, Aahung focuses on the creation of an enabling environment in Pakistan where people have comfort with their body, are practicing healthy behaviors and are able to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights.

Aakriti is a vocal proud love-being-naked hairy feminist whose only mission in life is to keep learning. She is a middle-class, cis-gender, heterosexual (for now), Hindu, able-bodied woman who has had the privilege of studying quite a bit. With a background in psychology and social work, she is now, in her own imagination, doing a PhD in gender and sexuality with special emphasis on pleasure.

Aamena has a Masters degree in Counselling Psychology from the Indian Institute of Psychology and Research, Bangalore. Her interest lies in decoding the whys of human behaviour. She also likes to travel and read. She is currently working as an Employee Relations specialist in an IT firm.

Aanchal Bhatnagar is a Trainee Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist in New Delhi, India. She is a member of the American Psychological Association and the recipient of the APA Div39 (Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy) Scholar Award 2019. Her current works include archiving the narratives of loss and psychic continuity. With a keen interest in films and mythology, she holds a discussion group in New Delhi around their varied strands.

Aathira Gopi  is a postgraduate in Women’s Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is currently working as a Gender and sexuality educator and consultant. Her research interests include masculinities, marriage and family, female friendships, and singlehood studies.

Abdullah Erikat is a Junior Scientist in Genomics and Drug Discovery in metabolic diseases. Besides science, he is passionate about steering discussions on sexual and gender diversity. He enjoys writing about the entangling effect of socio-bio-political power on sexualities and gender. He likes performing arts, dancing, and languages.

Abhaya Tatavarti works in a diversity and inclusion firm in Bangalore, India. A feminist before knowing what the word meant, she graduated with a B.A in International Studies. She works with organizations to implement the Sexual Harassment of Women (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. She believes that discomfort is an important process in generating change. She enjoys fitness, frankies and reading. Her favourite feminist icons range from Rihanna to Nur Jahan.

Abhinand Kishore is a researcher and an artist, desiring to collaborate with various ways of knowing/doing to understand the world. After completing an Electronics and Communication engineering degree, he worked in Anannia, an NGO working mainly among LGBTQ+ communities and marginalised and stigmatised children. He did an MA in International Relations and Political Science from Central University of Kerala. He is carrying out a personal project called ‘On body’ incorporating different forms of expressions and disciplines including multimedia and neuroscience. He is currently doing his PhD at MG University Kottayam, studying the urbanisation of Kerala.

Abhiruchi Chatterjee is a Development Professional, and has worked at the grassroots as well as in the policy making space. Her work, cutting across the themes of gender, urbanization, development, and migration, and her experience in the remote tribal areas of Jharkhand to the decision-making seats of power in New Delhi, lend her a keen eye for inclusion of intersectional experiences and perspectives. Her formative background in academic research continues to shape her inquisitive mind. A minimalist, she believes that responsible consumerism is integral to promoting indigenous art, literature and culture.

Abhishek Anicca is a writer, poet and performer. He identifies as a person with disability and chronic illness.

Abhishek Chaudhary aka makhee is a visual artist who works with photographs, fiction and forms of new media inquiries. You can view more of his work at www.rangeenmakhee.tumblr.com and on his instagram.

Abhiti Gupta (She/They) is a bisexual genderqueer person from Delhi. They work as an Independent Consultant with an intersectional feminist lens on issues related to gender, sexuality, sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice, gender based violence,leadership/ perspective building. They are a law graduate with Masters in Social Work (Women-Centred Practice). They continue to work at formal and informal spaces reflecting on lived realities, acknowledging their privileges.

Aditi Padiyar is a published writer and feminist. She writes on areas of finance, technology, thought leadership and her experiences in travelling alone as a woman. Her writings have been published in DNA, Feminism in India, National Geographic Traveller, The Alipore Post and more. She is a Media and Cultural Studies graduate from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai who has spent the last 4 years working in the higher education sphere with philanthropic liberal arts universities. She has a keen interest in feminist studies and the LGBTQ+ rights movement in India.

Aditi Rajgopal, a British-born Indian from England, she has contributed to the eMagazine because of her interest in social issues and love for sport. Her other interests are reading, running and eating. Studying towards becoming a doctor, she is currently in Year 12 of school.

Aditi and Sunali are co-founders of India’s first indigenous dating app for queer people. They aspire to take AYA – As you Are to as many singles in the queer community as possible. You can reach them on asyouareindia@gmail.com.

Aditya Vikram is a graduate student of Literature, Department of English, Ashoka University. They are interested in questions of language, performance, gender, and translation, as experienced in South Asian contexts. They are engaged in several creative and critical literary projects. Their work on gender and stolen inheritances featured in The Museum of Memories, funded by the British Council. A collection of their poems, ‘A Gaze So Tender’, was published by the Goethe Institut. They are also creating an extensive archive of translations between the many languages of India, for the Ashoka Centre of Translation. They archive their love and longing on Instagram at @kaalimirch_.

Adsa Fatima is a feminist trainer, resource person working with the Sama Resource Group for Women and Health. Her particular interest and areas of engagement include looking at the politics around health, and access to healthcare from a gender and intersectionality lens.

Aersh, a lone wolf in a wolf pack. An International Relations scholar researching political violence. Part time philosopher and full time procrastinator.

Afshan Mariam is an educator and researcher focussing on weaving pedagogy with ecology and arts based practices.

Aiman Khan did her post-graduation in Women’s Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences before joining Nirantar in 2016. Her master’s thesis was ‘A Gendered Study on Access to Public Toilets in Mumbai’. As a part of Nirantar, she is a part of the action research team, which focusses on using theater as a tool, to instrument discussion on Gender and Sexuality. Her work here includes planning theater sessions with the team, documentation, and coordination with partner organisations for the research.

Aindrila Chaudhuri is an IT engineer who identifies as a sex positive, spiritual feminist. Has done her post graduation in Women Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and worked as a Programme Associate at TARSHI in 2015.

Aishwarya Singh is a lawyer based in Mumbai. She is interested in gender and sexuality studies and its interplay with law. She is also the former founder editor of the Maya Magazine, an initiative of the LGBTQI community of Jindal Global University, Sonipat to serve as a platform for queer visibility and engagement.

Aishwarya Shrivastav is a journalist/writer based out of Bhopal. Occasionally writing for Wire and Times of India. Passionate about poetry and books, likes to write about social issues, art and culture and heritage.

Aishwarya and Reshma: Aishwarya Manjunath is a middle-school English teacher with a penchant for all things gender and mental health since 2012. She is also The Red Door’s Peaceful Warrior program advisor. Reshma Valliappan is a consultant and interventionist implementing the Peaceful Warrior program at two community schools in Pune. She is also a visiting lecturer and speaker at colleges and universities within and outside India.

Ajay Maherchandani,  a law student, with his heart beating after social theory. He perennially imagines standing at India Gate and having kulfi at 0 degree temperature or enjoying the Bombay monsoons at Marine Drive. Thinking is like breathing to him. He mixes love with ordinary day-to-day living which involves washing utensils for his lover and flirting with strangers.

Akhil Kang is a lawyer/researcher based out of Delhi and is part of Queering Dalit Collective. He writes about sex and desires at http://www.desi-underground-gay.com/

Akhil Katyal is a writer and translator based in Delhi. He finished his PhD on Sexuality and South Asia at SOAS, University of London. He currently teaches literature at Shiv Nadar University. His poetry and translations are widely published.

Alankaar Sharma is a social work educator and researcher, working at the University of Wollongong, Australia. His research is focused on men and masculinities, sexuality and sexual rights, and sexual violence and abuse. Several of his recent research publications have examined men’s experiences of sexual abuse during childhood. He may be contacted at alankaar.sharma@gmail.com.

Alankrita Singh is an officer of the Indian Police Service. She has interest in Gender Issues, Social Legislations, Juvenile Justice, Workplace Sexual Harassment, Violence against Women and Children, Police Investigation, Police Sub-culture and Women in Police. She is a mother and a trainer and a photographer.

Almas Shamim has trained as a public health doctor from the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology in Trivandrum. She has a great interest in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and feminism among Muslim women. She dreams of a world where all are equal, and works now with an international humanitarian aid organization in New Delhi.

Ambica Naithani has recently graduated from the University of Sussex with an MA in Gender Violence and Conflict. Her research interests are militarism, gender based violence in conflict and decolonising conflict studies. She has co-founded Project Demilitarize, a social action plan which investigates why we need to be gender-curious in our approach to militarism and its many facets. When she’s not working she likes to acquire new hobbies and day-dream about living in a cottage near a river with her best friends.

Amit Timilsina is a Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and Gender activist and has been advocating on these issues for over 6 years locally, nationally and also at regional and international platforms. Amit has served as President of youth led organization YUWA. Currently, Amit serves on the Board of Directors for the Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (YCSRR), is a member of the Asia Pacific Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, International Member of the youth steering committee of the Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights (APCRSHR), and a Women Deliver Young Leader 2018.

Amrit Hallan is a professional content writer and a struggling literary writer. Cerebral palsied since birth, he thinks he knows a thing or two about the disability and hence, is working on a book on the topic. You can follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.

Anil Pradhan is a PhD candidate and Junior Research Fellow at the Department of English, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. He received his MPhil and MA in English from Jadavpur University and his BA in English from Presidency University, Kolkata, India. His areas of interest include cultural studies; queer studies, literature and films; diaspora studies and literature (with focus on South Asian queer diaspora) and Indian queer literature in English. His first book of poems titled Flitting Oddments will be published soon by Writers Workshop, Kolkata, India.

Anjali studied English Literature from Delhi University and is patiently waiting for the day someone asks for her analysis of Dickens’ Hard Times. She likes piña coladas and getting caught in the rain.

An kush is presently pursuing a PhD in Cinema Studies from the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He has completed his Masters in Arts and Aesthetics and an MPhil in Cinema Studies from JNU. His MPhil dissertation was on Bodo digital films, music videos from Assam and its presence on social media. He was one of the recipients of the Social Media Research Grant for 2016 from The Sarai Programme, Centre for the Studies of Developing Societies (Sarai-CSDS), New Delhi. He has also worked as a copy-editor and his research interests are popular film forms, film history, gender, sexuality, and visual and performative art.

Anannya Chatterjee is currently pursuing her Masters in Sociology, and has also recently completed her Masters in Gender Studies. She is a Bharatanatyam dancer and seeks to bring together her art and her feminist politics together. She constantly dreams of a world emancipated from power structures and when not working, she can be found sitting alone reading a book with a cup of tea, or dancing behind closed doors to random music.

Anchal Kumari and Vinayak: Anchal Kumari is an interdisciplinary researcher trained in the field of Development Studies and the main focus of her research is within urban studies. She particularly focuses on inequality and marginalisation in urban spaces. Anchal received her doctoral degree from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She has taught previously at SRM University Sikkim and is currently at Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi. Vinayak is an experimental archaeologist and has been working in this field for the last fourteen years. His research focuses on the role of osseous technology in the social life of humans and their environment, and it involves the technological analysis of osseous artefacts using various types of experiments, microwear analysis, traceology, and tribology. At present, he is serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi.

Andy Stephen Silveira teaches communication at the Goa Institute of Management. Their research interests include Storytelling, Rhetoric and Sexuality. They love fitness; be it moving on all fours, to hanging from trees to running, swimming or dancing.

Anees Rao is an engineer by day, and writer by night. His other interests include trekking, teaching, personal finance and philosophy, but the boundaries between these disparate fields often get blurred when he thinks about them. He’s been happily married for two years and lives in Pune. He blogs at www.medium.com/@completebhejafry.

Anindita Majumdar has recently been awarded a doctorate in Sociology from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Her doctoral thesis was on commercial surrogacy and kinship, parts of which have been published in the Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Gender, Technology and Development, and Economic and Political Weekly.

Anisha Dutt was with TARSHI from 2015 to 2021 and had also been involved with In Plainspeak since its inception as a digital magazine. A human rights advocate, Anisha has previously worked in the Indian and American nonprofit world around issues of gender, violence and sexuality and has a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from Rochester Institute of Technology, NY. She is also interested in alternative therapy and is currently a healing practitioner.

Anindita Sengupta is at present working at the University of Connecticut (UCONN) as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at the Ohio State University (OSU) in May 2017. Her dissertation “The Desired Baby: Assisted Reproductive Technology, Secrecy, and a Cultural Account of Family Building in India” research examines assisted reproductive and genetic technologies, and the transnational fertility industry from the perspectives of family, kinship, parenthood, and reproductive justice. Her areas of research and teaching interests feminist reproductive politics, LGBTQ families, global and transnational feminism, science and feminism.

Anirban Ghosh is fascinated by storytelling as he uses his short films, documentaries and illustrations to narrate stories on gender, sexuality, human rights as well as mundane tales of growing up and the world around. A graduate in Mass Communication from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, Anirban specialized in Animation Film Design from National Institute of Design. Check out his portfolio.

Anita is an outreach worker with Vesya Anyay Mukti Parishad (VAMP) in Maharashtra, and contributed her story to this article.

Aniruddhan Vasudevan is a writer, translator, and performer from Chennai.He is currently doing his PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. His English translation of Tamil novelist Perumal Murugan’s novel ‘Madhorubagan’ was published by Penguin India in 2013, entitled ‘One Part Woman’.

Anjora Sarangi works as an Analyst at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy at the Indian School of Business (ISB). She has studied political science at Lady Shri Ram College and at the London School of Economics. Her interests are in gender and violence, women in politics and policy making, and education. Anjora has previously interned at Feminist Approach to Technology (FAT) and Youth Ki Awaaz. She loves exploring new food and all things Harry Potter. She can be reached at

Ankit Gupta has worked on issues ranging from sexual and gender rights and public safety to HIV and AIDS and environmental issues. He has been closely involved with a Delhi based queer youth group. His areas of interest include disability and queer issues.

Ankita Dhar Karmakar is a writer, ranter, and avid petter of cats. After finishing her MA in English from Ambedkar University, she has been working as a freelance writer and a communications professional for Nirantar Trust–A Centre for Gender and Education. Her writing mostly revolves around digital sexual cultures, popular fiction, and cinema. When she’s not writing, she is found making digital art at @ankitaaaab.

Ankita Khanna is a counselling psychologist whose most-loved interests include children, books, writing, travel and dogs. She loves to engage with the magical, and often misunderstood, narratives of children and adolescents, and aspires to create ‘safe spaces’ for their voices to be heard. She blogs about the ‘big’ things that matter to ‘little’ people at Litte Bigger. She is a consultant counselling psychologist & arts-based therapist at Children First.

Ankita Kundu likes to read, paint, play with animals and make sense of human life. She has a Master’s degree in Women’s Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and a Bachelor’s degree from Miranda House, Delhi University. She is interested in the intersections of Digital Media and Gender.

Anne Sprinkel has been working at the intersection of gender and social and behaviour change for over nine years, with a focus on adolescents, sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence. She is the project director for the Tipping Point Initiative, which focuses on community-based solutions to child marriage, evidence generation in Nepal and Bangladesh, and multi-level advocacy across the globe.

Annie McCarthy is a PhD student from the Australian National University who spent a year in Delhi doing fieldwork for her Anthropology PhD, and along the way made many happy memories and equally as many mistakes trying to navigate issues of gender and sexuality in this new context.

Annika Amber is a doctoral student at the University of Hyderabad. Her interest lies in the sociological analysis of gender, sexuality, and media.

Anoushka Budhia is a student at Ashoka University. Through her art, she aims to draw the explicit, the disturbing, the unacceptable. As a queer artist, she believes that depicting the “uncomfortable” as bold and loud can help increase society’s tolerance and acceptance towards their taboos. She doesn’t seek to make her art, be it visual or written, palatable for the audience. Rather, she believes anyone as a part of the human experience, should be able to confront their deepest fears and biases.

Anshul Tiwari is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Youth Ki Awaaz, which is India’s largest online platform for young people to express themselves on issues of importance. He is also a Director on the Board of  Collectively, a global platform that uses the power of positivity and collaboration to make sustainability the new norm, through stories of young people who stand against the status quo. He has been a UN awardee for innovation in crowd-sourcing and youth empowerment. He currently heads the strategic vision and expansion of Youth Ki Awaaz.

Anubhav Gupta is a Delhi based media professional and founder of Jeevan Trust. Having done master’s in media from India’s leading media institute at Jamia, he has worked with print, electronic and cyber media both in regular and freelance capacities.  He also enjoys anchoring and editing novels.  A published poet, avid traveler and photographer, Anubhav opened his non profit Jeevan trust in 2010 to promote socially responsible media, having worked extensively on gender and rare genetic condition called Albinism.

Anubha Sarkar is a final year PhD candidate at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research focuses on Bollywood in which she explores the intersections between cultural economy, cultural policy and soft power.

Anuckriti Garg (she/her) is a budding mental health practitioner and a support group facilitator at Plane Jar Welfare Foundation. Anuckriti identifies as a queer woman. She also has a lived experience in mental health which forms the foundation for her work and research. She holds a Masters in Social Work degree with a specialisation in Mental Health from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and wants to work in the field of queer mental health and research in the future.

Anuja Das, Research Scholar, is pursuing a Ph.D. at the Delhi School of Economics. Her research interests include gender, intimate relationships, globalization, transnantionalism, urban sociology, and sex work.

Anupom Kumar Hazarika was born and raised in Golaghat, and is pursuing a PhD at Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. His research interests include urban space, gender and sexuality studies, science fiction, and Indian writing in English. He has had poetry published in The Assam Tribune, The Eastern Today, Nagaland Page, Terror House Magazine, Spark and CC&D Magazine.

Apphia Ruth D’souza is a Counselling Psychologist. She runs a private practice in Mumbai and is the Vice Chairperson of the International Attachment Network, India. She’s also a violinist and basks in anything Spanish related!

Arnab Adak is a photographer living in Kolkata, India, working on socio- documentary projects. The primary focus of his photography is to delineate various cultural, social and environmental concerns that need attention and raise awareness among the masses. His works cover gender issues, climate issues, caste issues and religious or social events that impose threat to humanity in the social platform.  He has studied mathematics and computer applications and is currently associated with a management consulting firm professionally. His works can be viewed at: https://www.arnabadak.com

Arti Jaiman  is the station director of Gurgaon Ki Awaaz Samudayik Radio, a community radio that has been a broadcast platform for local villagers and migrant workers since 2009. A journalist by training, Arti graduated with an MA in journalism from Indiana Univeristy, Bloomington. Her current interests include arts in education, democracy and freedom of expression, and stories of migration.

Artika Raj, living and loving in Delhi, she enjoys reading, eating, watching and playing hopscotch. With a Post-Graduate degree in English Literature from Miranda House Delhi University tucked under her pyjama strings, Artika earned her last salary as Associate Editor of First City magazine, an art and culture guide to Delhi.

Arpita Bohra is bringing Dance Movement Therapy sessions to more people and understanding the multiple ways that healing and recovery are possible. A writer and a dance movement therapist-in-training, who holds a Masters in Counselling from TISS, Mumbai. Read more of her writings.

Arpita Das is a feminist scholar-activist, pursuing her PhD in gender studies at the University of Sydney. Her doctoral research focuses on intersex people in India. Her academic interests include gender, sexuality, intersexuality, disability and biopolitics. She has worked in South and Southeast Asia on gender-based violence and sexuality rights. She holds a Masters in Social Work from India and a Masters in Women’s & Gender Studies from Europe.

Arundhati Nath is a post-graduate in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University and a NET-JRF qualified, queer researcher from a small town in Assam. Her research interests lie in queer culture and intimacies, popular media and culture, and the queer body at the juncture of the individual and the social. Arundhati takes a lot of interest in queer art and media, which extends from books to music to fanfiction, and believes that it is possible to understand a lot about queerness and queer politics by simply looking at how queer people interact with art

Arvind Narrain  is currently the Geneva Director of Arc International, an NGO which works on advocacy on LGBT issues at the international level. Prior to this assignment Arvind co-founded and worked with the Alternative Law Forum for 15 years. He is the co-editor of Because I have a Voice, Law like Love, and Nothing to Fix. As part of the ALF, Arvind was a part of the team of lawyers who litigated the constitutionality of the anti-homosexuality law in India both at the High Court and at the Supreme Court.

Arzoo works as an Associate in Know Your Body Know Your Rights program at The YP Foundation. She works in imparting Comprehensive sex education to adolescents in school and out of school across different locations in Delhi- NCR. Prior to this, she has carried out an independent research on health related impacts of menstrual hygiene management in slums of Mumbai among adolescent girls.

Ashima Mittal has a Master’s Degree in Sociology and a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from the University of Delhi. She has a keen interest in the relationship between science and culture.

Ashmeet K. Bilkhu is a research scholar at the Centre For Women’s Development Studies. Her research interests include gender dimensions of sexuality, violence and development. She writes on issues of culture and politics.

Asia Safe Abortion Partnership was formed in 2008 to advance women’s sexual and reproductive rights by reducing unsafe abortions. More information can be found here.

Asilata Karandikar is a researcher at the Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT), Mumbai.

Asmi is an active BDSM practitioner, lifestyle coach based in India, a writer and a vocal, empowering person, who experiments actively with BDSM, feminism, LGBT, sexuality and erotica. She is very active in several real-world BDSM communities and has close connections with a wide spectrum of other practitioners both in India and globally. She has authored a series of 3 books about various aspects of BDSM, available on kindle. She can be reached on Facebook or via email at: asmi.uniqus@gmail.com

Barbara Lotti is Programme Officer for Money (Economic Justice) at Mama Cash. Prior to joining Mama Cash, she was a researcher on minority language communities in Europe, and studied Classics, Italian and text linguistics.

Bharti Kannan is a dance enthusiast who needs to resume dancing, a host to the travel bug that needs a bit of a hibernation, and a body and mind that has huge affinity for chocolates and anything sweet, Bharti survives and thrives in the hope of learning and healing from life experiences.

Bhavyakirti Singh is an undergraduate at National Law University, Jodhpur. Her work has appeared in local dailies and journals such as ActiveMuse and The Bombay Review’s student section. She has participated as a young writer in festivals such as the CLS Literati and Valley of Words. She also has a forthcoming poetry anthology. You can find some of her work here: https://bhavyakirti.medium.com/

Bijayalaxmi Biswal and Karen Coelho: Bijayalaxmi Biswal is a medical doctor and mental health researcher currently working at the Addictions and related Research Group at Sangath, Goa. Karen Coelho is a Psychology and Sociology graduate working as a Research Fellow under the Peers for Equity project at Sangath, Bhopal and an Intern at the Addictions and related-Research Group at Sangath, Goa.

Bishakha Datta (@busydot/@dizibot) works on gender and sexuality in digital spaces, co-leads the non-profit Point of View in Mumbai, is part of the Wikipedia family, and serves on several non-profit boards. In a past life, she made documentary films and wrote much more.

Breakthrough is a global human rights organization. Their mission is to prevent violence against women and girls by transforming the norms and cultures that enable it. They carry out this mission by building a critical mass of change agents worldwide – the Breakthrough Generation – whose bold collective action will deliver irreversible impact on the issues of our time. Working out of centers in India and the U.S., they create innovative, relevant multimedia tools and programs – from short animations to long-term leadership training – that reach individuals and institutions where they are, inspiring and equipping them to build a world in which all people enjoy their human rights.

Breton Lalama (they/he) is a queer, trans human who combines mediums to encourage sociopolitical dialogue and bring attention to the weird parts of everyday life. They really like tomato soup. In his work, they are currently excited by explorations of identity and multiplicity. You can find their work in Harlot X Trans Sex Workers Zine, Feels Zine, Open Heart Forgery, Crush Zine, Saved By Sex Ed, Toho Journal. Breton is grateful to be part of Nightwood Theatre’s Write From The Hip cohort, 2020-2021.

Brindaalakshmi. K is a researcher, writer, advocacy and training professional working at the intersection of human rights, identities and technology. They authored the study, ‘Gendering of Development Data in India: Beyond the Binary’ for the Centre for Internet & Society, as part of the Big Data for Development Network, supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. They also lead workshops on consent, intersectionality and digital security.

Carol D’Souza is a lover of chai.

Chand (They/She) is a development practitioner and social researcher with 3 years of experience working in the domain of youth development, organisational development, SRHR, transgender rights and livelihoods. They are a first-year PhD student in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Maryland.

Chandrabarna Saha is currently pursuing Asia Pacific Leadership Program with the East West Center. Her field project ‘Amplified Voices~Listening Tour for Inspirational Stories’ is to hear individual life stories of women across class, caste, religion, profession, age, educational qualification surviving, losing and winning everyday battles with gender biases and inequality in South East Asia.

Chayanika Shah  is an optimist activist at heart, a physicist by training and a teacher by choice. She has campaigned, researched, taught and written on politics of population control, communalism, feminist studies of science, and sexuality. She has been an active member of two autonomous voluntary collectives in Mumbai – Forum Against Oppression of Women and LABIA – A Queer Feminist LBT Collective. Her co-authored books include, ‘No Outlaws in the Gender Galaxy’, ‘Bharat Ki Chaap’ (a companion book for the documentary of the same name), and ‘We and Our Fertility: The Politics of Technological Intervention’.

Chitrangi is an avid reader and overthinker. She is broadly interested in security, gender and security studies, cyberfeminism and feminist theories. She also has an enduring love for Korean dramas, anime, fantasy and sci-fi novels, and cats. Currently, she is working at TARSHI as a Senior Program Associate.

Damini Kulkarni  has a Master’s degree in Communication and Journalism. Damini has conducted gender sensitization workshops for 14- to 16-year-olds on apprehending different forms of stereotypical gender portrayals in the media. She currently works as a News Curator for Scroll.in.

Dana Burton  is an avid fiction reader and enjoys blues dancing. Above all, she loves drinking tea and getting into conversations about life and the intricacies of affect. At the moment, Dana finds herself in an Anthropology PhD program at George Washington University. She currently thinks a lot about microbes in space and likes to imagine what it would feel like to travel across the galaxy. She appreciates any thoughts or book suggestions.

Danish Sheikh is an assistant professor and theater practitioner based at the Jindal Global Law School. His research and writing interests are located at the intersection of law, sexuality and the humanities.

Debanuj DasGupta’s  current activism and research travels take him through India, UK and the US focusing on issues of national security, migration, and embodied justice. A Doctoral Candidate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at The Ohio State University Debanuj co-founded the first HIV and AIDS prevention project among men-who-have-sex-with-men and gay men in Kolkata in 1994. He is the recipient of the New Voices Fellowship (Ford Foundation and Academy for Educational Development), Association of American Geographers National Awards in Disability Studies, The Space, Sexuality, and Queer Research Group of the Royal Geographic Society/Institute of British Geographers International Travel Award, and has been one of the key members of the ‘Lift the Ban Coalition’ which effectively removed the HIV ban on travel and immigration to the US in 2010. He serves in advisory capacities for several philanthropic and research bodies, and for policy formations.

Debarati Sarkar is a research scholar and hand-embroiderer. Her writings have appeared in Women’s Web, Feminism in India, Queen Mob’s Teahouse, and elsewhere.

Debashree (she/her) holds a Master’s in Political Science from Delhi University and is currently pursuing an MSc. in Counselling Psychology at Montfort Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru. With prior experience working in a community mental health not-for-profit, she hopes to create inclusive, affirming spaces for queer/trans individuals with a focus on family and couples therapy.

Debolina Dutta is currently pursuing a PhD at the Institute for International Law and the Humanities, Melbourne Law School. She has co-directed the documentary film We are Foot Soldiers (2011) which tells a story of the activism of children of sex workers in Sonagachi, Kolkata. Some of her writings are available at https://unimelb.academia.edu/DebolinaDutta

Deepa Ranganathan is a brown, feminist storyteller and mother to a feline and a human. She is based out of Bangalore and is passionate about reading, writing, and telling untold stories of young feminist activists from around the world. She has recently discovered the magical world of children’s literature, and has been spending most of her time immersed in it.

Devanshi Panda is a final-year student of History at the Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the annual college magazine and has contributed to many publications. One of her essays on food is all set to be published in an anthology by Nivaala in collaboration with The Alipore Post. She has worked as a correspondent and a copy-editor with DU Beat, India’s largest student-run newspaper. Devanshi is an enthusiast of the arts, and is always up to explore the latest exhibition in town.

Devika is passionate about improving access to justice for marginalised communities and has worked at international and national organisations around human rights advocacy and litigation for over four years. Devika believes in radical self-care and is very keen on consistently educating herself around mental health and self-actualisation, and promoting self-care, especially for  those marginalised on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

Di Sands (she/her) lives and loves in Oakland, California, a humble guest on occupied Ohlone indigenous land. She tries to cook yummy things, watch good films, finish puzzles, please her cat, swim in circles three times a week, destroy american hegemony, and honor her late mom’s hard work to raise her. She is and always will be a sucker for a small world story, ramen soup, and a rimshot. Do reach out if you want to be in community about anti-racism, Palestinian liberation/anti-Zionism, sex & gender in sports, prison abolition, and reparations for everything.

Dipika Srivastava  has a keen interest and experience in training and on reproductive and sexual health related issues.With a Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Development and Management from the Institute of Engineering and Rural Technology, Allahabad, she has worked in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights for over ten years.

Disha K R is a Research Scholar interested in the Intersectionality of caste and gender. She is currently working on Inter-caste families and has previously worked on Dalit women’s inter-caste marriages for her M. Phil. from Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Disha Luthra, as a student of Political Science, she has interned at TARSHI.

Divya Swaminathan is a computational biophysicist currently working at the University of California, Irvine. She can’t help but notice that in ten years of her academic life she is yet to work with another woman. She aspires to write about her experiences as a scientist and an expat.

Drishti Rakhra is a reader, teacher, and writer. She binges on silly sitcoms by day and dreams up alternate lives by night. She likes reading women and writing about them even more. She blogs at veronicaoberoi.com.

Dr. Ansha Patel (MPhil, PhD Clinical & Reproductive Psychology) is a consultant clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, researcher, scientific advisor and columnist. She is affiliated to the Dept. of Psychiatry, RNT medical college, Shantirajand Parasjk hospitals, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. She specializes in Behavior Medicine, Reproductive Psychology & Perinatal Mental health. She has trained in evidence-based and cognitive behavioral therapies and mindfulness-based interventions. She is also a scientific advisor to Vyanasparcolife digital fertility solutions and a peer-reviewer for indexed scientific journals published by Springer Nature, Wolter Kluwer, and Sage groups. Profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1766-9558.

Dr Jai Ranjan Ram, as an adolescent always wanted to be a food critic and a travel guide. Unfortunately, his dreams of eating exotic food from all over the planet while he traveled remained unfulfilled and he chose a far less interesting career of Medicine instead. However, as a Psychiatrist with special interest in children and young people, he gets to relive the dreams and aspirations of young minds and feels blessed that he has, in his own very small way, enabled some troubled minds to gain freedom and blossom.

Dr Swarupa N Kshirsagar is currently working in the field of public health. While pursuing her master’s degree in public health she developed an interest around the gender and rights aspects of health. A strong advocate for mental health and sexual and reproductive health and rights, she believes that we need to build society to be a safe space for conversation around these issues.  She is a photography enthusiast and a half-baked writer. Also an avid reader and movie buff, she tries to read and watch everything she comes across through the perspective of gender and consciousness of social issues because art forms are heavily influenced by contemporary society and vice versa.

dyuti is currently a PhD researcher, at the Department of Social Anthropology at University of Sussex. Prior to that she worked as a researcher and activist on a number of issues such as Dalit and Adivasi access to public entitlements, to access to justice and gender justice. She has previously done her MPhil from Delhi School of Economics, in Sociology. It’s about the small things for her always—books, coffee, rainy days, that ten-rupee note in the recently washed jean.

Edwina Pereira , presently an independent consultant working as focal person for child safeguarding. Her vision is that every child born lives to their full God given potential happily.

Edward Kannyo, Ph.D., teaches International Relations, Comparative Politics and Human Rights, among other courses in the Department of Political Science, College of Liberal Arts, Rochester Institute of Technology (USA). He was born and got his early education in Uganda (East Africa). He got his doctorate in Political Science from Yale University (USA).

Ekta is currently working as a Research Assistant on a project on political participation and social media. Over the last eight years she has worked as a school Counsellor and in the development sector on the issues of gender, sexuality, education and mental health with children and young people.

Ekta and Sonam are currently working with Nirantar on a research project with young people. This research has stemmed from Nirantar’s work on education with young girls in the resettlement colonies of Delhi. While Ekta has done her M.A. in Psychology, Sonam has done her M.A. in Sociology. This blend of knowledge provided a stimulating combination to work together.

Elsa Marie D’Silva (www.elsamariedsilva.com) is Founder & CEO of Safecity (www.safecity.in) that crowdmaps sexual harassment in public spaces. She is a 2015 Aspen New Voices Fellow and recipient of the 2017 Vital Voices Global Leadership Award

Empower is a Thai organization promoting rights and opportunities for sex workers for the last 30 years. Over 50,000 women have been a part of Empower since it began.

Erik Heinonen is a  journalist and aid worker, who currently conducts research on food security and health issues for the non-profit One Acre Fund in Burundi. He also co-directs a Kenyan non-profit, the Education and Social Empowerment Program, and has previously worked on development and health projects in Moldova, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Panama and the United States. He holds a MA in International Relations from Yale University.

EroTICs India is a project that explores the intersections between sexuality, gender and digital technologies and was initiated by the Association for Progressive Communications. Point of View is the India partner of EroTICs and runs the blog: www.eroticsindia.org

Fariha Sameen is a student of psychology with a background in psychosocial studies. They are particularly interested in psychoanalysis, LGBTQ+ studies, and socio-political intersections of the self. Their research interest currently lies in exploring non-romantic and non-sexual manifestations of intimacy, drawing from both academic literature and personal reflections. A passionate learner at heart, they enjoy writing poetry and prose as well as unravelling forms of identity and attachment through different works of fiction.

Faustina Johnson is a freelance writer and editor interested in philosophy, porn, religion, and language. When she is not working, she is cooking elaborate meals and gardening.

Firnita Taufick writes for her 9–5 and after hours. She has published a collection of flash fiction under the titles Strings Attached (2020) and Shorter Stories (2021). Besides writing flash fiction, she also enjoys playing with words to make poems and she performs spoken-word poetry. She held her first spoken-word poetry performance, Half Past Twenties, in 2023. Her other pieces can be read on Medium and Instagram, both: @firnnita.

Flavia Agnes is a legal scholar and women’s rights lawyer who has been able to combine her legal scholarship with active litigation support to victims of domestic and sexual violence. Her widely published writings have provided a vital context for feminist jurisprudence, human rights law and gender studies in India. She is the director of majlis legal centre that is committed to the protection and promotion of women’s legal rights.

Gayathri is a political science post-graduate with a keen interest in child rights, mental health, feminism, borders, and security. She likes to take an interdisciplinary approach and often tries to explore how intersections can shape worldviews. Her interests go beyond her subject and also include philosophy, psychology, and art.

Gayathri is a higher education professional with a passion for creating equitable systems of education. With a focus on the intersections of gender, caste and other social identities, they are committed to promoting social justice and advocating for marginalised communities in these spaces. They are also deeply fascinated by performing arts and are a critic of exclusionary systems in” classical” art forms. They are a performer themselves and wish to use their platform to challenge exclusionary practices. In addition to their work in higher education and the performing arts, they are also passionate about mental health and disability issues. Their research primarily includes the intersections of gender and performance, mental health and disability.

Gayatri Mohan is 13 years old and lives in New Delhi. She attends DPS RK Puram and loves writing. She is a feminist.

Ghausia Rashid Salam is a development professional and feminist researcher. Their passion for science-fiction and fantasy has convinced them that other worlds are possible, and they try to build better worlds through their work and activism. Their interests include sexual violence, sexuality, SRHR and more recently, decolonising academia and development. They are more interesting in person than in awkward 100 word bios. 

Geetanjali Misra is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of CREA. She has worked at the activist, grant-making, and policy levels on issues of sexuality, reproductive health, gender, human rights, and violence against women. She co-founded SAKHI for South Asian Women in New York in 1989, a non-profit organisation in New York, committed to ending violence against women of South Asian origin.

Gilles Chuyen is a French born artist who has been dancing, acting, choreographing and directing in India for the last 20 years. Passionate about colour, he travels the five continents to share love and light.

Gitanjali is a Young India Fellow and a social work graduate in the field of mental health from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She currently works as a social development researcher in the role of a consultant. She has undertaken many large-scale research projects for institutions such as the Government of India and UN bodies. She has a deep passion for positive social action brought about with thoughtful intention. She hopes to make a difference in the development sector through her practice.

Gokul KP is a B.Tech graduate hailing from Kerala and is currently working in Bangalore. He is an aspiring journalist and constantly tries to spread awareness about LGBTQ rights, feminism, and climate change. He also often writes about politics, mental health, and mainstream media. As someone who identifies as Queer, he is constantly working towards sexuality and gender inclusivity in all communities, one step at a time.

Gowthaman Saroja Ranganathan speaks Tamil and Gibberish to cats and dogs. He loves cycling and likes to be in a classroom as a facilitator or as a student. He holds an LLM from the University of Texas at Austin where he was a Fulbright scholar, an LLM from the Azim Premji University, and an undergraduate degree from the National Law School at Bengaluru.

Gram Vaani believes in using appropriate technology and people driven processes to build participatory media networks that can empower communities. Mobile Vaani is a platform developed by Gram Vaani that seeks to serve as a social media network for rural India, based on and IVR (interactive voice response) system.

Greeshma Gireesh  is currently pursuing her MPhil from JNU. She is constantly found staring into space ever since she lost the sea from her childhood to the city of Delhi. At other times, she will be found strolling through the city with a book and a cup of coffee in hand.

Grishma Trivedi has a masters in English literature and works at Ahmedabad University. Her research interests include Gender studies, intersectional studies and media studies.

Greeshma is 22 years old and currently doing her MA in Social Work (Women Centred Practice) from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai after having completed her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from University College, Thiruvananthapuram. Originally from Kerala, she now lives in Mumbai.

Gunjan Chandak Khemka is a mental health professional dabbling in writing, photography and travel. She finds comfort in bursting bubble wrap, turning to chocolates and a book to retreat from her chaotic life, and constantly forging newer connections with the reality outside of her inner world.

Gunjan Sharma has more than 30 years of experience as a trainer, content creator and counsellor on issues of sexuality. She believes in the uniqueness of people and has learnt much about life and sexuality by just watching and listening to them. Gunjan has a Masters in Social Work from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She has worked (and continues to do so) with wonderful people and organisations. Gunjan says, “My belief in humour has kept me alert and mindful. People do and say funny things so seriously, I just find the humour in them.”

Gurpreet Kaur lives in a dream called beauty. She waits for sunset and moonrise. She watches trees change colour and teach her lessons. She dreams of becoming a poetic writer and continues to learn to love. She is a researcher in Delhi and desires the mountains.

Hanish is a shifty writer who has many interests and a few passions. Languages, dance, old and forgotten dishes, and the connection between food-language-identity-history tend to keep their mind busy. Unusually attached to walking, Hanish often relies on his daily promenades to develop ideas and pen them to paper. Eventually, Hanish would like to be a Professor of sorts who creates curricula catering to experiential learning. Perpetually suspicious of the idea of work, Hanish hopes to author a life that involves less work but more creative labour – for themself and their loved ones.

Harjant Gill is an associate professor of anthropology at Towson University. His research examines the intersections of masculinity, modernity, transnational migration and popular culture in India. Gill is also an award-winning filmmaker and has made several ethnographic films, including Mardistan/Macholand, that have screened at international film festivals and on television channels worldwide including BBC, Doordarshan (Indian National TV) and PBS. Funded by the Performing Arts fellowship by American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) and the Fulbright-Nehru Research Award, Gill is currently living in New Delhi while developing an eight-part immersive virtual reality web-series on Indian masculinities titled “Tales from Macholand.” His website is HarjantGill.com.

Hira Nabi’s research interests include history of South Asian cinema, sonic environments, media archaeology, queer subcultures, commute routes and public transportation for women, technology and colonialism. Her visual work has shown in Cuba, Mexico, Pakistan, and USA. An MA candidate in Media Studies at the New School, she graduated with a BA in Video, Gender Theory and Postcolonial Studies from Hampshire College.

Hritvika Lakhera is a queer poet from Uttarakhand, India, writing on the subjects of queerness, disability, nature, and surrealism. In her professional pursuits she takes academic interest in punk rock. Along with two published anthologies, she also co-founded an international punk zine titled ‘New Riot Inc.’

Ina Goel is the founder of The Hijra Project and is currently based at the Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She may be contacted at inagoel@gmail.com

Indu Nepal (@inepal) is a media trainer, producer and researcher.

Ipsita has been working in the development sector for the past 7 years in the field of Child rights, Gender and Sexuality as a Counselor, Researcher and Facilitator. In the past she has been associated with organizations like Childline India Foundation, FACSE, URJA Trust, CEHAT, Tata Institute Of Social Sciences, UNICEF and Nirantar Trust,. She is currently exploring Rational Emotive Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Buddhist Psychology and Psychotherapy, to strengthen her practice in the field of Mental Health.

Isha Saxena and Tariqa Tandon: Isha Saxena is a Project Officer at Pro Sport Development. She has extensive experience in the field of research, curriculum development, monitoring and evaluation and capacity building in the discipline of sport for development. Tariqa Tandon is the Team Lead: Knowledge & Communications, at Pro Sport Development. Her knowledge and interest areas converge around the subjects of gender and sexuality, development theory, comparative politics, immigration, and qualitative research methodologies.

Isha Vajpeyi completed her undergraduate studies in Political Science from Delhi University. She has over two years work experience with organisations working on issues of Gender and Sexuality. Through her active engagement with young people, artists and activists, she has found art to be a powerful tool for generating discourses and bringing social change.

Ishan works at the Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality at Ashoka University. He occasionally writes on films, literature, sexuality, and masculinity

Ishani Dey is a part-time researcher and full-time cinephile. She consumes media indiscriminately and calls it ‘research’ for her PhD in Cinema Studies from the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her current work is centered on cinema’s digital desires and its strive to escape somatic scrutiny. She has a knack for alliteration and harbours a special love for the “pool of movies your mama told you not to watch” (Joe Bob Briggs, 2008).

iwonderwhy, driven by an inquisitive and analytical mind, likes to spend his days observing life, solving puzzles, and contemplating the mysteries of the universe. He notices the beauty in the ordinary and imagines alternate futures and realities.

Jamal Siddiqui is a transman who works in a corporate office in Gurugram. He is a member of Nazariya’s group called Soch and is passionate about transmen’s issues. In his free time, he loves to read spiritual books and watch sci-fi movies. He also loves playing with his and his partner’s cats.

James Scott Edwards works as an artist are the best representation of what he is all about. Heavily inspired by the ‘less explored’, he occasionally dabbles into the world around him, the tenets and bastions of  society, sometimes giving a new dimension to his favorite sentence — ‘always question!’

Janet Price is a disabled feminist who is based in Liverpool, UK, and Taranaki, New Zealand. She is actively involved in queercrip politics and is on the board of DaDaFest, a disability and Deaf arts organisation in Liverpool. She teaches at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, works with CREA, a feminist and sexuality rights organisation in Delhi, India, and with a coalition of groups working in disability, sexuality and justice across Africa.

Japleen Pasricha smashes the patriarchy for a living! Founder & editor-in-chief of Feminism In India, she is a sex-positive intersectional feminist activist, educator, writer, campaigner and researcher. She is a solo traveller, former German lecturer and wishes to write feminist short stories for children and young adults. Tweets @japna_p

Jasmine Georgeis a feminist, artist, and an activist who believes in being actively involved with society. Her legal background has not yet stopped her from engaging with her first love: pleasure and sexuality.  She shares her thoughts and ramblings in her blog.

Jaya Sharma is a researcher and writer based in New Delhi, India. She has been working on issues of gender and education for over twenty years. She is founder member of Nirantar, a Centre for Gender and Education based in New Delhi. She has also co-founded queer activist forums based in Delhi. She has worked on issues of sexuality with a focus on building linkages between the queer movement and other movements such as the women’s movement. Jaya was actively engaged with issues related to Sexuality Education through research and advocacy. She was also intensively involved with NGOs working with rural women from marginalized communities, through workshops and educational material on sexuality. She seeks to draw upon her experiences and activism as a queer, kinky, feminist in her writing.

Jaya Tiwari, with a degree in human development from SNDT University and a BA in home science from Delhi University, she has worked on HIV and sexuality issues for Naz Foundation and V.V. Giri National Labour Institute. From 2009-14, she worked as coordinator of Standard Chartered Bank’s initiative ‘Goal program’ (www.goal-girls.com) in Delhi. Since 2014, she is the Direct Implementation Manager, Goal Program, Delhi and Mumbai.

Jayaprakash Mishra is a Ph.D. student in Cultural Studies at the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad where his work focuses on gay men married to women (Cross-orientation marriage). His areas of interest are LGBTstudies, queer literature, popular culture, marriage, and kinship. He has presented his work at the University of Westminster, UK; Syracuse University, US, National University of Singapore, and Delhi University, India.

Jessica is an artist at heart and aesthete at being. She is an Oxford graduate specializing in research, arts, and gender studies. Jessica is an interdisciplinary artist and in that, she embodies the essence of fluidity in art forms like poetry, photography and painting. Her first book, ‘When Love Lived Alone’ has Prose Poems with illustrations.

Jessica Chandras received her PhD in Anthropology from the George Washington University in Washington, DC in 2019. She is particularly interested in intersections of language and identity and her research engages theories of language shift and language acquisition to analyze educational practices and socioeconomic class and caste in Maharashtra, India. From 2015-2017, Dr. Chandras was collecting data through observations and interviews with students, parents, and educators in Pre-K through graduate level classrooms in Pune and Mumbai for her PhD dissertation. Dr. Chandras is the founder of the blog Fieldworking.net, serves on the editorial board for the Footnotes Blog, and is also the web content editor for the journal Critical Asian Studies.

Jhelum Mukherjee is a student of social development by day and a poet and artist by night. She wants to express the world as she experiences it as a queer disabled woman in the hope that her unique experience would resonate with someone else. She wants to work as a social worker later on to make life a little bit better for all the people she shares the planet with.

Jhilmil Breckenridge is a poet, writer and activist. She is the founder of Bhor Foundation, an Indian charity, which is active in mental health advocacy, the trauma informed approach, and enabling other choices to heal apart from or in addition to the biomedical model. She advocates Poetry as Therapy and is working on a few initiatives, both in the UK and India, taking this into prisons and asylums. She is currently working on a PhD in Creative Writing in the UK. For the last three years, she has also been leading an online poetry as therapy group for women recovering from domestic violence. Her debut poetry collection, Reclamation Song, was published in May 2018.

Jyoti Bajpai ज्योति CREA के ‘इट्स माय बॉडी’ प्रोग्राम के अंतर्गत प्रोग्राम कोऑर्डिनेटर की भूमिका निभा रही हैं। इन्होंने २००८ में समाज कार्य में स्नातकोत्तर किया और लगभग पाँच साल से महिलाओं के स्वास्थ्य सम्बंधित मुद्दों पर काम कर रहीं हैं। (Jyoti works with CREA, a feminist and sexuality rights organization in Delhi, India, as a program coordinator for the ‘It’s my body’ program. She has been working on women’s health issues for over five years.)

Jyotsna Khatry is an independent filmmaker and freelance videographer. She has worked on issues of minority and child rights, and her independent work is predominantly on child trafficking. She is currently working on a documentary film on child trafficking in Chhattisgarh, India. Jyotsna lives in New Delhi.

Johnson Thomas is a social worker, film-critic, journalist, writer, biographer, Suicide, Depression and Substance abuse Counsellor, Hypnotherapst, Soft-Skills trainer based in Mumbai. He is the founder/director of AASRA , an NGO working in the field of suicide & depression for the past 14 years, and the co-ordinator of the NGO forum of Navi Mumbai consisting of 70 NGOs working in diverse fields of social welfare. He has worked as a freelance journalist and film critic for the past 17 years, writing for various Indian publications.

Juhi Sidharth has engaged with issues of gender and sexuality in her academic and professional life for the past ten years. Her recently completed doctoral thesis from the University of Cambridge, UK focused on the everyday lived experiences of sexuality among adolescent girls in a slum community in Mumbai. She has a passion for photography, cinema and exploring new cities and cultures. At present, she works as a sexuality educator in the schools of Gujarat.

Juhi Sidharth and Chaitanya Ravi: Juhi has engaged with the subject of gender and sexuality in her academic and professional life for the past ten years. Her doctoral research at the University of Cambridge, UK investigated the lived experiences of sexuality of young women living in the slums of Mumbai. She also holds an M Phil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Her broad research interests cover topics such as gender and education, sexuality and relationships education, inter-sectionality, modernity, identity and development. She has presented her works in several national and international conferences and academic fora. (Extended bio available at) https://www.flame.edu.in/faculty/juhi-sidharth. Chaitanya Ravi’s primary research interests lie at the intersection of energy policy, climate policy, and international relations. He has a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Public Policy from George Mason University where he was a Presidential Scholar from 2007-2010. His doctoral dissertation was a technological history of the debate over the US-India nuclear cooperation agreement. A revised version of the dissertation was published as a book (A Debate to Remember-The US-India Nuclear Deal) by the Oxford University Press-India. (Extended bio available at) https://www.flame.edu.in/faculty/chaitanya-ravi

Kajol is a Literature Major, often speechless; she finds written expression more comfortable and potent than the spoken one and navigates life through literature and rhyme. She is a firm believer in the power of fairly represented and unproblematic-ally located stories and accounts of individuals as political tools and emotionally relatable texts. An Intersectional Feminist, she aims at working on the narratives of women of color and gender as it operates in her part of the world.

Kajol is a Psychotherapist from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She has a double postgraduate in English Literature and Counselling Psychology. She finds solace in reading and writing. Her favourite genres are Partition Literature and Literature from South Asia. She is an avid podcast lover and is madly in love with Esther Perel. She hopes to write about women’s unsaid lives, about people’s relationship with their bodies, about grief and, most importantly, some good ol’ erotica.

Kalki Subramaniam is a transgender rights activist, actress, entrepreneur and the founder of  ‘Sahodari Foundation’ an organization working for the social, economic and political empowerment of transgender persons in India.

Kamal Gautam is graduate in Public Health is a SRHR activist. His professional experience includes working on issues of gender-based violence, young people’s SRHR and its advocacy. Mr. Gautam has been contributing to Comprehensive Sexuality Education and prepared a parallel curriculum, and has been training students, teachers and stakeholders across Kathmandu valley and many parts of Nepal. Currently, he is working with International Medical Corps as SRH Program officer, member in YUWA and with Visible Impact as an advisor. Earlier, he worked as Board Member and SRHR Program Coordinator at YUWA, Global Youth Ambassador at A world at School and a Council Member of Youth Activists Leadership Council.

Katie is a student currently pursuing her bachelor’s in International Relations. She has worked as an intern at TARSHI. Her interests include exploring all different kinds of film, travelling, reading about history and geography, and basically doing anything that enables her to learn more about diverse perspectives and different people’s ways of life.

Kaustav Bakshi, specialises in postcolonial studies, gender and sexuality and popular culture, and teaches at the Department of English, Jadavpur University. He has published in international journals such as Postcolonial Text, South Asian History and Culture, South Asian Review, New Cinema: Journal of Contemporary Film, etc. His latest published book is Rituparno Ghosh: Cinema, Gender, Art (Routledge, 2015), the first ever anthology showcasing original research papers on India’s most celebrated queer filmmaker. He is currently working on a volume on Queer Studies with Orient Blackswan and a co-edited anthology, Popular Cinema in Bengal: Stardom, Genre, Public Culture with Routledge.

Kavya Kartik is currently a student at Jindal Global Law School. She has a degree in Physics and enjoys reading feminist theory, looking at photos of baby animals, and watching more TV shows than humanly possible. She’d love to get on one of those commercial flights into outer space! 🙂

Ketaki Chowkhani  is a PhD student in Women’s Studies at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Her doctoral research is on Adolescent Sexuality and Sexuality Education in contemporary urban India.

Khushi Pahuja is a third year economics student of Indraprastha College for Women who has been working in the social development sector for the past 3 years. She says, “Everyday when I wake up, I look up to the infinite sky and feel blessed to be able to work for the cause I feel for. I am working for the sex workers of GB and in two slum areas in Delhi. Amidst working in such sensitive spaces, my mental health started getting impacted almost a year ago. And that’s when I explored writing. I seek strength in my words. I love being close to nature.”

Kirti (she/he) is a writer, sexuality educator and a content creator. She draws from her lived experiences, as a queer and trans person, in her work. Her areas of expertise include pregnancy, labour, parenting, sexuality, gender, consent, polyamory, and more. You can find Kirti’s evidence-based, pleasure-positive & inclusive sex-ed at: https://instagram.com/lets_get_kinki

Kristin Francoeur is a proud feminist and PhD candidate focusing on reproductive justice issues in India and the U.S. When not advocating for safe abortion, food justice, and transnational feminism, she enjoys trail running and camping, enthusiastic cooking, and trying to speak comprehensible Hindi.

Kumam Davidson and Pavel Sagolsem: Davidson is an independent journalist and a social media advocate for gender justice, he tries to fuse liberal, feminist and queer thoughts in his writings. He is also writing a doctoral thesis on the intersection between violence and urbanistion in the case of Karachi. Pavel is from Imphal, Manipur and currently works as a consultant for youth engagement and networking in Breakthrough Trust, Delhi. He is a vagabond by heart and a queer feminist by practice.

Kumam Davidson Singh  is an ethnographer, curator, writer and educator based in Manipur, India. He is founder Matai Society and co-founder TCHP: Digital Queer Anthology of Northeast India. He has worked on various issues including HIV, mental health, sex, gender and sexuality across Northeast India with organisations and community collectives based in the region as well as outside such as Birkbeck – University of London, University of California, Ashoka University, SAATHII, The Humsafar Trust, Mariwala Health Foundation, Tarshi, Nazariya QFRG among others. He works on ground with queer, Trans*, non-binary persons and women in Manipur and elsewhere in Northeast India. His writings are widely published including by Routledge and Zubaan.

Lamia Bagasrawala is a practicing psychotherapist in Mumbai. She works extensively in the areas of child and adolescent mental health and sexuality education in schools. Her practices are driven by feminist, strengths based and arts based therapeutic perspectives.

Lavanya (they/he) likes everything to do with food, right from cooking and eating it to reading and writing about it. Their work has been previously published in the Delhiwallah Poetry Collective and The Phosphene Magazine. They can be reached on Instagram at @lavaurora.

Lean Deleon  likes to decenter masculinity wherever he goes. Philippine-born, bay area-raised, Thailand residing, Lean likes to straddle in the margins of power and identity. He says, ‘If you are down with radical Marxist feminist queer 3^rd world hustling politics, let’s cuddle, read books and organize to smash systems of oppressions.’

Leeza Mangaldas is India’s foremost pleasure positive content creator, author of The Sex Book: A Joyful Journey of Self-discovery (published by HarperCollins) , and most recently, founder of pleasure and intimacy products brand, Leezu’s (www.Leezus.com). Her sex education videos on social media reach millions of people in India and around the world, daily. She also hosts ‘The Sex Podcast’, a Spotify exclusive, in Hindi. Leeza has won several awards for her work. She is also a UN Women Ally, as well as the recipient of The Pleasure Project Fellowship.

Lekha Sharma: is pursuing her Master’s in Sociology at the SAARC-established South Asian University in New Delhi, and has an undergraduate degree in Elementary Education from Delhi University. Lekha is interested in issues related to women and society.

Lekha Sridhar is a lawyer from Delhi and is currently living in Germany under the Humboldt International Climate Protection Fellowship. She blogs about movies in her free time at: www.reviewerswithoutborders.blogspot.com.

Liss, Sunu and Mala: Ms Liss Maria Scaria is PhD scholar at Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies (AMCHSS), Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram; Dr Sunu C Thomas has a doctorate in public health. She works on gender, ethics, and reproduction. Her work also focuses on male infertility and masculinity; Dr Mala Ramanathan is Professor at Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, (AMCHSS), Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram.

Liz Hilton: is an Australian woman who has been living outside her land and language for more than 20 years. She is a part of Empower Foundation in Thailand. Empower has taught her the value of art as advocacy and the benefits of speaking and listening without words.

Lucie Bernroider is pursuing a PhD in Anthropology from Heidelberg University, Germany. Her work forms part of the EU-funded project SINGLE which looks at the experiences of single women in Delhi and Shanghai. Before coming to Heidelberg, she studied Anthropology and Political Science in Vienna. Her interests are located at the intersections of feminist critique, politics, urbanisation and collective memory. She is also an avid reader and is obsessively missing Indian food.

M. A. Dubbs is an award-winning Mexican-American and LGBT poet from Indiana, USA. For over a decade, Dubbs has published writing in magazines and anthologies across the globe. She is the author of An American Mujer through Bottlecap Press (2022) and served as judge for Indiana’s Poetry Out Loud Competition. She recently won the 2023 Holden Vaughn Spangler Award from River City College MUSE.

Dr. Madhu Kewalramani is a psychiatrist and psychodynamic psychotherapist. She works as a consultant psychiatrist in a Perinatal Psychiatry service in the UK, and is pursuing further training as a psychoanalyst. She has special interest in the psychosocial changes associated with pregnancy and postpartum period, with specific reference to their impact upon the mother-infant relationship. She also has extensive experience of working with people presenting with a range of physical health concerns and associated psychological/psychiatric difficulties, including medically unexplained symptoms and CFS/ME. She is actively involved in the training of postgraduate students of psychiatry, social work, and psychiatric nursing.

Madhavi Menon is Director for the Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality at Ashoka University, and the author, most recently, of Infinite Variety: A History of Desire in India.

Mahika Banerji is an intersectional feminist, as well as a professional dog-petter, procrastinator, Netflix-binger – except she doesn’t get paid for any of these.

Mahesh Natarajan is a counsellor at www.innersight.in, and an occasional writer, mostly of #veryshortstories on his Facebook page in addition to his book of short stories, Pink Sheep. He lives in Bangalore, India with his partner.

Malina Sulaiman is a contemporary Afghan artist. She is also a painter, sculptor, graffiti artist, teacher and a top notch creator.

Malini Chib is an Indian disability rights activist and author who has cerebral palsy. She currently works for Tata Consultancy Services, London. She wrote the book One Little Finger over the course of two years by typing with only one finger. In 2011, the Indian Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment awarded Malini the National Award for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities in the category Role Model. She has a BA from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai and a masters degree in Gender Studies from Institute of Education, University of London.

Malini Gopalakrishnan is a feminist, a lover of words, a poet, an educator, and a student of life. A Hyderabad-based development communication professional working in the areas of education, gender, and health, she is currently involved in developing adolescent empowerment programs that seek to provide adolescent girls from marginalized communities with the information they need to keep themselves healthy and safe; the tools to make informed choices for themselves and their futures; and skills to negotiate and advocate for themselves and others. Malini believes that engaging with the youth is crucial to building and equitable society for all.

Mamatha Karollil teaches at Ambedkar University Delhi. Which gives her some space and time to think and talk through, issues such as the above; she teaches things related to gender, sexuality, psychology/psychoanalysis. Among the few things she is grateful for.

Manak Matiyani  is a feminist, queer activist, an Acumen Fellow and the Executive Director of The YP Foundation. Manak’s work is aimed at facilitating young people’s rights based leadership on issues of Gender, Sexuality, Health, Education and Civic Participation.

Manjima Bhattacharjya is a sociologist and feminist activist based in Mumbai. This piece is adapted from her monograph ‘Sex Work Geographies’ (2012) as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Urban Aspirations Project, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Mansi Wadhwa: Due to the transferable nature of her parents’ jobs, Mansi has lived in many Indian cities and in that sense, can be described as a ‘migrant’ herself. This movement has helped her develop an ability to get a bird’s eye view of things which she hopes to use to her advantage in analysing public policies and systems. Mansi is a learner at heart, and loves to read and write poetry. She graduated from the University of Delhi with a degree in Political Science and is hoping to study and work in the area of public policy.

Manvendra is currently pursuing his graduation from University of Delhi. A polyglot and theatre enthusiast, he wishes to write a play of his own one day. He also shares a keen interest in gender and sexuality, and believes in learning and unlearning everyday. He’s usually strong minded; but one thing he can never say no to is a cup of chai.

Maya Krishna Rao creates her own performances, sometimes solo, other times collaboratively, with sound, space designers and film makers. She engages school children and teachers in the use of drama as a teaching device in the class room. Maya also performs stand up comedy. Amongst her shows that have travelled different countries and have been received with acclaim are Khol Do, The Job, A Deeper Fried Jam (a theatre rock show), Heads Are Meant For Walking Into, The-4-Wheel – Drive – “Come – to – me – Mr. Sharma” – Bodyfat – Murdered – Show’… (Comedy in episodes), Ravanama (dance theatre) and her latest Walk made in response to the horrific gangrape and subsequent death of Jyoti Pande. Maya received the Sangeet Natak Award for Acting in 2010.

Medha Gandhi is currently an Ipas Policy Advisor  where she focuses on advocating for increasing access to safe abortion services for women in India. Prior to joining Ipas, Medha was a Consultant Adolescent Health at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Medha also hosts radio shows on AIR FM Rainbow.

Meena Saraswathi Seshu and Aarthi Pai: Meena is the general secretary of Sampada Gramin Mahila Sanstha (SANGRAM), an HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and support organisation working with marginalised people in Maharashtra. Aarthi is a lawyer and currently working as the Director of the Centre for Advocacy on Stigma and Marginalisation (CASAM) in SANGRAM.

MEF produces and distributes video documentaries to encourage critical thinking and debate about the relationship between media ownership, commercial media content, and the democratic demand for free flows of information, diverse representations of ideas and people, and informed citizen participation.

Megha holds a triple major degree in Psychology, Women Studies, and Journalism. She’s currently training to be a therapist.

Meghna Bohidar is a believer in naïve and irrational Bollywood love as a way-of-being, Meghna holds an incurably optimistic view of human beings. She is currently an M.Phil scholar at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai) and is exploring the performances of love in urban public spaces.

Meher and Kuhika: Meher Suri is a Research Consultant with the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW). She is a policy professional, wielding a sharp curiosity to explore myriad avenues at the interface of the government, societies, and people power. Her areas of interest lie at the intersection of livelihoods, gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health rights. Kuhika Seth is a development researcher with experience in qualitative and design research on intersectional issues around gender and, sexuality, such as intimate partner violence, sexual health and labour. She has led and contributed to a range of studies during her stints with IAVI, ICRW, Population Council and Sambodhi Research and Communications.

Meisha S*, a writer raised by feminists in editorial rooms, has been aware and accepting of her submissive identity for over a decade. When not serving the demands of capitalism, she spends her time delving into the intricacies of philosophy, psychology, human behaviour, relationships, and sexuality, constantly seeking answers to the many questions that preoccupy her mind.

Micky Nair is an MBBS graduate studying to be a psychiatrist who loves English literature, enjoys painting occasionally, and has an obsession for house plants and gardening. He has a special admiration for Paulo Coelho, Cecelia Ahern and Dan Brown. He finds honesty and mindful insight beautiful.

Mitali Das is a practicing artist, based in Kolkata, whose creative interest revolves around the areas of femininity and sexuality.

Mitti

Mona Mishra is an independent expert on development and social policy

Moulshri Mohan worked at TARSHI. She studied Psychology and English, and likes thinking about feminist culture and new media.

Mrinalini and Udita: Mrinalini Ravindranath is a legal researcher & Udita Chakrabarti is the Communications and Knowledge Officer at Partners for Law in Development (PLD India).

Mukesh is contributor to the Orinam blog, he loves being vegan and queer when he is not lost running the trails in a rain forest, biking between cities and hiking through the mountains. He understands geology and works in the construction industry.

Muskan Nagpal: It is difficult to say who Muskan is right now. Most likely, she is confused. In the past she studied Literature at Hansraj College, University of Delhi and later joined the Young India Fellowship at Ashoka University.

Must Bol  is in online youth volunteer led campaign that calls to young people to examine violence in their lives and speak out against it.. Follow them on: www.facebook.com/delhiyouth

Mythili Menon is a medical graduate who is pursuing a residency in Internal Medicine in the US. A conservative upbringing as well as coming to terms with her own sexuality are few of the reasons that prompted her to decide to specialise in LGBTQIA+ health in the future. She is also the owner of the trademark ‘Flooid’, a platform to be officially launched mid year which will primarily focus on discussions around basics on sexual and reproductive health.

Namrata Chatterjee is a student of class eleven and lives in Lucknow. She has a passion for psychology. She loves talking and has an ability to understand emotions easily.

Natasha Chandhock (They/She) is a self-taught mixed/multimedia art practitioner whose work ranges from utilitarian, handcrafted art to art positioned at the juncture of gender, disability and design justice. They identify as genderfluid, a person with multiple physical and psychosocial disabilities which informs their work in various ways. They have an undying interest in creating stories through objects and narrativizing simple thoughts and ideas through abstract art and process videos. Having had a formal education in Graphic as well as Social Design, their critique of the discipline with regards to ableism and inaccessibility is a strong ethic they aim to carry in future works they may create. Their recent works can be explored @Bereft Archives and @Huesthere

Neha Naqvi has been working on human rights, sexuality and gender justice issues for the last eight years. She has a weakness for TARSHI and Alison Bechdel (in equal measure). Is a Bachelor of Laws from the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research and a Master of Laws from Columbia University.

Neetika Vishwanath  is a young feminist lawyer. She has directly intervened in cases of human rights violations and violence against women and children including sexual violence. Her areas of interest include gender studies, constitutional law, human rights law, access to justice.

Neel is a writer and activist. She is a postgraduate in Performance Studies from Ambedkar University Delhi, and has been an active part of non-governmental organisations and civil rights movements whose work revolves around issues of gender and sexuality.

Nhylar is a 24 year QPOC who currently resides in Toronto. She uses poetry as a creative outlet for her existential rage. She writes about queer representation, living away from home, intimacy and anything that intrigues her.

Nidhi Chaudhary completed her undergraduate degree in Economics (Honours) from Delhi University. She completed her post-graduation in Gender Studies from Ambedkar University, Delhi, and became interested in working in the domain of gender and sexuality. She is currently working with TARSHI as a Programme Associate.

Nidhi Goyal is a disabled feminist working on disability rights and gender justice. She is the founder and director of a Mumbai-based non-profit Rising Flame which works on rights of persons with disabilities with a focus on women and youth with disabilities. She is also the program director of sexuality and disability at Point of View and is the co-author of www.sexualityanddisability.org. As India’s first female disabled comedian, she uses humour to dispel myths on disability, gender and sexuality. Nidhi has been appointed to the prestigious civil society advisory group of UN women’s Executive Director, sits on the advisory board of “Voice” a grant making facility by the Dutch Ministry, and has been globally elected on the board of Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) where she is currently the President Elect. You can follow Nidhi’s work @saysnidhigoyal

Nighat Gandhi is a writer and psychotherapist. Her most recent collection of short stories is :WAITING (Zubaan, Delhi, 2019).

Nikzad Zangeneh is a 26 year old feminist activist and a freelance researcher from Iran, her research focuses on women’s issues especially SRHR and violence against women.

Nilesh Mondal is a 22-year old undergraduate in power engineering by day, and struggling poet by night.His works have been published in the Ghazal Page, Hans India, Cafe Dissensus, Textploit, etc. He works at Terribly Tiny Tales, an online storytelling platform.

Nirantar is a feminist organisation that works on issues of gender and education, promoting literacy and access to information and engendering the education process in diverse contexts. Through grassroots interventions, research, training, creating educational resources, advocacy and engagement with the women’s movement, the organisation brings issues of equity and gender centre stage in the arena of education.

Nishita Kamdar, fashion and business enthusiast and Co-founder of Ekya India: a community service platform, is an activist and visual artist with a passion for sustainability, feminism, and mental health advocacy. Nishita has worked with a number of NGOs in the past, climbing up the hierarchical ladder from volunteer, to intern and manager. She is a risk-taker with an organized mindset and entrepreneurial spirit who works with zeal for causes she believes in. She expresses her interpretation of thoughts, events, and emotions via her art and writing.

Niyati Dave is a recent graduate of Smith College, where she majored in Art History and learned how to walk on ice without slipping. She currently lives in Mumbai, where she grew up, and is working on a personal, narrative project that examines gender in relation to public spaces and ideas of modernity and urbanity. She is interested in diaspora, migration and gender and sexuality studies and hopes to figure out how to be an adult soon.

Neel is a writer and activist. She is a postgraduate in Performance Studies from Ambedkar University Delhi, and has been an active part of non-governmental organisations and civil rights movements whose work revolves around issues of gender and sexuality.

Noella Fernandes is currently a student pursuing her Bachelors in Visual Arts from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. Her works contemplate the ideas and concepts that revolve around human existence and emotions. She also likes to travel, read and write in her free time. You may reach her via e-mail at noellafernndesart@gmail.com.

Noopur Raval is a PhD student at the University of California, Irvine. She is passionate about technology, labour, gender and sexuality. When she is not researching sociotechnical phenomena, she loves eating, traveling and writing. She tweets @tetisheri.

Nupur Paliwal and Saloni Mishra: Nupur and Saloni are students of law in O.P. Jindal Global University. They are interested in socialist politics and literature. They harbour a keen interest in browsing through old Soviet posters and can be found lurking in the corners of the bird app.

Oindrila DuttaGupta belongs to a bunch of young, concerned women and men who are ready to do whatever it takes to bring a positive change.

Oishik Sircar is currently Associate Professor at Jindal Global Law School. Oishik is the co-director of the documentary film ‘We are Foot Soldiers’ (PSBT, 2011), and is the co-editor of ‘New Intimacies/ Old Desires: Law, Culture and Queer Politics in Neoliberal Times’ (Zubaan, 2017).

Oshin Siao Bhatt studied Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics and is interested in Media studies, Urban studies and Performance Arts. She enjoys reading, discovering new places and experimenting with food.

Padmini Iyer is currently in the final year of her PhD in International Education at the University of Sussex. Her PhD research explores young people’s experiences of Gender and Sexuality in Delhi secondary schools, and from 2013 – 2014, she spent nine months in Delhi carrying out research with Class 11 students in three co-educational secondary schools.

Pabitra Neupane is a child rights and gender activist. She is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Gender Studies, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

Pallavi is a full-time nerd and a part time activist who passionately captures the world around, through her lenses! A postgraduate in Gender Studies, her work revolves around understanding the female gamer’s subjectivity in the recent video game debate (Feminist Frequency vs #gamergate), trying to open up the tricky terrains of sexuality, pleasure and violence through the feminist positions of the actors in the debate.

Pallavi likes to sleep, read, paint, cook and dance. Not in that particular order. She works to make comprehensive sexuality education accessible to young people because she believes that everyone has the right to get correct information about their bodies.’

Pallavi Barnwal is a sexuality expressionist and founder of RedWomb; a platform on which she raises important yet uncomfortable questions and narratives on sexuality. She regularly writes in media on tabooed topics of sexuality and conducts offline event “Tongue Tied” that helps people to talk about their suppressed sexuality and come to peace with their sexuality.

Parigya Sharma is a Delhi based feminist researcher. Her interests include gender, sexuality and sexual health, feminist history and queer politics.

Paromita Vohra is a filmmaker and writer who works with fiction and non-fiction on themes of feminism, desire, urban life and popular culture. More at www.parodevipictures.com. Less @parodevi

Partners For Law in Development, PLD (pldindia.org) is a legal resource group committed to the realisation of social justice and equality for all women. We believe that the attainment of women’s equality is integral to the pursuit of social justice; and rights are necessary means by which discrimination and marginalisation be challenged, and equality facilitated.

Parvati Sharma is author of ‘The Dead Camel and Other Stories of Love’, ‘Close to Home’, and a book for children called ‘The Story of Babur’. She lives in New Delhi, and rarely goes to film festivals anymore, though she spends far more time than she should on Netflix.

Pattie Gonsalves works in the area of health and arts. She heads research for Agenda 1 in New Delhi, a research project working to identify the root causes normalizing issues of abuse and violence against children and adolescents and leads Institutional Advancement at Global Music Institute (GMI). She is also the co-founder of Music Basti and has worked with organizations including UNICEF, Mirada Medical and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). She studied population health at the University of Oxford.

Pauline Gomes works at Breakthrough, an organisation working to prevent discrimination and violence against women and girls. She has worked on sexuality, gender, disability and human rights. As a part of the curriculum and facilitation team she creates products and publications for training, and community action tools, and facilitates interactive sessions with adolescents, teachers, parents, development sector professionals, among others.

Pavel Sagolsem is from Imphal, Manipur and currently works at Nazariya – A Queer Feminist Resource Group in New Delhi. A vagabond by heart and queer feminist by practice, Pavel has worked on issues of engaging men and boys for gender justice and creating safe and shared space for women and girls and is a co-founder of The Chinky Homo Project. Storytelling is his passion.

Pawan Dhall has been engaged with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and other queer community mobilization in eastern and other parts of India since the early 1990s. He was a founder member of Counsel Club (1993-2002) and “Pravartak” (1991-92, 1993-2000), among the first queer support forums and publications in India. He has studied economics in college, and worked as a journalist, copywriter and social communicator in his early years as a professional. From 2002 to 2014, he was part of SAATHII, an HIV focussed capacity building NGO, at the top management level. He now leads Varta Trust, a Kolkata-based gender and sexuality publishing and advocacy non-profit agency (www.vartagensex.org), which affords him social research and “rainbow journalism” opportunities on queer health and development issues

Point of View is a  Mumbai-based non-profit platform that brings the points of view of women into community, social, cultural and public domains through media, art and culture. For more, please visit their website: http://www.pointofview.org/

Pooja Badarinath is working at CREA as a Programme Coordinator, Advocacy and Research, she is keenly interested in understanding the relationship between law and sexuality and the way they interact with each other.

Pooja Priyamvada is a sexual wellness coach, mindfulness and grief counselor, corporate trainer, and a mental health and suicide-prevention activist. Currently she is Academic Director at the International Institute of Mass Media (IIMM), Delhi, and facilitator of the Leadership & Management in Health course offered by the University of Washington. Pooja is also an author, columnist, blogger and translator. Read more about her here.

Pooja Paul has a Master’s in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and her interests lie in working on issues of sexual and reproductive health and health disparities.

Pooja Singh and Ramneek Banga are social development professionals. Pooja has been working on issues of bodily autonomy, gender equality and youth leadership. When not working, she is either busy reading or daydreaming about alternate realities of being an entrepreneur, gardener and feminist bookstore keeper, and bringing pieces of these alternatives into her current realities. Ramneek brings an inter-sectional feminist lens to her work towards creating an inclusive society. She has worked with adolescents, young people, youth-led and grassroots organisations across the country to build young people’s agency and enable an inside-out reflective and action-oriented change process.

Poorva Parashar is a queer, cisgender, occasionally anxious, South Asian woman. She often writes about realities she has grown up with, such as her grandmother’s village and that one spot in the park that always had the prettiest flowers. She is a graduate in Psychology and a student of Mental Health and is also passionate about yoga, paneer, and one day having her own Netflix account. Her work includes a focus on existentialism, humour, and feminist psychology. She also specialises in making great apricot-cherry smoothies.

Prachee Batra

Prachi Srivastava is a consultant psychologist, Social Skills Trainer and Behaviour Management Advisor. She has always believed in being the connecting link in the triad of educators, parents and the child (with/without special needs). She runs her independent setup for counseling children and adolescents, STAPOO which is based on the philosophy of ‘birds fly, fish swim and children play’.

Pragya is a development and communications professional. With a keen interest in gender, diversity, and identity-inclusive spaces, she has been creating and channelising content to improve communication and encourage informed dialogue.

Pramada Menon:  Pramada Menon is a queer feminist. A stand-up performance artist, her show Fat, Feminist and Free takes a tongue-in-cheek look at gender and sexuality issues. She has also made a documentary film And You Thought You Knew Me – a look at the lives of five People Assigned Gender Female at Birth. For her dal roti she works as a consultant.

Prarthana completed her MSW from Jamia MilliaIslamia University. She has been working in development sector for past 8 years on issues of quality education, curriculum development, teachers’ training, gender and sexuality. Before joining Nirantar in 2015, she has been associated with Bodh Shiksha Samiti, Jaipur and UNICEF Jharkhand. Currently Prarthana is leading Parvaaz Adolescent Centre For Education ( PACE) Project in Nirantar. She works closely with Delhi and UP based partner organizations to provide access to alternative quality education among out of school girls. She is actively involved in developing learning resource materials and curriculum, along with building capacities of the facilitators. Poetry and music has remained close to her heart.

Price of Silence is a global grassroots performing arts collective that brings to life the global struggle for women’s rights to life on stage for audiences to live and breathe tragedy, action and resistance in action live to engender a culture of unity to dismantle all forms of violence against women structurally and physically.

Prithvijeet Sinha is a proud resident of the cultural epicenter that is Lucknow. His prolific works include poetry, and musings on the city and cinema, and have been published in anthologies and journals of national and international repute as well as a blog. His life-force resides in writing, in the art of self-expression.

P. V. Swati‘s research interests are around migration studies, sexuality and queer movements and she has worked with several organisations engaged with issues related to gender.. She is pursuing her Masters in Women’s Studies at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is also a travel enthusiast, an experimental photographer and a keen lingerie collector.

Rachel Wottonis a migrant sex worker, living and working throughout Australia and overseas, for over two decades. She is a founding member of Touching Base and a co-facilitator for the workshops Touching Base delivers to both the sex worker and disability communities.
In 2011, she was featured in the documentary Scarlet Road and spoke further about this topic at TEDx Bunbury; “Open your mind to what goes on behind closed doors“. She was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2016 and graduated in 2017 with her Masters by Research topic: Sex workers who provide services to clients with disability in New South Wales, Australia.

Radhika Chandiramani is trained as a clinical psychologist at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Radhika founded TARSHI in 1996. She has co-edited ‘Sexuality, Gender and Rights: Exploring Theory and Practice in South and Southeast Asia’ (Sage, 2005) and authored the popular ‘Good Times for Everyone: Sexuality Questions, Feminist Answers’ (Women Unlimited, 2008).

Ragamalika Karthikeya is a journalist, writer, policy wonk and none of the above at the same time. After working with mainstream news channels for a few years, she decided to jump ship to the policy space with the LAMP Fellowship. Currently, she’s looking for inspiration while working with some Members of Parliament.

Rahul Sen teaches critical writing, literature, gender and sexualities, and queer theory at Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana. He can be reached at carpenoctem989@gmail.com

Raili Roy holds a PhD in Women, Gender and Sexuality studies from The Ohio State University. Her dissertation, entitled “Jagoron: Awakening to Gender in Non-Governmental Organizations in Contemporary Bengal,” explored the recent history of the role of Non Governmental Organizations in women’s movement in India. Roy served as the Associate Director and Lecturer of the South Asia Center at the University of Pennsylvania and an Assistant Dean of global programs at New York University. Currently she teaches History and Gender Studies at Fairleigh Dickinson University and New Jersey City University and works with several Gender Rights organizations in India and US in transnational movement building and fund raising.

Raj Armani is the co-founder & COO of India’s #1 Adult Store – IMbesharam.com. He is now going global and strongly believes in his larger goal of democratising ‘Sex & Pleasure’ for Indians worldwide. He can be reached on raj@imbesharam.com.

Rajashree Gandhi is a writer, educator, pickle collector. She conducts writing and creativity workshops for school children. She is deeply in love with the idea of female friendships.

Rajeev Anand Kushwah completed their undergrad in Political Science Honours from Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi in 2020 and a Masters in Women’s Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai in 2022. They have been a recipient of the Mavelinadu Collective’s grant for non-fiction for the first issue of Debrahminising Gender. Their work can be found in EPW, Women’s Link Journal, Shuddhashar, and Hindu College Gazette, among others. Currently working as a Research Associate with the Centre for Law and Policy Research, Bangalore, their research interests include queer experiences, feminist ethics of care, and masculinities.

Rajiv B is a cook and writer living in Goa.

Ramya Anand works at TARSHI and also conducts sexuality education workshops for children and young people at her individual capacity. She has been working on issues related to sexuality, gender, reproductive health and rights, mental health and advocacy. An enthusiastic learner, she also constantly craves food and travel.

Dr. Rangana Rupavi Choudhuri is an international author, speaker and trainer a PhD and a dynamic leader in the coaching and counseling field. She graduated from Oxford University, has led international businesses and now spearheads a global learning organisation, Vitality Living College, and delivers seminars and certification in emotional well-being, coaching and spirituality.

Rashmi Gopi teaches in the University of Delhi. Her special focus of investigation has been on the question of how masculinity and femininity are constructed in contexts, and how they are used as tools of both empowerment and oppression.

Rashi Kapoor is a people’s person contrary to the image of psychoanalytically trained and informed psychotherapists. She is currently working as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist with the Fortis Healthcare, New Delhi. She works with people across different age groups experiencing emotional conflicts, psychotic breakdowns and difficult states of mind. Working with women issues at the cusp of psychoanalysis and feminism is of key interest to her.

Ravindran Jegasothy is currently the Dean and Professor in Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the Faculty of Medicine, MAHSA University, Malaysia. He is a fervent advocate of patient rights and was awarded the Distinguished Community Service Award by FIGO (International Federation of Gynaecology & Obstetrics) for the reduction of maternal mortality.

RedTraSex is made up of organisations whose members are current or former women sex workers and that represent us. Our Network includes organisations from 15 countries (Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Peru) and we look forward to incorporate many more compañeras wanting to join our collective.

Reena Khatoon works with The YP Foundation as Manager of the Know Your Body Know Your Rights Program. Reena comes with extensive experience in community mobilization, training, developing IEC materials in Hindi and supporting community groups to advocate and lobby for human rights issues, especially on women’s rights issues.

Reva Puri is pursuing her Masters Degree in Psychosocial Clinical Studies at Ambedkar University Delhi. She is interested in looking at the questions of culture, mythology, caretaking, gender and group dynamics from a psychoanalytic lens. She hopes to someday become a psychoanalytic psychotherapist who is sensitive to the vast complexities that surround her.

Rhea Kuthoore is a teacher at Sholai school (India), doing philosophy with children (p4c) program, a graduate of Ashoka University with a major in Philosophy.

Ria Arya is a Sexuality Therapist and Inclusive Mental Healthcare practitioner based out of Mumbai, India. She is a multi-medium practitioner and uses techniques such as talk, movement, creativity, and narrativization in her practice. She believes the future is intersectional and includes in her practice a deep understanding of caste, class, religion, and other forms of constructed social identities to ensure a deeper, fuller understanding of the individuals she works with. When away from work, she spends her time reading, writing, singing songs in languages she doesn’t understand, petting every dog she comes across, and making pasta.

Ria Basu is currently pursuing her doctorate on ‘Locating the multifaceted nature of Human Sexuality in the works of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Ismat Chughtai and Saadat Hassan Manto’ from Dr. H.S Gour Vishwavidyalaya (Central University of Sagar), Sagar, Madhya Pradesh. She has completed her graduation and Post-graduation in English Literature from Banaras Hindu University (BHU). She has spent around four years working as a senior English faculty in an institution that trains students for career enhancement and acing aptitude examinations. Her areas of specialisation are Gender Studies, Sexuality Studies, Indian Sexuality, etc.

Richa Kaul Padte is a writer and editor covering gender, sex, technology, popular culture and illness. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed nonfiction book Cyber Sexy: rethinking pornography (Penguin Random House India 2018) and the co-founder of Deep Dives, an award-winning digital imprint. You can read her work at richakaulpadte.com and follow her on Twitter @hirishitalkies

Rinku is a Dalit-Dusadh feminist, artist, and poet. She writes about issues on gender, caste, class in different platforms.

Rishita Nandagiri is an SRHR policy wonk, writer, and researcher. An overly-opinionated feminist who talks too much, she hosts ‘The Quietude’ a (fledgling) feminist podcast; and tweets about nothing in particular on @rishie_

Rishit Wishit is a student of Masters in Literary Art in Ambedkar University Delhi. Rishit Wishit is active in a range of land rights and environmental issues. Rishit Wishit sometimes addresses Rishit Wishit only in the third person.

Rituparna Borah is co-founder of Nazariya – A Queer Feminist Resource Group. She is a queer feminist activist with over 10 years of experience in working on issues of gender and sexuality. With Nirantar, an organisation that works on issues of gender and education, she was extensively involved in planning and conducting trainings on sexuality with organisations, collectives, rural communities, gender trainers, lawyers, students, and government officials. She had also been involved in building a Muslim girls’ leadership programme through ICT in Lucknow, India. Rituparna has contributed towards Adolescence Education Programme training material published by the National Council on Education, Research and Training (NCERT). She is actively involved with collectives such as the Delhi Queer Pride Committee, CCSA (Citizen’s Collective Against Sexual Assault), Qashti LBT, and Voices Against 377.

Ritwika Patgiri has recently joined Economics Department of the South Asian University as a doctoral student. She has a Masters in Economics from Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi and a BA in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi. She has experience of working as research interns with organizations like Rashtriya Grameen Vikas Nidhi (RGVN), Sambodhi Research and Communications, Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development (OKDISCD), SDG Society and Femme First Foundation.

Ritwika Patgiri and Rituparna Patgiri: Ritwika Patgiri is a doctoral student in the Faculty of Economics of the South Asian University, New Delhi. Rituparna Patgiri teaches Sociology in Indraprastha College for Women (IPCW), University of Delhi. She has a PhD in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Robin is an Expressive Arts Therapy practitioner, exploring the intersection of arts and psychology. He has trained in the Western dance form of Jazz, is dabbling with contemporary and modern dance, and researching his own movement language. He is keenly interested in exploring vocabulary and symbols in movement arts.

Rohini Banerjee is literature graduate with a keen interest in the intersections of gender, sexuality and popular culture.

Rola Yasmine is a reproductive sexual health researcher, feminist, activist, registered nurse, happy hour expert, and sometimes a DJ. Based in Beirut, Lebanon.

Rosa Posa Guinea defines herself ironically as a “respectable lesbian”. Paraguayan-Spanish, she is an educator and a feminist, with an M.A in Public Policy and Gender. She survived a stint as a gender adviser for UNDP-Paraguay. She coordinated trainings for LGBTI activists in Latin America and the Caribbean for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission for six years. She is Founder and activist at Aireana, a lesbian group in Asuncion, Paraguay, Co-Executive Director of Akahatá, Latin American working group on sexualities and gender, a harp student, and author of Todas locas a book of short stories.

Roshan Roy is a senior student of English Literature at Ashoka University. He can usually be found reading anything non-fiction, listening to John Mayer or contemplating life while listening to and singing along with Passenger’s songs. His areas of research and writing include sexuality and gender. He navigates life by writing performance poetry and non-fiction.

Rukmini and Soumya: Rukmini Banerjee is a history graduate, currently working as a policy associate. They love to read memoirs, write poetry and stare fondly at their two cats for hours on end. Soumya Jayanti is an em-dash enthusiast with a degree in English literature, currently working as a publishing intern. She is interested in radical politics, art history, and analog culture.

Rukmini Banerjee is a queer poet, translator and researcher who lives with mental illness. She is interested in the connection and disconnection of bodies with mind and the (mis) management of technology in everyday lives. Her poetry has appeared in the poetry anthology The World That Belongs To Us: An Anthology of Queer Poetry from South Asia, the magazine “Livewire” published by The Wire, and My Loves: A Digital Anthology of Queer Love Poems published by Ghost City Press. Her translations have appeared in the collaborative book Friendship as Social Justice Activism.

Rupal Rupali is a social worker and researcher based in Delhi, currently working towards a Ph.D. in the subject area of ‘Queer Migration’ at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Their interest area broadly includes queer politics, discrimination studies, gender and conflict, etc. and they seek to explore and investigate the intersections of queer studies with other disciplines especially International Relations. Their writing mostly focuses on the politics of the marginalised especially along the axes of gender, sexuality and caste. Reach them at rupalrupali12@gmail.com or @the.rupal on Instagram.

Rupsa Mallik is Director, Programmes and Innovation at CREA. Over a decade and a half Rupsa has been engaged in advocating for sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equity and justice in various capacities. She holds a Masters degree in Women and Development from the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands.

Ruth Gould is Artistic Director of DaDaFest, and is trained in performance arts, speech and drama from Liverpool Theatre School. She is on the Board of Contact Theatre, a Governor of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, and an advisory member for Granada Foundation and Liverpool City Council Tourism and Culture Select Committee. Ruth is passionate about Disability and Deaf arts.

Saba Ismail is co-founder and Executive Director Aware Girls. She is a feminist and is working for women’s rights in Pakistan. She is in Foreign Policy’s list of leading global thinkers.

Sadaf Vidha is a 27 year old, cis-woman. I’m a therapist and a researcher with five years’ experience. Community mental health,looking at issues through an intersectional lens, and listening to and telling stories are my passion. I love art, music and baking , and also love to read a wide variety of things. I am a cat-mom to two Turkish stray cats. My work includes consulting on projects with Bapu Trust, working as a counsellor for Sukoon (Tata Insitute of Social Sciences field action project), and a private practice. My qualifications are a Masters degree in clinical psychology from TISS, and certificate courses in arts-based therapy, queer affirmative counselling practice and couples and family therapy

Sahil Sood was born in Ludhiana in December 1993. He is a Chartered Accountant by profession. He discovered his love of reading and writing at a young age, getting published in academic journals and newspapers. ‘A Thousand Dreams Within Me Softly Burn’ is his debut novel, a work in the genre of literary fiction. He currently resides in Chandigarh, and can be reached at sahilsood042@gmail.com.

Sai Jyothirmai Racherla is aProgramme Manager, Monitoring, Research and Advocacy at ARROW. Sai has been involved in monitoring of women human rights especially sexual and reproductive health and rights for the past 11 years. Over a career span of 17 years, Sai had worked at various levels- grassroots, district, state, national, regional, and international organisations and has developed grounded perspectives on issues of gender, women’s health, SRHR, poverty, food security, sexuality, health sector reforms, right to health, social determinants of health. Sai holds a Masters Degree in Nutrition (MSc) and a Diploma in Population Studies.

Sakshi Bhatia is a freelance artist and a film professional. She is currently in Delhi pursuing Fine Arts. After dropping out from Delhi University, she went on to assist imminent film directors such as Anusha Rizvi (Peepli Live), Deepa Mehta (Midnight’s Children) and Kiran Rao (Dhobi Ghat) amongst various others. In the last couple of years she has edited two short films one of which was awarded The Best Short Film Prize in New York (Good Morning, SAIFF 2011) and another that gained theatrical release in India (The Last Act, 2012).

Salil Saroj: लेखक परिचय सलिल सरोज जन्म: 3 मार्च,1987,बेगूसराय जिले के नौलागढ़ गाँव में(बिहार)। शिक्षा: आरंभिक शिक्षा सैनिक स्कूल, तिलैया, कोडरमा,झारखंड से। जी.डी. कॉलेज,बेगूसराय, बिहार (इग्नू)से अंग्रेजी में बी.ए(2007),जवाहरलाल नेहरू विश्वविद्यालय , नई दिल्ली से रूसी भाषा में बी.ए(2011), जीजस एन्ड मेरी कॉलेज,चाणक्यपुरी(इग्नू)से समाजशास्त्र में एम.ए(2015)। प्रयास: Remember Complete Dictionary का सह-अनुवादन,Splendid World Infermatica Study का सह-सम्पादन, स्थानीय पत्रिका”कोशिश” का संपादन एवं प्रकाशन, “मित्र-मधुर”पत्रिका में कविताओं का चुनाव। सम्प्रति: सामाजिक मुद्दों पर स्वतंत्र विचार एवं ज्वलन्त विषयों पर पैनी नज़र। सोशल मीडिया पर साहित्यिक धरोहर को जीवित रखने की अनवरत कोशिश।पंजाब केसरी ई अखबार ,वेब दुनिया ई अखबार, नवभारत टाइम्स ब्लॉग्स, दैनिक भास्कर ब्लॉग्स,दैनिक जागरण ब्लॉग्स, जय विजय पत्रिका, हिंदुस्तान पटनानामा,सरिता पत्रिका,अमर उजाला काव्य डेस्क समेत 30 से अधिक पत्रिकाओं व अखबारों में मेरी रचनाओं का निरंतर प्रकाशन। भोपाल स्थित आरुषि फॉउंडेशन के द्वारा अखिल भारतीय काव्य लेखन में गुलज़ार द्वारा चयनित प्रथम 20 में स्थान। कार्यालय की वार्षिक हिंदी पत्रिका में रचनाएँ प्रकाशित।

Sama is a Delhi based resource group working on issues of women’s health and rights. Sama has been involved in research, advocacy and capacity building on Assisted Reproductive Technologies and surrogacy for several years and has systematically mapped the industry now a major part of the global medical-reproductive tourism industry.

Samarth Khanna, a non-Binary queer person, is a movement artist and a film-maker. They constantly seek to explore the intersections of art and identity politics through community led culture production. Also, they’re scared of writing. You can find them on instagram @samarth95khanna or write to them at samarth.khanna95@gmail.com

Sami S was born with the burning, albeit closeted desire, to write trashy, lesbian, romantic and/or murder-mystery novels. It took many long years of pretending to write straight-up, good quality fiction before she finally came out to herself. She edits and proofreads for a living, and makes grand plans on a daily basis. She volunteers with Orinam, a queer collective in Chennai.

Sanchia Alleen Aranha has just completed her Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology and is currently preparing to pursue her MPhil in the same field. She is an aspiring clinical psychologist, sex therapist and sex educator. Advocating for its inclusion as a compulsory part of the school curriculum, she envisions a future where comprehensive sexuality education becomes accessible to everyone in India. Apart from this, she is a passionate cook and loves exploring new cuisines. Connect with her on LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/in/sanchia-alleen-aranha.

SANGRAM is a health and human rights NGO based in the rural districts of western Maharashtra and north Karnataka that works to address social inequality and to promote justice amongst marginalised communities, discriminated against because of sexual preference, sex work, HIV status, gender, caste and religious minority.

Sanjukta Basu is a writer, photographer, and lawyer pursuing a PhD in Women’s and Gender Studies.

Sanskriti Bhardwaj is a part-time writer and full-time appreciator of the written word. Her work as an educator for the past two years in New Zealand and a stint with psychology in India gives her a critical and empathetic lens that she consistently employs in her writing. These professional and academic spaces have gifted her the opportunity to celebrate her cultural and gender identity that she enjoys weaving through her words. She loves dancing, reading fiction and pursuing all types of DIY projects. You can reach her at sanskritib.nz@gmail.com and connect with her on LinkedIn.

Sanya Talwar: A lawyer by profession, I work as a Consultant for Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH). I am a court reporter in the Supreme Court of India on matters of Constitutional importance at Centre for Law & Policy Research. Affiliations to robust NGO’s.

Sarah Holland Bacot is a queer feminist activist from the Southern US and a recent graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. Currently, she is traveling the world as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, exploring queer community and visibility through Pride parades and community organisations. Check out her blog.

Sarah Soysa is a passionate activist in the sexual and reproductive health and rights field with a special focus on gender. She is a part of Asia Safe Abortion Partnership, as advocacy and development are two areas she is very interested in. She has completed her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work in Sri Lanka and is currently reading for her Masters in Gender and Development at the University of Melbourne.

Sashwati Banerjee leads Sesame Workshop’s educational mission in India to create innovative and engaging content that maximizes the educational power of all media to help children reach their highest potential. Sashwati truly believes that creativity in communication can bring about transformational change in society. Sashwati also serves on the Board of Point of View, an organization that promotes the points of views of women using media, arts and culture, and CREA, a feminist human rights organization based in New Delhi, India.

Saswati currently resides in New Delhi, India. She is an avid writer and gamer, while being the average overthinker. She studied English in Jadavpur University and currently works in the development sector. You can usually find her on her Twitter, tweeting bad opinions about TV shows.

Saswati Chatterjee works at Breakthrough as a part of the Media team and is passionate about gender rights and feminism and matches it with her love for all things pop culture.

Sexuality and Disability Website is a website that starts with the premise that women who are disabled are sexual beings – just like any other woman. For more information on the work they do, please visit: www.sexualityanddisability.org.

Shaleen Chrisanne is a sex-positive clinical psychologist. She is also an LGBT-affirmative therapist who aims to create a safe space for members of the community to seek mental health support. Being a feminist who is passionate about human rights, she believes that change begins with education. Apart from being passionate about mental health, this beer-drinking, dog-loving girl loves to spend her time watching psychological thrillers. You can connect with her on Twitter: @shaleeenxanne or via email: shaleenchrisanne.clinpsych@gmail.com.

Shaifali Agrawal has volunteered at TARSHI from time to time and works as an independent journalist, interested in art, culture, and gender. She is an alumna of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi; and can be reached at shaifalihere@gmail.com, or on twitter @shaifalihere

Shailaja P ’s bread and butter is being a learning facilitator. Writing, reading, travelling and just being in the moment is all the deliciousness that makes her life a smorgasbord.

Shalini Khanna has been working with disabled women and children since 1998, on education, rehabilitation, and employment, especially for people with visual impairment. She is also empanelled with several companies including government organizations on their sexual harassment (prevention) committees and has been conducting awareness sessions. Having done her masters in English literature and in industrial relations and personnel management, her main occupation had been market and social research. She has also been involved in various monitoring and research projects with the government.

Shalini Sinha is a parent, based in New Delhi. She occasionally writes on disability issues. She has written about her experience with her special needs son in an edited volume ‘Mothers and Others’, published by Zubaan Books.

Shalini Singh is a feminist activists and lawyer. At CREA, Shalini designs and manages Hindi training programs and institutes Feminist Leadership Institute and Sexuality , Gender and Rights. Shalini has extensively produced knowledge resources in Hindi covering themes around gender, Sexuality, Patriarchy, VAW and Feminist Leadership. (शालिनी नारीवादी एक्टिविस्ट है जो क्रिया के साथ जुड़कर हिंदी में जेंडर , यौनिकता और नारीवादी नेतृत्व के मुद्दे पर ट्रेनिंग करती हैं. हिन्दी में लिखना इन्हें पसंद है और ये अक्सर समुदाय के कार्यों का अनुभव अपनी हिन्दी लेखन में उतारती हैं.)

Shambhawi Vikram is a post graduate student at Delhi University, studying English Literature. Shambhawi freaks out when she has to talk of her career plans because she never really has a clue, sometimes wanting to do everything and at times absolutely nothing. Swinging between these two extremes, it seems like she will be flirting around quite a bit with gender and sexuality for some time to come.

Shampa Sengupta is an activist working on disability and gender issues for the past 25 years. She works for Sruti Disability Rights Centre. She is also elected as Executive Committee member of the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD India).

Shantha Rau Barriga is the Director of the Disability Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. She is responsible for overseeing research and advocacy on discrimination and human rights violations against persons with disabilities worldwide. She has worked on a range of issues including violence and barriers to education and health care.

Sharada Vinod: I am just a restless soul searching for my rhythm. Doctor. Neurodivergent. Puppy mom. Atheist. Intersectional feminist. Ambedkarite. Aspiring writer and social justice warrior

Sheba Remy Kharbanda is a metaphysician, filmmaker, visual artist and storyteller born in West London and currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. With feet metaphorically located in different parts of the world, much of her work focuses on the liminal: on belonging/not belonging and the ‘neither here nor there’.

Sheena D’lima is a writer and researcher based in Pune. She likes reading, jigsaw puzzles, feminisms and pop culture.

Shikha Aleya: Reading, writing, relaxing and exploring some of the lesser known aspects of being are running themes of her life and identity. Areas of engagement over decades include child rights and child protection, gender and sexuality, health, disability and care concerns over a spectrum of life elements and experiences. Shikha is a Programme Officer with TARSHI. A post-graduate from XLRI Jamshedpur, graduate from Hindu college, Delhi University, she has created independent projects in her interest areas, as well as worked across sectors as a project based consultant.

Shilo Shiv Suleman, an Indian illustrator, animator, visual artist and a feminist leader of the Fearless campaign based in the city of Bangalore, her primary area of interest is visual storytelling through multiple mediums. She has also been actively involved in setting up community art projects and collectives that get people to appreciate and create street art in their surroundings, as well as use art and design to bring socially relevant issues in India to the forefront.

Shilpa Phadke is a writer and an academician. She is a Professor at the School of Media and Cultural Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is co-author of the critically acclaimed book, Why Loiter? Women and Risk on Mumbai Streets (2011). She is co-director of the documentary Under the Open Sky (2017)

Shilpa Sachdeva: I am a storyteller and a life skills educator. I’m passionate about writing and expressing my thoughts and ideas. In my opinion, sexuality is an area which needs to be talked about and addressed thoughtfully.

Shiva Chauhan is doing his PGDM at the Goa Institute of Management and is part of the Queering Goa project which has conversations on sexuality and queerness.

Shivangi Gupta is a 27 years old mental health professional and social science researcher who is extremely passionate about all things within the realm of mental health, sexuality and social justice.

Shivani Gupta is currently pursuing her PhD, in the fields of gender, sexuality and urban studies from South Asian Studies department, at National University of Singapore (NUS). Over the years, she has worked on issues of feminism, gender, sexuality and technology. She loves to walk in urban and non-urban places and analyse women and their spatial behaviour. She loves to read and thinks it’s a necessity for her to grow. Her survival kit comprises of coffee/masala chai, chocolate, feminist novels, lip balm, kajal and movies.

Shivani Rajan is a psychology student at Ambedkar University Delhi, interested in the fields of gender, sexuality, and psychosocial construction of identity. She is a lover of all things art, looking beyond its aesthetics to art as a space for expression. She chooses to express herself through her writing around the sensual, the subversive, and the morbid.

Shohini Ghosh is a Sajjad Zaheer Professor at the AJK Mass Communication Centre at Jamia Millia Islamia University, India. She has been visiting professor at Cornell University, and a fellow at the University of Chicago. Ghosh directed ‘Tales of the Nightfairies’ (2002), a film about the sex workers’ struggle for rights in Kolkata, India. She is author of the volume on Deepa Mehta’s ‘Fire’ for the Queer Classics Series published by Arsenal Pulp Press, Vancouver, Canada and Orient Paperbacks, Delhi, India. Ghosh is co-founder of the Mediastorm Collective, an all-women documentary collective. She researches and writes on film, television, speech, censorship and sexuality. Her current work is titled ‘Violence and the Outsider: Bombay Cinema and the Spectre of the Muslim’.

Shraddha Mahilkar is a post graduate in Clinical Psychology from University of Delhi. Working on issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights, she is drawn towards good conversations, loves travelling, food and writing. Has creative inclination which she exhibits not only through her writing but also through her passion for wood work.

Shrenik is a Delhi based independent filmmaker who has made several shorts, many of which have been screened and critically acclaimed at various film festivals around the globe. His first love is fiction though he is currently a creative director of his studio shortPlay films that engages in making concept wedding films and Product AVs. He has also worked with NDTV and produced several shows for them.

Shrestha Das is a curious soul exploring how the politics translates into practice of everyday life. A lawyer by training, Shreshtha is interested in exploring arts based approaches as a participatory way of connecting with communities, generating conversations and moving towards change. Shreshtha is passionate about pursuing a feminist understanding of conflict and developing an inclusive space for healing in conflict areas, with focus on emotional and mental trauma.

Shreya Varma is a clinical psychologist in New Delhi.