Fursat Feminism: A conversation podcast Arundhati and Deepa

When 'acceptable behaviours' are force-fed to us and being 'good' becomes an ongoing pursuit, can we truly avoid people pleasing ?
Don joins us in this episode with their razor-sharp analysis about our acquired and inherent need to people please and seek validation. We talk about our experiences of structural isolation and the longingness for acceptance, love, validation and - most importantly - safety. This episode is full of fun, guilt-ridden, quirky and exhausting anecdotes from family, workspaces, and even feminist friend circles- where we went out of our way to please people.Through the conversation, we gently allow ourselves to forgo the shame of wanting to please, recognising how deep it's reasons run. And give ourselves the collective permission to occasionally seek validation and please people for our happiness and theirs.
Give this episode a listen and send us your 'sabudana vada' stories on fursatfeminism@gmail.com

Even though most forms of collective resistance are premised in a collective quitting of oppressive structures, why does everyday individual quitting bear so much stigma and self-flagellation?
Back after a short break, Anjali joins us in this delicate, nuanced episode to unpeel our relationship to quitting. The difficult process of arriving at the moment of quitting, the hurt and resentment of being quit on, and the complex cocktail of joy, liberation, isolation and hurt it leaves behind. We talk about quitting in workspaces and movements and relationships and the current state of the nation, making room for our own differences and convergences. In our own circuitous ways, we land on fluidity, a yearning for structures that look beyond the binary of belonging and not belonging, and the really not linear role privilege plays within it all.
Listen whenever you can. We're everywhere. Link in bio :)

What does it take to translate feminist dreams into practice while still navigating the same structures that necessitate this dreaming? How do we think differently about design, knowledge, consent and access when doing so? What of our own lived experiences do we constantly have to learn and unlearn while also grappling with the multiverses of Google Sheets? We got a chance in this episode to sit down with Jo and Mrinalini, co-producers of trans/form - a pedagogical tool about the violence faced by trans people in South Asia. Fuelled by the very familiar 'let's do a project together' energy that many of us relate to, they both walk us through the complexities of actually building something that collates diverse lived experiences and knowledges, across language and articulation, to end up with something that is truly accessible, co-created and dynamic. From the logo to cat videos to research associates to consent pop-ups and delegation - every single element of the tool is a carefully considered political choice - and each seeks to subvert the ways in which the world as a whole, and academia in particular, seeks to engage with knowledges of marginalised people. It is a generous, intimate chat about the brick by brick building of feminist realities, and all the hilarious, heartbreaking, affirming detours along the way. Go listen :)


Check out their amazing website on:
https://transformsouthasia.com/

In a world where we are examining and re-examining every small detail of ourselves and our conditioning, what explains our collective, visceral, completely uncritical hatred of fatness?

Shreya joins us this episode to ask all the uncomfortable questions and drop all the big truth bombs. They walk us through how they navigate the world in a fat body - from doctors and diets, to sizes and sex; from chairs and clothes, to dating and disability. In their matter-of-fact way laced with humour and stinging satire, they lay bare the double standards of a world that is simultaneously invisibilising and making an example of fat bodies. Whether it be in families or workplaces or friend circles, Shreya points out the stilted ideas of beauty, worth, and fitness that thoroughly permeate our ways of being. We confront our own fatphobia, and sit with the discomfort of our own skewed aspirations for our bodies and with ample reminders from Shreya - just f****n' get over it already.

Come, get a lil (un)comfy with us :)

मोटापा घटाने के हज़ारों उपाय। शरीर के हर हिस्से को जाँचते परखते रहने की जद्दोजहद। स्वस्थ होने की चाह में शरीर के हिस्सों को नापते नापते खुद से नफरत कर बैठते हैं हम। बातों ही बातों में कुछ इस तरह 'फैट-फोबिआ" हमारी नसों में घुल जाता है, हम जानते हुए भी अनजाने बने रहते हैं। और मोटे न होने के अनगिनत तरीकों से जूझते रहते हैं। इस एपिसोड में श्रेया ने हमें झकझोरा है। मोटापे की सामाजिक संरचना को ईंट दर ईंट खोला है। और हम शांति से बैठ उन्हें सुनते रहे। आप भी सुनिए, शायद बातों ही बातों में अपने शरीर से थोड़ा और लगाव हो जाए। मोटापे से भागने की होड़ थोड़ी कम हो जाए।

Ritu - master storyteller, expert cockroach swatter and dream library weaver - joins us for an episode bursting at the seams with anecdotes and revelations. We speak about stories - ensconced in books and friendships and sarees - and their power to build and hold feminist realities. We dance across a range of landscapes and emotions - from nostalgic reveries about Champak and Totto Chan, to musings about our complex relationships with libraries, to how stories become conduits for connection and change, to our messy negotiations with control in building feminist spaces. It is all held together by an endless string of fun, funny, profound stories from Ritu, who unpacks her work with building free community libraries and the feminist futures they hold.

If the cold open doesn't reel you in, you might need a *thwack* Ritu-style ;)

यूँ तो हम सभी कई कहानियों का संगम हैं और अपनी ज़िंदगी के किस्सागो भी, लेकिन किस्से सुनने और सुनाने की बातें आम तौर पर करते नहीं। ऋतुपर्णा ने इस एपिसोड में कहानी कहने और सुनने की विदता पर एक पटकथा रची और हम सब उस पटकथा के पात्र बन गए.. हमने अपनी ज़िंदगी के पन्नों से चुन कर ऐसी कहानियाँ सुनाई जो हमारे अस्तित्व में घुल चुकी हैं, जो हमारे दिल-ओ-दिमाग पर अदृश्य छाप छोड़ गई हैं। हमने कहानीकार होने और अपनी कहानी कहने की शैली पर प्रश्न भी उठाए और किताबों से बाहर, सामुदायिक रूप से कहानियाँ पढ़ने, लिखने और ढूँढने की अनोखी कला को भी समझा। तो पेश है एक कहानी कहानियों के नाम...

Send your love and your stories straight to our DMs or drop us a mail:

Mail :fursatfeminism@gmail.com

Instagram: @fursatfeminism

How do our complex feelings of being liked, being validated and finding community sit with the messiness of being on social media?

 

We gathered two of our favourite humans - Sneha and Sravanthi - for a laughter-filled romp of a conversation to kickstart season two. We talked through the joys, the fun, and the hesitations of being People On The Internet; making pit stops at stories of Orkut testimonials, Instagram to IRL friendships, and the intimacies that only come from sharing reels. Come for the careful dissection of vanity and echo chambers, but stay for the chaotic double date energy, the musings of the Social Media Grinch, and a fun (cautionary) tale about parents on the internet. We dare you to leave the episode without some healthy friendship envy.

Join us every second Wednesday as we breeze through a hella promising second season! 

Read more from Sneha on this: https://agentsofishq.com/post/main-apni-sabse-favourite-hoon-chronicles-of-an-instaspam-queen ;https://agentsofishq.com/post/platonic-pyaar