Joy Stick brings to you the third episode of our series- 'Pleasure, Power and Politics'.

In this episode, we are thrilled to have @shlaghab, co-founder of @pinkfreud.in (a student-led organization working to destigmatize mental health issues and make mental health services accessible in India), is a poet who is currently attending the MFA program in Poetry at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her work revolves around grief, intergenerational trauma, enmeshment, and parentification with a keenness to understand how fatness shapes desire.

In the past, she has worked in various editorial roles as well as volunteered with several organizations in the social sector working with children with disabilities at Shishu Sarothi, where she was first introduced to neurodivergence, years before being diagnosed with adult ADHD.

Empathic and resilient, she hopes to always speak against injustice and systemic oppression, especially through her lived experience as a fat, neurodivergent, queer/questioning woman of color.

In her free time, which she rarely has (thanks to hyperfocus!!!), you can find her trying out different boba tea flavors, laughing with her friends in public parks, or taking afternoon naps. She is grateful for poetry, feminist writers, queer friendships, and safe spaces that she has been fortunate to be a part of over the past few years.

We are very excited to have her as our guest for this episode who helped us take you through a ride, off the mainstream!

Joy Stick brings to you the second episode of our series- 'Pleasure, Power and Politics'.

In this episode, we are very excited to introduce to you Skye, a 20 year old neurodivergent queer student in the final year of their graduation in political science. He is currently working with Boondh, an organisation working towards making sustainable menstrual health accessible to menstruators across the country. In this episode, we discuss with @farzibateein, about their relationships and intimate life, their approach to reclaiming their own space when it comes to pleasure and power, their neurodivergence and its relation to their intimate life, and some important discussions of power structures, influences, and politics around pleasure, and its aligned aspects.

Skye is someone you'd randomly find petting stray doggos and cattos by the street or singing melancholic melodies along with their friends.

He loves interacting with menstruators in their sessions and believes that each person with a different experience ends up teaching them something deep about their own socio-political relationship with periods.

Outside of work, Skye also volunteers with U&I to assist marginalized kids with their studies. They’ve been working with another group called Safe Space, as a content creator where a group of young adults are trying to make s€x education a little more fun and interactive, using pop culture references. Trying to tackle one topic at a time with assistance of professionals.

We are very excited to have them as our guest for this episode who helped us take you through a ride, off the mainstream! Tell us in the comments how you feel. Joy Stick brings to you the second episode of our series- 'Pleasure, Power and Politics'.

The first series will be discussing the theme of Pleasure, Power, & Politics. For the very first episode, we have Angela Deka who is inclined towards art and photography and uses them as a form of self-expression while attempting to empower herself and the lives she touches. We have Angela discuss on the episode about her childhood experiences, her keenness towards reclaiming agency, and some important discussions of power structures, influences, and politics around pleasure, and its aligned aspects.

Angela is a budding visual artist who loves working with feminist themes. She's currently pursuing her Master's in Creative and Cultural Futures from the University of Canberra in Australia. She has a background in psychology and art therapy and is interested in exploring the connection between the arts and mental health. She has facilitated art therapy workshops for NGOs and individuals.

In the past, she has worked with organizations like the YP Foundation on abortion-related information campaigns and with Vitamin Stree, an online platform to talk about Polyamory. She has also collaborated as a model with many artists and photographers for conceptual projects in the past and is currently working on her own project titled "The Female Gaze" where she attempts to portray the femme body away from the ever-present glare of the male gaze.