Pleasure and data? Is there such a rishta? We said yes, oui, haan!
How does acknowledging that young people want pleasure change the questions we ask and the research we do on their love/sex lives? Can taking pleasure seriously, transform the programmes, policies, curriculums and laws we create? #LoveSexAndData asked - is Pleasure the secret ingredient that data needs in order to be useful and relevant to our life and create a more just society?
The Love, Sex and Data Conference: A 3-day digital conference that took place from 7-9th October, 2021 was organised by Agents of Ishq and The YP Foundation to deep dive into these questions through keynotes, panels, workshops, performances, afterhours interactions and more!
3 days, 36 events, 60 speakers - thank you to everyone who joined us in bringing in the pleasure lens to our work (and our life!) as students, activists, educators, NGO workers, researchers, writers or really, whoever you are!
A first-of-its-kind conference dedicated to sex and pleasure in India? We said - you need to come ya (in more ways than one if you like *wink wink*) and you did - all 1663 of you!
Satyendra Kumar is a Co-Founder of Centre for Social Equity and Inclusion (CSEI) and currently evolving a national collective of Dalit, Adivasi, Muslim, NTs/DNTs young leaders known as National Youth Equity Forum (NYEF). The organisation is concerned with deepening democracy and developing our body politic by promoting equity and social inclusion of marginalised children and young people for their social, economic and cultural (SEC) rights. Satyendra has completed his studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) along with several international exposure and training around leadership, community development and entrepreneurship education. With more than 15 years of working and networking experiences across the globe, his passion and expertise lies around youth rights and promotion of social equity and inclusion. He is also an Acumen fellow for 2019, CSIP Research fellow 2020 and EIR Fellow in CIE in IIIT-Hyderabad 2020.
Shilpa Mudbi Kothakota is a 1st generation Bangalorean who identifies strongly with her ancestral roots. She has spent several years working in the hinterlands of Karnataka, documenting agrarian lifestyles and cultural-politics, as a filmmaker. Shilpa has been in the field of social justice as a social activist and media consultant with Samvada-Baduku, Bangalore. She has worked in theatre as an actor, vocalist and administrator. Her artistic research is motivated by the search for counter-narratives, conscious of class and caste dynamics. Her main study is the human voice, which she uses as a lens to understand and fight hierarchies in society. Shilpa is the creative artist behind Urban Folk Project, a collective that looks at collating and curation folk knowledge systems. Shilpa is currently a member of the Janapada Academy of Karnataka State Government representing Bidar, the northernmost district of Karnataka. She has recently moved out to Gulbarga to further her research in folk music forms of this region.
Saisha is a grants manager with the Mariwala Health Initiative, an advocacy and grant-making organisation in mental health. She also holds the Orygen Global Youth Mental Health Advocacy Fellowship (2021). As a psychology student, she wrote a thesis evaluating community-based trauma interventions as accessible forms of mental health care. Apart from community-based mental health work, Saisha’s interests include media analysis on issues of identity.
Meena Saraswathi Seshu is the General Secretary of the Sampada Grameen Mahila Sanstha [SANGRAM], a health and human rights NGO based in the rural districts of western Maharashtra and north Karnataka in India. In 1992, Meena was instrumental in guiding SANGRAM in the change of direction of its work. Under her stewardship, SANGRAM began to address social inequality and to promote justice among marginalised communities, discriminated against because of sexual preference, sex work, HIV status, gender, caste and religious minority. Meena has steered this women-centered organisation to focus on building solidarity among diverse and marginalised communities by using a rights-centered approach to self-determination that organises the voiceless to collectivise. SANGRAM is an umbrella organisation that has initiated communities to collectivise to fight for their rights. Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad [VAMP],[ Female sex workers], Muskan [Male and Transgender women in sex work], Mitra [Children of sex workers], Vidrohi Mahila [rural women's collective] and Nazariya, [Muslim Women's collective].
#LoveSexAndData #LSDIndia
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