In this episode, Shana is in conversation with Bangladeshi women’s rights activist and poet, Sadaf Saaz. Sadaf talks about her journey from the UK to Bangladesh and how she found her feminism along the way, the strides made by the Bangladeshi f

Sarmad Khoosat - “The ideas of misogyny and patriarchy are a mindset, as opposed to a construct restricted to a gender”

28 days ago 36m 29s

In this episode, Shana speaks with award-winning actor, director and producer, Sarmad Khoosat, the first male guest on Her Kajal Won’t Smudge. In this conversation, Shana and Sarmad talk about Zindagi Tamasha (“Circus of Life”), a movie dire

Kate Manne and Urna Chakrabarty - “Misogyny is the metaphorical police force of patriarchy”

Apr 18th, 2024 34m 27s

In this episode, Shana is in conversation with Kate Manne (philosopher, associate professor at Cornell University and author of Down Girl and Entitled) and Urna Chakrabarty (graduate student at Cornell University) to ask: why is there so much v

Surabhi Yadav - “Women At Leisure is a way to keep my mother’s memory alive”

Apr 11th, 2024 33m 8s

In this episode, Shana talks to Surabhi Yadav, the creator of Women At Leisure, an Instagram account filled with 7 years of pictures and videos of women simply at leisure - having a cup of chai, climbing a tree, playing football. For Surabhi, t

Mira Malhotra - “If ads can sell you stuff by being witty and engaging, I can do the same with graphic design and feminist ideas”

Apr 4th, 2024 26m 27s

In this episode, Shana is in conversation with visual artist, illustrator and graphic designer, Mira Malhotra. Mira runs Studio Kohl, a design studio with a very recognisable visual style and a roster of clients that are big name brands, corpor

Amber Arifeen - “As an artist, I have the capacity to express things that most women can’t, issues that resonate with most desi women”

Mar 28th, 2024 43m 24s

In this episode, Shana is in conversation with visual and performance artist, Amber Arifeen. Amber’s art looks at life through women’s eyes, giving insight into how women navigate the world. Take, for example, women and physical safety. Even if

Krantinaari of Wild Wild Women - “We don’t connect to the hip-hop that men create, so we make our own”

Mar 21st, 2024 28m 1s

In this episode, Shana talks to Krantinaari, a hip-hop artist, activist and a founding member of India’s first female hip-hop collective, Wild Wild Women. She talks about finding her own language of feminism, being a female rapper in an industr

Aurat March - “We needed the Aurat March, we needed a collective feminist platform to voice our issues on the streets”

Mar 14th, 2024 44m 41s

In this episode, Shana is in conversation with two co-organisers of Pakistan’s women’s march, the Aurat March, who share their candid, very personal, journeys to feminism. They also talk about how the Aurat March came about, what role Aurat Mar

Swineryy - “There is no place for me in the world I’ve built, it’s just the joke”

Mar 7th, 2024 29m 35s

In this episode, Shana is in conversation with comedian and social media star, Swineryy, who went viral in 2018 when she posted a video of an animoji pig asking “why am I haraam?” (translation: why am I a sin/forbidden?). We learn about why she

Mariam Shafqat Goraya : “And my protest is obviously against misogyny. But [then] my personal anger is also about women who uphold these roles.”

Nov 26th, 2023 34m 31s

Today, Shana is in conversation with satirist Mariam Shafqat Goraya. Through her character Naik Parveen, Mariam takes aim at women who are the “foot soldiers of patriarchy”. Mariam’s satire takes the sexist and misogynistic rhetoric that gets m

Priyanka Paul: “I have so many marginalizations, that I’ve lost track”

Nov 19th, 2023 32m 27s

In this episode, Shana is in conversation with Priyanka Paul, an illustrator, graphic designer, poet, and storyteller, who is also a Gucci Chime for Change ambassador and TED Talk speaker. Priyanka shares her lived experience as a queer, dark-s

Sheema Kermani : "I will keep dancing no matter what. Who has the right to tell me not to dance?”

Nov 12th, 2023 29m 36s

In this episode, Shana is in conversation with Sheema Kermani. You may know Sheema as the dancer in the hit Coke Studios video of Pasoori but, for Sheema, dance is more than an artform. For her, it is also an act of defiance. A classically tra

Leeza Mangaldas : "Women's pleasure has been systematically ignored for so long"

Nov 5th, 2023 36m 56s

Leeza Mangaldas is a sex educator with 2 million YouTube subscribers and Instagram followers. GQ has named Leeza one of the most influential young Indians. She is also the author of The Sex Book. In this episode, Leeza talks to Shana about why

Sabah Bano Malik: “ You basically stop women from being their own people so that they can be married off to someone and they decide what she'd become”

Oct 29th, 2023 42m 24s

In this episode, Shana is in conversation with Sabah Bano Malik, a radio jockey and a founding member of a Pakistani comedians' collective called Aurat Nak. Shana asks Sabah what has surprised her and what she struggles with as a Pakistani Amer

Radhika Vaz: “Let’s take marriage and get rid of it”

Oct 22nd, 2023 35m 54s

In this episode, Shana is in conversation with comedian, actor and writer Radhika Vaz. We learn about Radhika’s journey to comedy and why she mines the desi female experience as a source for her material. Radhika is one half of the team behind

Trailer

Oct 10th, 2023 2m 27s

Women from South Asia (and the global diaspora) are challenging patriarchal social norms and expectations by taking to the streets and using the bullhorn of social media to be heard. Join Shana, our host, as she talks to social media influence

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