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Feminists Around the World: Nirvana Bhandary · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I wo through stuff
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  Speaker 1: never told you production of Bot Hurt Radio and today
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  Speaker 1: for our feminist around the world, we are talking about
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  Speaker 1: Nepali feminist, writer, filmmaker, advocate and storyteller and so much
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  Speaker 1: more of course with all the people as we talk
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  Speaker 1: about Nirvana Bandari. So Bandari is a seasoned writer and
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  Speaker 1: journalist who's been working to advocate for the rights of
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  Speaker 1: women and queer people in her community. She actually calls
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  Speaker 1: herself an agitator and I've listened to many interviews when
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  Speaker 1: she talks about this more so than an activist, because
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  Speaker 1: she knows that her conversations, this conversation alone ruvels a
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  Speaker 1: lot of feathers. She talks about it agitates men. When
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  Speaker 1: you talk about feminism, the word alone causes a lot
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  Speaker 1: of agitation. And yes, we know this, we know this
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  Speaker 1: is special today and she claims it. She likes it,
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  Speaker 1: she goes with it, and I love everything about it.
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  Speaker 1: We love everything about claiming what people would criticize you with.
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  Speaker 1: And it's such a big talk. When she's talking about
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  Speaker 1: feminism and women's rights, she make sures that she pinpoints
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  Speaker 1: that as the focal reason of what she is doing,
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  Speaker 1: and here's what she writes about herself in her upcoming book, y'all.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, unsns Scari a feminist life. So since
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  Speaker 1: scari is a Hindi word that is kind of like
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  Speaker 1: a badge of honor or based on the person's behavior,
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  Speaker 1: they're civilized, they're I guess what you would say, lady
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  Speaker 1: like good and demeanor and dress. So unscen Scari is
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  Speaker 1: the book she is writing, A feminist life. She writes
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  Speaker 1: this about herself. I am committed to creating impactful spaces personal,
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  Speaker 1: digital and social where women can exist with authenticity, vocalize
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  Speaker 1: their truths, and become agents of change. My name is Nirvana.
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  Speaker 1: I am a feminist writer, independent filmmaker, digital activist and
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  Speaker 1: creative powerhoalth Originally from Kutmandu, Nepal. I have led a
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  Speaker 1: life of wonderlust the last eight years that has taken
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  Speaker 1: me from places like Australia all the way to Morocco.
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  Speaker 1: Along my journey, I have designed leadership projects for refugee
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  Speaker 1: women in Melbourne, captured the oral stories of women living
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  Speaker 1: in the Saharan Desert, and curated immersive travel education programs
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  Speaker 1: for girls in India. Through all my experiences, the one
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  Speaker 1: thing that remains constant is my commitment to seeing women
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  Speaker 1: flourish into the best versions of themselves. My passion is
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  Speaker 1: supporting women to reclaim their narratives and regain complete control
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  Speaker 1: over their life choices. I do this through avenues such
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  Speaker 1: as conscious independent travel, oral and digital storytelling, and building
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  Speaker 1: society community and curating bespoke events. So when you go
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  Speaker 1: and look her up, all of our articles range from
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  Speaker 1: so much including how to travel in Katmandu. As a
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  Speaker 1: feminist like, she is very focused on keeping you safe
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  Speaker 1: and where to go and how to do this and
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  Speaker 1: also doing it. I think that's one of the big
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  Speaker 1: things that we have talked about when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: travel and seeing the world that a lot of times,
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  Speaker 1: especially for by ourselves or it's a group of women,
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  Speaker 1: feels unsafe, and so she is all about empowering young
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  Speaker 1: girls and women to do this, to be able to
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  Speaker 1: go out and enjoy themselves and see the world without
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  Speaker 1: fear or how to best be safe. So I love
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  Speaker 1: that that's something that she does, and she has many
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  Speaker 1: articles written about different areas, so you definitely should check
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  Speaker 1: it out. Obviously, I don't think you want to travel
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  Speaker 1: to cut them on, do right now. Always be responsible
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  Speaker 1: in your travel. Always look yes, what's going on? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: always look up the current events. So she talks about
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  Speaker 1: being able to feel safe in all environments, including in nature.
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  Speaker 1: She talks about hiking a lot because she loves hiking
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  Speaker 1: ourselves and talking about being able to explore nature in itself,
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  Speaker 1: but also is what it is to be in society,
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  Speaker 1: being able to go out to drink or have partying
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  Speaker 1: as she would ay, or be safe in restaurants, in
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  Speaker 1: society in general. And she's talked about her growth and
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  Speaker 1: feminism and using her voice. So this is from an
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  Speaker 1: article she wrote for austray dot com, which she has
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  Speaker 1: several articles in there. She writes, this, my university course
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  Speaker 1: comprised of ninety five percent women, and my first job
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  Speaker 1: was at a women's nonprofit organization. This is the time
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  Speaker 1: I began to find my feminist voice, recognizing the manifestation
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  Speaker 1: of patriarchy and squeezing out the splinters of internalized misogyny
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  Speaker 1: from my epidermis. I loved working solely with women. Power,
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  Speaker 1: dynamics and conflict exist as in any workplace, but to
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  Speaker 1: spend seven hours a day in a space without sexist
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  Speaker 1: microaggressions and harassment created a desperately needed sanctuary. Interacting primarily
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  Speaker 1: with women has always been natural to me. It has
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  Speaker 1: made sense with regards to both my physical safety and
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  Speaker 1: emotional comfort. In the presence of women, I can fully
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  Speaker 1: express my personality, including the qualities that society has labeled
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  Speaker 1: as intense or hysterical. Having so many women in my
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  Speaker 1: spaces without being conscious of the male gaze, without being
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  Speaker 1: main explained, has made me a vocal advocate for increasing
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  Speaker 1: the number of formal women's spaces. These spaces should exist
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  Speaker 1: in regardless of a woman's age, race, religion, income, sexuality,
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  Speaker 1: or ability. These spaces should be accessible, and she actually
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  Speaker 1: does this. She creates different types of events that she
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  Speaker 1: calls Nirvana's Vibes, which curates events for women only. I
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  Speaker 1: love it, and she even talked about in an interview
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  Speaker 1: that I saw recently about how, yes, she knows that
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  Speaker 1: US has been doing this, but obviously for areas that
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  Speaker 1: she's going to, its new and so being able to
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  Speaker 1: create these spaces where women feel safe to drink, women
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  Speaker 1: to feel safe to dance, women's feel safe to look
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  Speaker 1: cute because we're not most of the times, we're not
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  Speaker 1: dressing up for men. We're dressing up for me, for
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  Speaker 1: ourselves or for other women to say I like your dress,
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  Speaker 1: and you can say I have buckets, yes, or I
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  Speaker 1: got it for this price, which part a lot of
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  Speaker 1: women like to do. I do this, or I just
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  Speaker 1: tell you where it does you should go get it? Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Weyet she can you look cute in this anyway? We
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  Speaker 1: love those types of faces, and she is creating more
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  Speaker 1: opportunities for that in her events, Like when she says
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  Speaker 1: that she is a powerhouse, she is a powerhouse. And
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  Speaker 1: with all of that, she explains even more about the
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  Speaker 1: feminist movement in Nepal and how it's changing or hopefully
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  Speaker 1: changing and grown through the years. She wrote another article
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  Speaker 1: wrote for boe L dot Dee and she sits down
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  Speaker 1: with two other Nipalese activists and they talk about what
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  Speaker 1: has happened before Now, I guess, as you say, in
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  Speaker 1: the past years with feminism. So this is what she writes.
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  Speaker 1: The feminist movement in Nepal is dynamic, diverse, and rooted
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  Speaker 1: in both individual and collective struggles. Since the establishment of
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  Speaker 1: the Nai Samiti, Nepal's first women's rights organization, in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty progress has been both gradual and inspiring. Over the
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  Speaker 1: last three decades. Concerted efforts have focused on reducing ginger
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  Speaker 1: based violence, dismantling minstrual taboos, and ensuring access to safe
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  Speaker 1: reproductive health services for women. A significant milestone was achieved
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  Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen when Nepal elected its first female president,
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  Speaker 1: Head of the US, Head of the US. While Nepal's
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  Speaker 1: protest culture may not be as visible on the global
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  Speaker 1: stage as larger countries more fraught with political tensions, grassroot
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  Speaker 1: activism is meaningful and worthy of recognition. That has changed,
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  Speaker 1: that has changed. So this was earlier this year. By
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  Speaker 1: the way this article, Feminist resistance does not always take
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  Speaker 1: the form of public marches or rallies, but can also
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  Speaker 1: be found in everyday acts of defiance. For many Nepali women,
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  Speaker 1: the very act of realizing their oppression and deciding to
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  Speaker 1: resist as a significant feminist and class awakening. Which is
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  Speaker 1: so true, Which is so true. I think, like we
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  Speaker 1: think in the US, we've progressed so far, But like
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  Speaker 1: when women come to that point of understanding, which is
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  Speaker 1: still happening today, that in itself is resistance and I
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  Speaker 1: love reading that. But she actually has some beautiful interviews
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  Speaker 1: and conversations with other activists about the specific conversation, especially
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  Speaker 1: in Nepal in India. Like, she is very focused in
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  Speaker 1: women's rights, but also she is a queer activist as well.
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  Speaker 1: She is bisexual herself. It has talked about what that
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  Speaker 1: looks like in her culture and what that looks like
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  Speaker 1: in a culture that doesn't celebrate that, and having to
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  Speaker 1: walk safely in a heterosexual space. So like, there's a
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  Speaker 1: lot of great conversations she has in understanding, like yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's good for you, liberated and out, but there's a
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  Speaker 1: lot of places that's not okay. So we have to
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  Speaker 1: navigate these spaces differently. So I think she does a
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  Speaker 1: lot of great thing pieces on those as well. So
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  Speaker 1: if you get to look her up again, like we said,
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  Speaker 1: she actually has a book coming out. I believe it's
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  Speaker 1: going to be September thirteenth through the twentieth when it's
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  Speaker 1: supposed to be released. So we're recording ahead y'all. So
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  Speaker 1: by the time this is out, you should be able
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  Speaker 1: to get this book. And again is called Unsakari My
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  Speaker 1: Feminist Life, So it's very cool. You should definitely go
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  Speaker 1: check it out. She is on social media as well,
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  Speaker 1: and she's been doing little excerpts of that from her book.
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  Speaker 1: So I think it's important to see because she is
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  Speaker 1: again a powerhouse. As we talked about the experiences that
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  Speaker 1: she has, the events for the Nirvana Vibes. She has
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  Speaker 1: feminist projects that work with Nepali Writers Collective, Women White
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  Speaker 1: Writers Collective, and digital platform storytelling, so she's helping with
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  Speaker 1: that as well as created projects with that. But also
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  Speaker 1: she has she's had a documentity already released called Nepali
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  Speaker 1: Women Reclaim their Bodies and it has been like in
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  Speaker 1: several film festivals already. But she's got a new one
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  Speaker 1: coming out in twenty twenty six called Unwed and the
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  Speaker 1: film cover alone is gorgeous. That is written and directed
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  Speaker 1: by her. So I'm sure there's gonna be a lot
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  Speaker 1: more things that we can look into add to our
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  Speaker 1: many a list, Annie, that's a part of yours. But yeah,
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  Speaker 1: she is a woman of many talents, a storytelling, of
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  Speaker 1: opening conversations, of travels. I want to be her friend
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  Speaker 1: in real life. I make that happen. You're good at that, Samantha.
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to find you. You are, I'm gonna do this.
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  Speaker 1: I believe in you. I truly do well. Listeners, Please
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  Speaker 1: let us know if you have any suggestions for the
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: segment or any thoughts about anything we've talked about. You
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: can email us at Hello at Stuffannever Told You dot com.
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• 10:58
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• 11:00
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