Activist and founder of SheSays, Trisha Shetty: I would function between high efficiency and complete depression

“ I am a social activist deeply invested in protecting democratic spaces, as well as defending and protecting human rights. I think we have done some groundbreaking work with SheSays. One of the biggest wins for us has been declaring sanitary napkins tax-free, which is, to date, the largest global campaign pushing for menstruating people to have guaranteed access to menstrual hygiene and sanitation. In less than 24 hours, we hit over 24 million impressions on Twitter, and the campaign [#LahuKaLagaan] is one of the most widely-used hashtags on Twitter as well.

But while that was a big win for me, the reason I continue to show up on-ground is because of a case where a four-year-old child had been raped. After years of working with her family, and going through repeated trauma whilst trying to seek access to justice, the accused got a 10-year sentence. When survivors of marital rape reach out to me and say that they are finally separated from their abusers...that they are financially independent, and living a life where they can just go to bed happy and not feel like they don’t have access to a life of dignity or safety...it makes me realise the difference we have made.

I started my journey as a survivor of child sexual abuse. And it took a lot for me to work in this space, and to do so in a way that didn’t re-traumatise me. I wanted to offer solutions that everyone needed, not just the kind of solutions that I wish I had growing up. But the death and rape threats and the constant attacks on social media broke me. 

I think I didn’t take the correct approach to healing my deep trauma— my mental health suffered tremendously. I would function between high efficiency and complete depression, where I couldn’t even get out of my bed, or take a shower. And then came the cycles of guilt, shame, and not having an identity beyond work. So, yeah, I have faced many hurdles. And I am constantly learning how to overcome them. 

At the moment, I like to invest in things that actively make me happy— showing up on-ground and helping people is one of them. Because this kind of solidarity has benefited me personally as well. When I was providing on-ground legal counsel to peaceful anti-CAA dissenters, I was subjected to police harassment and intimidation, and I had random people show up to protect me, to ensure I was safe. So I’d say my work has not only helped make a difference in other’s lives, it has also given me everything that I value today, which is friendships, solidarity, faith in knowing that one must double down on love, and compassion to protect democratic spaces. 

As for being a rulebreaker, I think we need to take a step back and discuss why these rules have been imposed on us as women. When I started working, I would get calls to come speak in certain countries that are not democratic spaces per se, or certain institutions even within democratic spaces where they would try to police and censor what I’d have to say. For instance, if you want to talk about gender equality, that’s okay, but they don’t want you to highlight the inequality. They don’t want you to highlight the deficiencies in the system. They don’t want you to highlight the people in positions of power who are perpetuating inequality and violence, and they don’t want you to hold them accountable. There’s a lot to be done...and we have to do so much better.”