Get To Know MOTM- Alankrita Verma

The Gal Gala selects a Member of the Month to honour and recognise the efforts and contributions of that member who has added immense value to the club. Alankrita Verma has been chosen as the member of the month for November 2025.

The Gal Gala has 4 Circles, each with a uniquely specific mission. For a holistic understanding of the Member of the Month, each of the four circles has asked her one question. Get to know her better through her thorough and insightful answers!

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1. Kaayana Circle (Body)

Q. When scientific knowledge is largely based on data from male bodies, leaving women's bodies understudied, misdiagnosed, or invisible, what forms can resistance take? How have you had to struggled to make your own body's truth visible? If yes, in what ways has reclaiming that truth become an act of resistance?

I feel that such a resistance would begin with integrating humanistic disciplines in STEM education. A robust understanding of science cannot exist without knowing the apathies that afflict knowledge production. Moreover, establishing vocabularies grounded in sensitive studies that centre women, instead of focusing on what men derive from them, will allow us to name our physical truths in the ways we want. I have struggled with intense body dysmorphia, bulimia, and dysmenorrhea, and I still do. Although pain is canonised as a woman’s legacy across social spheres, I have actively rejected those who have asked me to minimise it. I also walked out of a damaging romantic relationship three years ago, as the person I was with had body-shamed me and asked me to ‘get a sense of humour’ about my trauma. Reflecting on how body-shaming and dismissing pain is a form of patriarchal and narcissistic abuse prompted me to treat my body kindly instead of feeling ashamed. While I sometimes cringe at a stray period stain, my stretch marks, body hair, or hyperpigmentation, I remind myself that this is not how I would treat a younger Alankrita. My resistance is the softness that I extend to myself.

2. Oorvani Circle (Media)

Q. Given how social media apps are characteristically impersonal, do you think intersectional feminism and social media are compatible? If yes, how do you think intersectional feminism is benefiting from social media and vice versa, and if not, how would you go about making a social media app whilst navigating this puzzle?

Social media is a reflection of society, expression, and identity; hence, it is anything but impersonal. Despite the institutionalisation of digital violence against women in the form of abusive comments, violent content, revenge porn, and sexual deepfakes, I feel that intersectional feminism and social media can be compatible. This is because while it is mostly dependent on capitalist algorithms, social media has been a landscape for feminist advocacy across several sections. Conversely, when digital discourse sees widespread participation from verticals that are socially exploited, it is a moment of reflection for users who have been conditioned to experience a reality that excludes these voices. Despite my affirmations, I would still like to develop a platform where interactions can be more respectful, as social media apps generally fail at maintaining strict content moderation policies. If provided the chance, I would like to create an app with a human panel of moderators from diverse social contexts to review content and detect attempts to masquerade the abusive as ‘controversial’. Moreover, I will institute mechanisms and tools to monitor the algorithm and ensure that no minority identity-based profile is penalised for existing. I will also rule out any penalties associated with feminist accounts to avoid arbitrary takedowns initiated by vitriolic misogynists and conservative entities. Accounts using religious adages that are flagged for abuse and violence shall be banned forever.

3. Matika Circle (Nature)

Q. If our planet could speak, what do you think it would thank you for?

While I believe that I have a bigger obligation to thank the planet that has sustained me for years, if Momma Gaia could express her gratitude towards me, it would be for making choices that nurture those who do not operate from a mass production model. My choices in beauty, art, and apparel stem from my changing perception of luxury. While I do find myself craving for luxury scents or clothes sometimes, I have found sustainable alternatives that also empower communities trying to preserve their art in fabric and fragrances. I have also been supporting small businesses that prioritise sustainable packaging and goods that are made to last. I integrate my passion for environmental advocacy into the art forms I practice. I have minimised buying and making resin goods as they are full of microplastics, are flammable, and can be a hazard for those picking up waste containing resin. I only make them on one condition—that they will be cherished as artefacts through generations and won’t be thrown away. Other aspects of my advocacy include not buying from those entities that fund mass ecocide and genocide on innocent populations, which also include non-humans.

4. Navrahi Circle (Society)

Q. Do you think that scientific development or knowledge is truly neutral, or is it shaped by social influences like power and politics?

Whenever I am confronted with neutrality in science, development, and knowledge, I believe that it is violence itself. This notion is definitely affected by power, positionality, and politics, as what development is and who it is for is often decided by who holds the key to social capital and resources. As a researcher exploring the politics of knowledge, I found that development is phrased as the solution to all ills. However, the frame of development, which is pretty much limited to space exploration, nuclear power, and creating new tools that override human effort, is never neutral. In fact, it derives its heft from alienating whole groups from the right to exist. This can be seen in binaries of hard security concerns of state boundaries and defence versus soft ones of human rights, gender, and environment, with the latter often being considered ‘secondary’. When such hierarchical divisions exist across disciplines, it can never be said that knowledge and development exist independently of politics and power. However, the question at the end of it is, what kind of power do we want to see in these concepts? Do we negate lived experiences for a certain notion to be universally acceptable, or do we acknowledge them as a part of what we define as the ‘reality/fact’?