May 10, 2020

Episode 3.08: Pain as a Pathway to Truth with Alok V. Menon

Alok V. Menon Point of Pain Podcast Nitika Chopra

Hello loves.

Alok V. Menon is as much of a light in this world as they are willing to hold and be with the darkness and I am so honored that they took the time to speak with me. Alok has been very open and generous with making sure that the conversation around pain and chronic illness is shared with as many people as possible and that we open that conversation to the world, whether it’s ready or not.

Alok is a gender non-conforming writer and performance artist. Their distinctive style and poetic challenge to the gender binary have been internationally renowned. As a mixed-media artist, Alok uses poetry, comedy, performance, lecture, sound-art, fashion design, and self-portraiture to explore themes of gender, race, trauma, belonging, and the human condition. They are the author of Femme in Public (2017) and Beyond the Gender Binary (2020). In 2019 they were selected as one of NBC’s Pride 50 and Out Magazine’s OUT 100.

In this episode, Alok shares their struggle with self-acceptance and how they reclaimed their authenticity despite being surrounded by intolerance, how pain brings us together, recognizing that life is pain, why we need to realize that everyone is suffering, and so much more!

The Pain Points We Explore In This Episode:

  • How Alok’s self-acceptance was impacted from growing up with systemic intolerance
  • Why Alok still struggles with reclaiming their authenticity
  • How the cycle of abuse is perpetuated
  • Why Alok believes feminism should be for all people who are oppressed on the basis of gender
  • Why Alok believes we should break the social contract and admit we’re in pain
  • Embracing the simultaneity of life with pain
  • Exploring the connection between pain and empathy

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Comments

  • Erika Katzman

    Loved this episode. Do you have a transcript available?

    • Nitika

      Hi there! So glad you enjoyed this episode. We don’t have a transcript but you’ve made me think that maybe we need to start offering them? I will look into it!

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