Breaking taboos

Pushpa Joshi discusses her evolution from a defiant young woman who challenged traditions into a dedicated advocate for sexual and reproductive health rights.

Pushpa Joshi has always been a bit of a rebel. She vehemently disagreed with the practice of menstruation impurity in her household and did everything to diminish those outdated values from her home. She mischievously grins as she tells me about the number of times she gave grief to her mother by outwardly going against everything that traditions had taught her until that point. “If my mother asked me not to touch something in the kitchen, I would go around touching everything just to make my point,” says Joshi.