CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT:
Interview with Sreeja Naskar

Rappahannock Review Interview Editor: In your piece, you mention influential people who voice discomfort towards sanitary products. Is there a specific situation or person that inspired you to write this piece?

Sreeja Naskar: Yes. In fact, this piece was, in many ways, a visceral response to what was being circulated in the media by a very influential figure. I’d rather not disclose who, but their comments, especially the way they spoke about menstruation with such casual disdain, ignited a deep simmering frustration in me. And that came from a place where I realized how far we still are from normalizing what should never have been taboo in the first place.

RR: You made a choice to format this piece as a question and response. Were these common complaints you heard about menstrual products, or just the women’s body in general?

SN: These questions weren’t drawn from common complaints I’ve personally heard, but were more of a direct response to what said influential public figure had said about menstruation in the media. So it became a way for me to interrogate that mindset and turn their words back on themselves.

RR: This is a piece that is bold and takes a stance against a very, unfortunately, normalized part of misogyny in the world. Do you usually write about things like this, or was this a step outside of your comfort zone?

SN: I’ve never really believed in the idea of a “comfort zone” when it comes to writing. I think the moment I start feeling comfortable, the work loses its pulse. So I tend to write toward discomfort — all those kinds of subjects that people flinch away from or the conversations deemed too impolite to hold in public. It’s not so much about trying to be bold as it is about trying to be honest. If something feels difficult to write or discuss, that often means it matters, and I try to lean into that.

RR: Your bio states that you “believe in the quiet power of language to unearth what lingers beneath silence,” which I think your piece excels in. Could you expand more on what you mean by that?

SN: Thank you, that means a lot. Language, to me, is not only about expression but about excavation as well. There are so many things we live through quietly that often go unnamed, mostly because they feel too heavy or ordinary to voice. Writing gives those silences a texture, a body. I think poetry or prose has the ability to reach into those hidden, wordless places and bring recognition, if not resolution, back. That, to me, is the quiet power of language: the way it shifts something deep within without even screaming.