Quick Facts
Biography
Pragati Singh is an activist and leader towards the Indian asexual and community, featured in the BBC's list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2019.
Life
Personal life
In 2014 Singh came across the term 'asexual' and immediately identified with it, and more specifically as gray asexual.
Career
Singh is a medical doctor by qualification and has worked as a public health professional in the fields of maternal, child, and reproductive health in India.
In 2014 Singh found that there was no present communities online for Indians who identify as asexual. As a result of this she founded the self/non funded group 'Indian Aces' on Facebook, gaining a community of 3000+ members as time passed.
In 2017 Singh launched the friend-finding service 'Platonicity', a google form initially ran through Facebook like Indian Aces, with a goal to one day become a mobile app. The purpose was to have a platform that matches people looking for a non-sexual relationship. It was inspired by frequent messages online by those who needed help with finding relationships, and others whose family were forcing them to get married. It surveyed a large range of factors from an individuals gradient of sexuality to their political stances. Due to the rapid increase of interest towards the form, with over 300 entries from multiple countries in two days, it was shut down to create a method that can accommodate more people. Since then she has hosted 'offline meetups' under the same name of Platonicity across Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, helping with speed dating and building communities. These communities help those who identify as asexual know that they are not alone. When it comes to payment, she runs it under a model where people pay only per their capabilities to pay.
In the same year, Singh's research study on asexuality was selected and presented at the World Association of Sexual Health Congress held in Prague. The findings of this study were then published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
As of 2019, Singh is continuing to run sexuality workshops, speed dating events, as well as group counseling sessions, raising awareness for and helping asexual communities. After extensive research she has developed the "Comprehensive sexuality model”. This model segregates sexuality into eight central components that forms ones sexual identity.Another of her future goals is to bring these workshops into medical colleges, to bring her subjects to the eyes of more doctors.