05/05/2008 > INDIA
I am having hot flushes and take a walk in the park to cool down......
Then I see him.
Lurking in the trees, pants down around his ankles.
Taking
photos is a humorous way to confront this problem. Once a man on a bus was
groping me and I kept shouting at him to stop. But he carried on. Then I took a
photo and his face completely changed. He apologised and got off the bus.
People keep
quiet about this problem because a woman in India is considered the honour of
the family and shouldn't be talked about being involved in such things. The
girl is considered at fault and will be blamed. She must remain pure. I
remember when I was growing up; we were told by our parents to ignore this if
it happened to us. The other problem is that mothers do not confront this issue
with their sons. They think it's ok because whatever they do, they're still
pure, still a virgin for their marriage, so it's ok. Even if the problem were
addressed in this way [taking photos] it wouldn't be solved. I think it would only complicate matters."
Flashing flashers
Tired of seeing people turn a blind eye on sexual assault and intimidation in India, one woman has decided to tackle the taboo subject head on. Her answer to a flasher is to snap a photo of him and post it online. And somebody has.
Jasmeen Patheja founded the website Blank Noise in 2003 to tackle sexual intimidation through active protest. She encourages women to post their accounts of assault online, no matter how "trivial" they may seem. She's also asking women to document men who "eve tease" them - an Indian phrase used to cover anything from unwanted glances to spitting. Her initiative has already attracted a collection of photos. One step further is to snap a man who indecently exposes himself. One woman was brave enough to take the step, and post the pic on Flickr.
The contributors
"Take that, you bastard!"
Posted 26 March 08
Dianne Sharma Winter, from Manali [north India], was the first to contribute this account to the ‘Blank Noise This Place'.
I am having hot flushes and take a walk in the park to cool down......Then I see him.
Lurking in the trees, pants down around his ankles.
(…)
So what to do? I can continue down the path and still be some way away from him as you can see. I can put my sunglasses on and head down and totally NOT SEE him.
(…)
Then I remember my sisters on the Blank Noise campaign … and that their first campaign was taking photos of these bastards. So I whip my camera out, keep walking and act as if I were some dumb tourist gazing at the lofty deodar trees in wonder, then I turn around when I am at the angle you see and take the shot.
Take that you bastard!”
"Most women blame it on themselves"
Jasmeen Patheja is the founder of Blank Noise.
Taking
photos is a humorous way to confront this problem. Once a man on a bus was
groping me and I kept shouting at him to stop. But he carried on. Then I took a
photo and his face completely changed. He apologised and got off the bus.
There are some people who mean well, but because of so many bad experiences, women expect an approaching man to be a pervert. Once I was in a coffee shop and a man started nudging his friend and smiling at me. Eventually I took a photo of him, gave him a Blank Noise flier and walked out. He phoned me afterwards, frightened that his behaviour was considered sexual assault.
Few women are brave enough to take a photo of a man who is exposing himself in front of them. You have to already be at that stage when you're saying 'no, this isn't right.' Most women are still at the stage when they blame it on themselves or tell themselves it's an accident."
"A woman must remain pure"
Renuka Singh is a sociologist. She teaches at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Dehli.
People keep
quiet about this problem because a woman in India is considered the honour of
the family and shouldn't be talked about being involved in such things. The
girl is considered at fault and will be blamed. She must remain pure. I
remember when I was growing up; we were told by our parents to ignore this if
it happened to us. The other problem is that mothers do not confront this issue
with their sons. They think it's ok because whatever they do, they're still
pure, still a virgin for their marriage, so it's ok. Even if the problem were
addressed in this way [taking photos] it wouldn't be solved. I think it would only complicate matters."
Blank Noise campaign posters.
