Moments Of A Long Pause

Read viewing options below before pressing play.

Moments Of A Long Pause was commissioned by the Bronx Museum of Arts towards the exhibition,  Street Art, Street Life in 2008.

Moments of a Long Pause is a two channel video installation based on interviews with men and women on the streets of 5 cities in India (Delhi, Agra, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Calcutta) . The video brings men and women in a conversation about dealing with sexual harassment, sexual violence, flirting, play, wooing, 'teasing'.  The dialogue between the 2 monitors explores feelings of shame, blame, guilt, denial, fear ,resistance. 

Video edit space supported by Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany.

Medium- 2 channel video. duration- 18 minutes loop

Thank you : Annie Zaidi, Hemangini Gupta, Dana Roy, Gogol, Smriti Chanchani, Umang Bhattacharya, Nupur Mathur, Timo Boeker (edit). 

The original two channel video has been edited to be viewed on one screen for youtube only.

To screen Moments Of A Long Pause to a larger group : 
( To view the version above)


i) Permission.
Write to us at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com, subject titled Moments Of A Long Pause.
Moments of a Long Pause is now online, and we encourage you to share
BUT but taking permission prior screening is good practice :)
We promise to be prompt in writing back.

ii) Documentation
Document the screening. Take photos. Videos.
Tweet #MomentsOfALongPause @blank_noise
Write a short report ( 250 words) .
Send it our way.

ii) Support
screening Moments Of A Long Pause, requests a screening fee and we encourage you to contribute generously. Email in for bank details.

If you would like to install Moments Of A Long Pause, as the two channel video installation ( 2 monitors facing each other with audience sat in between), write to us and we can send you the original files along with a tool kit for installation.

email : blurtblanknoise@gmail.com

subject titled " Moments Of A Long Pause "

Hot News Taaza Samachar

Hot News/ Taaza Samachar (fresh news)
is based on news paper rape reports from 2003




Rape reports Jan 2010:
2 men charged for rape in Goa
3 men charged for rape in Manchester
5 men get 8 year jail term for gang rape in Delhi
1 man slaps a grade 9 student in Bangladesh. Unable to bear the humiliation she commits suicide.


thank you for linking:
TokyoTrini Tumbles

street tales of love lust and possible misinterpretations

“Neev ibbaru thumbaaa chennagiddira”( the both of you are veeery beautiful). It was perhaps the tone in which they stretched the ‘very’ that just made us girls turn and say “Thank you”! - Naksha Erappa+ Sheetal (friend)

Dear Blank Noise Action Heroes/ BN Guys.
Over the last couple of years we have been discussing issues related to street violence and its impact on us. While continuing to do so , we would also like to build testimonials of another kind...testimonials that address the nature of wanting to 'get to know' someone and therefore take the form of stalking, persistently approaching, not hearing no for no, eye games, mutual flirting, passing remarks in perhaps a way of assuming that one is 'giving compliments' but may or may not have been the same experience for you, as the recipient.

eg: http://actionheroes.blanknoise.org/2009/07/blank-noise-action-hero-shreyasi-kar.html


We want you to blog your street interactions. we will be cross linking your blog post here: http://actionheroes.blanknoise.org/
or at http://bnguy.blanknoise.org


If you don't have a blog, you could email us your story instead.

Yours affectionately
Blank Noise Team

street tales of love and lust and possible misinterpretations

Build the list below and create your own evidence :

1. Name:
2. Age at time of experience:
3. time:
4. clothes worn at the time of incident:
5. type of harassment/ 'teasing'/ violence:

e: post mail us the garment you wore when you experienced sexual harassment. say out loud . I NEVER ASK FOR IT. BELIEVE.
Be an Action Hero.

e:blurtblanknoise at gmail dot com.

I made a little wish in a big park:

Saraswathi:

This was one of the 'whacky',creative things to do and I enjoyed every bit of it:)

Secondly, this felt like 'self-assertive' feminism, simply trying to claim one's space and one' spersonal freedom in public places. No man-hating or blaming others.
Third, this was quite action oreinted and 'being there' . Participating in person is a differently empowering experinece altogether as compared to discussing or talking about things (those are important too however).

I was doing much more service to myself than a social service or changing atttitudes of others. I was breaking free of my own inhibitions and questining what is 'appropriate' in public-like dancing in public without music; or what is appropriate because I am a woman-like lying on a park bench without meaning to 'get laid'.

I was changing my own attitude. I gained a little more confidance and trust within myself.
There are some things I do anyways-like pouting etc. Now I would feel less guilty or responsible if some man stares at me for it. I just like to do it and I accept myself for it!

Apurva: It seems such a simple thing for me to go to the park and sit or read or sleep out there that I never even think about and take it for granted, . It seems to be a traumatic experience for you. I do not think I can ever understand or really connect to your experience in public places. Somehow, talking about it and seeing it happen before you are different things, I guess. I feel that we need to capture these situations in more than words...

Soumya: I distinctly remember that about 2 years ago i traveled through Cubbon park to office and craved to spend a lazy morning and afternoon just lolling about in the grass. The practical answer i would give myself was that i had to go to work... but somewhere i also knew it was because i didn't want to "invite" creeps or any "incidents". Today when I sat in the park and did nothing but watch people go by, enjoyed the feel of the grass and even dozed off for a bit, I wondered... why did i have to wait for being a part of blank noise to do this? what has changed in me for having done it?

Shreyasi:When I told my friends that so I’m spending my Saturday afternoon at a park, just lying down staring at the sky, oblivious to the people around me and listening to music, they thought that I had lost it. The most common reaction being a very sarcastic “yeah right”. Then someone said “Dude, Cubbon park isn’t really the safest place you know… there are strange creepy men so will you take care please”.

I think that was the reason why I wanted to do this. It is my space too… so why should I have to think thrice (read a zillion times) before I go there and do something that is only very normal to do in a park. Moreover, I didn’t know for sure. It was only assumed that the park, like any other public space, was going to be filled with letchy men trying to make you regret having come there in the first place. I was happy that my assumptions were wrong. Maybe so because I had my own set of guardian angels in the park who I knew were looking out for me. Maybe because I wasn’t subjected to the usual doze of comments and stares. Maybe because I was so engrossed in doing what I was, that I was oblivious to them, if they were there. But the best part was that I was relaxed enough to let myself get that oblivious!

I wore a kurta with a deep back. I wore a mask. I sat on a park bench n read. And somehow doing something as small as that felt like being free. Then soon enough it was time to challenge that... push it a little bit. I laid down on the park bench and put on the music. I allowed myself to shut my eyes. I could not allow myself to fall asleep! I think it was just the fact that no matter how comfortable I got I still was in a public space and I have learned to not trust them.

BOMBAY. MARCH 29.

photo credit: Manu + Jasmeen

Bombay Action Heroes : Pranav , Punit, Saurabh, Kismet Nakai, Manu, Chaitra, Ruth Lobo, Priyanka Suryaneyni, Yamini Deen, Varsha Panikar, Ushi.

THIS PLACE

photograph it

place it here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blanknoisethisplace/map

e:blurtblanknoise at gmail dot com

Bombay. March 15.

photo credits. Punit and Yamini


Yamini Deen reports:

After so many Blank Noise interventions, the street in my head is like a laboratory of delicious experiments- those of provocation, the test of limits .

The street tells so many stories of wooing , of harassing, of hookers , of control, of sexuality .

SO Gateway Sunday was one such experience.

I walked up and down the promenade for a while. I went and politely handed the letter to anyone who responded to me in some way-lewd, curious,anything.

Some men would look at me up and down in the lewdest way possible and get completey flabbergasted if I went up to them, smiled and handed a letter.

Guilt? Fear? Something they didn't expect?

One man came to me and said
''So you think I am eve teasing you''?
''Why did you only give me the letter''?

He later told a male friend.
'If a girl walks ''that way''..you know one assumes she is asking for sex.'

But Gateway is also a space where they pick up men/women for sex. is the line between being unapologetic and sexually overt so thin?

But I am by now extremely unapologetic about my walking.

Anyhow, in the corner right in front of a gateway of India stood a pretty white woman in a short yellow dress. When I first spotted her, men collected in a line , at a 'safe' distance and stared.

She fiddled with her phone.I handed her a letter and left.

After a while, I went there and noticed that men were taking turns to take pictures with her.

(This while she was holding our letter)

She was smiling. The crowd thickened. Rumours flew like sparks and at other parts of the promenade, fellow blank noise members overheard conversations

about Preity Zinta or 'some' celebrity being there.

(A photo op for random loiterers, is that the new hobby of celebrities?)

Well.,after a while, about 40 men had crowded around her taking turns to take a picture with her.They helped themselves to her waist while holding her.



And she was smiling , mostly, slightly embarrassed , occasionally uncomfortable.

And maybe behind all mobs, there are a few complacent cops standing at a corner.

We asked the cops why they didn't stop anyone.

They said it was because she agreed to have her picture taken.

I was wondering then if in my mind I allowed the thought that she might have actually enjoyed the attention.And NOT in a negative way- not in a she deserved it sort of a way.

We asked her and she said 'Now , ask them to go.'

It was like a constant seesaw between comfort and discomfort for her.She never really looked threatened, to me atleast.

The only thing that worried me was how the mob gathered so fast, and mobs being mobs, can go out of control.

Which again brings me to the question of when attention is threatening, when it is mildly irritating, when it is flattering and when it can make you bawl.

Action Heroes include: Yamini Deen, Pranav Joshi, Kismet Nakai, Punit, April.

Next event: Blank Noise Bombay on March 29th. Sunday.

CALLING ACTION HEROES. REPORT AT blurtblanknoise at gmail dot com

spectators:

you saw it happen
you walked away

you saw it happen
you intervened

you might have seen someone else experience
street sexual harassment/ violence/ or being 'eve teased'
did you support the survivor?
or did you walk away?
what made you react?
what made you indifferent?

PLEASE SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE
OF BEING A SPECTATOR TO STREET
SEXUAL HARASSMENT OR 'EVE TEASING'
you might find this form of use- or you could simply email in the incident.
e: blurtblanknoise at gmail dot com

Reported

Gangs attack women in ‘western attire’
* Deepika Arwind * Two attacks in
broad daylight with people just looking on *

Bangalore: In what appears to be inspired by the pub attack in Mangalore,
three women have been attacked in the city over the past week. All three in
their 20s and in “western clothing” were subject to varying degrees of
violence. The first incident took place on February 17 at 1.10 p.m. in
Indiranagar, when a young woman’s car was closely followed by two men on a
motorcycle. “I was returning from my German class. I noticed the men
following me, hooting and then overtaking my car,” she said on her blog,
giving a detailed account of the unprovoked assault. She was spat on and her
car was blocked even as the other car drivers, instead of stopping to help,
just wanted her to get out of the way.

Speaking to *The Hindu* on condition of anonymity, the traumatised woman
said: “Everyone could see that they were being aggressive and yelling
obscenities in Kannada. No one came to my rescue.” After a chase, she sought
refuge in an apartment building, where she was cornered. One of the men
continued to shout obscenities and moved threateningly close. When she
slapped him in self-defence, he punched her. “Aggravated, I shouted at him
in Kannada. He was stunned to hear me speak the language. He noted down my
licence plate number and told the guard he would harm me later,” she said.
Shaken, she filed a complaint with the Deputy Commissioner of Police (East).
DCP East B.K. Singh said that the complaint was registered 48 hours after
the incident. “We are not able to identify the accused as the CCTVs at the
signals have recordings for 24 hours only. We are investigating.”
Second assault

The second incident took place on Tuesday at 10 a.m., when a 28-year-old
woman on her way to Kormangala was accosted by four men near RBANM’s College
in Ulsoor. “Four men got off an SUV and started screaming at me. They tugged
at my clothes in front of at least eight mute spectators. One of them even
pulled my shrug off, scratched my neck and hit my ear,” she told *The
Hindu*on condition of anonymity. She said that the four were all aged
between 25
and 35. “When I said I would call the police, one of them offered me his
mobile phone and told me to go right ahead. They saw an airline tag on my
bag, got more aggravated and called me an outsider,” she said. “One of them
said I must be part of the pink chaddi campaign.” Fortunately, an army van
passed by and two soldiers ordered the men to stop harassing the woman.

“At first, the men even shoved the armymen, but stopped after they saw there
were other soldiers in the van. It seemed like they were on a mission and
looking for a victim,” she said, adding she is too shaken to file a
complaint.

Later the same day, at 9 p.m., a young filmmaker was attacked by four men
near High Grounds, past the Mount Carmel College. “At first, they jostled me
and I told them to back off. They shouted obscenities in Kannada. I yelled
back in English, which seemed to provoke them. It grew into a fight when
they punched me and said I ‘deserved’ it for wearing jeans and sleeveless
kurta and walking alone at night.” She managed to get into an autorickshaw
and flee but not before they tried to drag her out. She registered a
complaint at the High Grounds Police Station on Wednesday morning.

Blank Noise Bangalore:
We are meeting this Sunday
3pm- 5 pm. Cubbon Park.
All are welcome. Bring in your questions, thoughts, ideas.
confirm via email: blurtblanknoise at gmail dot com

Speak out, ring the bell

(excerpt from Moments of  a Long Pause. Blank Noise video)

This past month has been all about the spectator at Blank Noise. We asked you to send in stories of street harassment: what you saw, how you reacted, what provoked you, how you negotiated with the larger public around you when it was someone else being harassed.
We have many, many spectator responses.

I was walking to the gurudwara early morning.. One boy was dragging a girl forcing her to come on the motor bike. I think they worked at night and were returning home. The boy insisted that the she come with him. I was observing and walking past. I passed a shiv mandir/temple and it struck me that I should go help that girl.

I went in and said "what is the problem?"
The boy asked me to mind my own business.

" Let me talk to this girl if she wants to go with you then I have no problem. If she doesnt want to go then i will not let her go".
The girl said that she does not want to go.

I shouted at him. His friends also said that he should let her go.

I told him that I would call the police.

My mobile was ready with the cop thana no.

He asked me what my objection was. I said there are 4 boys and 1 girl and I have been seeing this react. I said " will you leave her or not?! "

He asked me what relation I had with the girl to interfere. I said " human being"

Finally he let go off her hand. The girl went off with another boy. I got scared thinking that now the boys might attack me. I hopped into a taxi and went to the gurudwara. This was a huge experience for me.


We are still asking you to share your experiences as spectator's. If you are a male and have witnessed street harassment, write to us. Speak out. As we continue with our Spectator's Special - the "special spectator's who acted as well - we join hands to support another effort - Breakthrough's Bell Bajao.

Breakthrough is a fabulous group that does advocacy around rights issues using new media, and their latest campaign is Bell Bajao, asking you to speak out and take action when you encounter domestic violence. Ring the bell, register your protest, speak up and don't look the other way.

It ties in beautifully with the phase we are at with Blank Noise as well, right now - asking for men's responses to issues of violence against women whether in the private space (as the Bell Bajao campaign highlights) or in the public sphere (which is what Blank Noise is about).

The Bell Bajao campaign is up here and it tells you all about responding to domestic violence, provides a forum to share testimonials, games to play, a Wiki page that details both responses as well as what the law says.

More than anything, it asks you to speak out and share. Go to their blog and break the silence around domestic violence by speaking out.

Some of the others in the mass of people

Listen and read below

In conversation with some men on the streets of Delhi and Bangalore. These men were from across age groups 19- 65 and mostly from a mid income group or low income group. Some were tourist guides, some shop owners, auto rickshaw drivers, student union campaigner.


According to you, what kind of man sexually harasses or 'eve teases' women on the street?


"It's the impulsive type of guy that teases girls"

"It's the youth that eve teases girls on the street. Another person will treat her as his granddaughter or niece. If he calls for her on the street, he will perceive her as a family member".

"The guys who try to act smart are the ones that tease women. I don't know how to be smart or play cool..I am not like them".

"I am telling you. I am from a decent family. I don't do this kind of stuff. I go out to do my work and I come back home straight after that".

"The kind of guy that teases his sister will tease a woman on the street".

"It's the 3rd class or the middle class guy that harasses women".


What attracts you to a woman? what kind of woman? what about her? what do you do then?


" Her figure. Her body. If she has a good figure I am interested in sex, only sex. I am not interested in marriage".

" ...her hairstyle. her removing her hair from her face.."

" She should look fit. Others should find her attractive. Her body- her chest, hips...she should have a flat stomach, other parts of her figure should protrude. She should have nice hips".

" Clothes? I like women in sexy clothes".

" I remember she was wearing a pink colour suit, I remember her hair, I remember her make up, her eyes....I really wanted to approach her. I wanted my eyes to speak to her...and try to approach her".

" I like the simple and sober girls. The girl who wears a simple salwar suit and braids her hair. she should have long hair".

"...I gave her my mobile number and said that your incoming is free and my outgoing is free".

" ...I could sit down on my knees and let her know that she is the most beautiful girl in the world".

" I like foreigner girls".

" I do have a mother and a sister. I dont have a girlfriend or wife. 

   Will you be mine?"

For those of you familiar with how it works in India- the most frequently delivered line to an 'eve teaser' is- ghar mein maa behen nahin hai kya? Don't you have a mother or sister at home?


Credits to Ekta and Rajshekhar from Blank Noise who were instrumental to making this happen.

BLANK NOISE/D THIS PLACE

Watch out for this place every Sunday morning.

To participate revisit the site where you experienced sexual intimidation in public, photograph it and send us the picture with an anecdote. I

f you would like to participate in getting people from your city involved in Blank Noise This Place, do let us know by writing in at blurtblanknoise at gmail.com

Lead volunteers on a rotating basis. Current volunteers include:
Suparan Kudesia- Delhi, Nabila Zaidi- Lucknow, Sunayana Roy- Kolkata, Amruth Bhushan - Bangalore and Varsha Chandwani- Mumbai

Where are you going?

Shabana 6 mins 30 sec credits: Dale Copley – project assistant Jamie Finlay- sound editing
(audio link)


This is not about the experience of street sexual harassment.

Translated text: “My name is Shabana. I moved to Manchester from Lahore 20-22 years ago. I got married here and have been staying here since. We do visit Pakistan, but now this place is our home. I think women are safer in Manchester than in India or Pakistan. I don’t think women in Pakistan or India are unsafe, however I think women here are safer. Women have a place in society here. They are respected and taken care of. If someone sees an elderly woman standing, she is offered a seat. This is what I feel. If you are in Pakistan you could belong to any age group, be a little girl or a much older woman, but if you are walking alone, you are bound to find men stalking you or harassing you in public. It isn’t the same here. In Manchester if a woman does not allow it a man cannot even look at her. There is no way he could try touching her. It is 4 pm. I am returning home from work. I will get home and cook dinner. If I need to shop I will go with my husband. We don’t go out on social visits or for fun in the evenings. No. If there is a holiday, like the recent bank holiday, we travel together, as a family, not alone. My children are busy with their games and they do not consider going out much. I have three sons. They are 18, 16 and 3 years old. I always have a phone. Why must I complain about someone harassing me? I have never been harassed or violated. Even when I was younger I was never harassed or bullied on the street. I don’t feel any kind of fear in Manchester. There is no reason to fear. My children fear going to Pakistan when they hear about genocide. I feel safe here. At this point, I am lost. I don’t know my way home! I started my new job yesterday and am lost today.” 10 minutes into meeting Shabana, Dale and I realize she is lost. She pulls out a used enveloped from her handbag which bears the home postal address. Dale locates her address on the map and we soon find ourselves at the bus stop waiting for bus no. 15 Shabana contd. “I used to spend my day at home, sometimes watching tv, doing household chores, talking with friends and gossiping about them.” The bus arrives The phone gives us immense security. It also makes us gossip about each other. We will have to pay for our sins one day. We gossip and we sin. Despite this knowledge we don’t stop talking on the telephone. I know someone who has been warned by the doctors to not use the phone, but she just wont listen. Whenever I phone her I cannot get through. It is always busy. I realized how ignorant I am now that I am out alone. It is a big problem. The fact that I don’t know my way around town is the biggest problem. There is no other problem. I am grateful to God for introducing me to strangers who help, and drop me home. Today is my second day. Someone helped me make a bus pass yesterday. Today you are dropping me home! I used to spend all my time at home before. My children were much younger then. It was a different phase. Now I am in another phase and hence I decided to get a job. I always wanted to work outside home but it wasn’t an acceptable idea for my mother in law and family. They wouldn’t agree to the idea of me going out to work and them cooking for me. I did the cooking. I have been cooking. It is only now that I am doing what I want to do. Working outside home is not culturally accepted. No. It is impossible to see that acceptance come from an Asian mother in law. When it was the right time to learn English, I was busy cooking food for the family. Today I realize that I should have learnt English. I feel the need for it now. I regret not having learnt it. No one let me learn. They told me that I wasn’t going to be out and interacting with others anyways and so I don’t need to learn English. I know what I am doing is courageous but there are many challenges. Not knowing how to speak in English makes it a bigger problem. My sisters live in UK as well.

Am so glad I put this envelope in my handbag this morning. A letter had come this morning. I kept the envelope. I knew this would be helpful if I were to lose my way home. Dale and I met Shabana while wandering through the streets of Manchester. We were looking out for people to interview. She was the only one who agreed to be interviewed. Ten minutes into the conversation we realized that she was lost. She found a used enveloped in her handbag, which had the home address. Dale located her address on the map and we soon find ourselves at the bus stop waiting for bus number 15. Shabana is home by 5 30. She said she would take us to interview her friends. She comes out of her house 10 minutes later to say that the friend whom we were to interview is not at home and goes back inside. We have not been in touch since.

STREET TALES OF HYPER WOMEN BETWEEN THE AGE GROUP OF 11-80 YEARS

Editing assistant- Jamie Finlay- Cornerhouse
Project assistant- Dale Copley

In conversation with women between the age group of 11-80 years, in Manchester, UK.
Groups spoken with include Chinese Women's Centre- Wai Yin Society, Bangladeshi Women's Centre- Ananna, Salford Women's Centre, staff of Cornerhouse and strangers!

Supported by Cornerhouse as a part of Asian Triennial '08, organized by Shisha.

http://ia360908.us.archive.org/3/items/StreetTalesOfHyperWomenBetweenTheAgeGroupOf11To80Years/hyperwomen_64kb.mp3

SEND ONE GARMENT YOU WORE WHEN YOU WERE "EVE TEASED"

Do you really think you 'asked for it' when you experienced street sexual harassment?
How often have you found yourself blaming the pair of jeans, the salwar kameez, the skirt, the t shirt? Do you really think it is your fault when you are violated? Do you really think you deserve to be humiliated? Do you really think that it is only certain kind of clothes that result in women experiencing street sexual harassment?

We say NO.
We say there is no such thing as 'asking for it' and we need you to prove that for us/ yourself.

How?
Send in 1 garment you wore when you experienced 'eve teasing'. Your garment is your truth, your witness, your evidence, your memory. You can volunteer to collect clothes volunteers from friends, family, peers, associated and sent them in.

You can make this happen. It's simple- ask yourself and others around you to remember that one garment you wore when you were made to feel that you 'asked for it'.

Collect one, two or twenty, be the Blank Noise Action Hero from your city. town. locality.

What next?
We propose to install these clothes on the streets of your city and collectively challenge the notion that women ask to be sexually violated.

Suren Vikash participated in this event by bringing back a bag filled with clothes- belonging to his sister, cousins, and relatives. This is to say that men can participate in actualizing this as well!

• There will be a contact person per city- that could be you. want to volunteer?
• If you wish to collect clothes on behalf of Blank Noise from where you are based, email us. We would be thrilled to have you taking on this responsibility!
• The mailing address will be shared on email and will be city specific.
• Please attach a note about what exactly took place.
• Please attach the age of the person who experienced it.
• Your identity will not be revealed if you do not want it to.
• You could also photograph the garment and send it to us. We will share it on the blog.
• If you have any other ideas on how you can participate- actualizing the event, fund raising, seeking permissions etc, write in now!
• If you have already discarded that one garment to this project- we will be adding your name to this list below. If you have not been mentioned, please email us and we will add you right away!
• some of you may not have the garment with you- for instance if the incident took place in childhood and it was a school uniform- in that case do desrcribe the garment to us, or send us something close to it.
  

The idea- When women experience sexual violence/ harassment/ or are 'teased' they are made to feel guilty for experiencing it. We are taught to blame ourselves for being 'dressed provocatively', for being in the wrong location, at the wrong time. Public perception and blame also assumes that a certain female stereotype gets assaulted for the 'right reasons'. The truth is that we have been receiving all kinds of clothes- school uniforms, saris, short skirts, asexual-shirts, jeans, salwar kameez. No matter what you wear, a no means NO. There is no such thing as 'asking for it'

Blank Noise challenges notions of time, place , dress and person. With I never asked for it- we challenge the notion that women actually 'ask to be sexually assaulted'

We take a stand and urge you to do the same. I never asked for it. Yes we want 1000!

reference:
Our last street action on international women's day, March 8 asked Blank Noise Action Heroes from across the country to come wearing the garment they wore when sexually assaulted.
also see:
Cheap girls and this.

BLANK NOISE ACTION HEROES: SHOUT IT LOUD

Blank Noise Action Heroes are women in public who face threat and feel fear but devise unique ways to confront it.

www.blanknoiseactionheroes.blogspot.com was created in March 2007 during international women's day to archive your stories of dealing with fear.

We would like to kickstart this process once again, starting now!

An Action Hero is a woman who has dealt with street sexual harassment by confronting and challenging it. Her final response might have been to choose to ignore the harassment, but she will have chosen to do so, not failed to notice it. (You can also be an Action Hero by participating in our city specific street actions).

Different kinds of sexual violence/harassment take place on the street - ranging from the hapless wooer to the aggressive sexual bully. Women in public across the world have their own unique strategies and capabilities of dealing with threat. This blog collects a range of such empowered actions from across the world.

You could also be the agent- the one who collects stories from your city/ neighbourhood/locality/ school/ college/ friends/family/ colleagues/. Ask the domestic help/ vegetable vendor/ flower seller/ woman bus conductor/ anyone!

This means that men are also invited to share stories of women whose response has amazed them! Go ahead... ask all the women you know!

Shout out loud! Tell us how and when you felt fearless.

You are an action hero not by the magnitude of what you did but how it made you feel. Write in. blurtblanknoise@gmail.com.

majestic majestic!!

5 30 PM- platform no.5
MONDAY : MAY 22nd
MAJESTIC BUS STATION

purpose:
to introduce the idea of eve teasing in the bus station
direct public response to another event in the bus station in the coming week!

Volunteers:
Dev, Balaji, Pritesh, Chandani, Ratna, Vijay. Rahima.


here's what we did:

distributed pamphlets/ dispersed letters bearing eve teasing testimonials/ read them aloud inside a bus with a captive audience/

a detailed version of what we did is coming soon