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MG ROAD. 10 30 PM. he cant stop staring, smiling, making strange faces. He comes up to my auto and tells the auto driver ' sakat figure'/ ' sexy'. Re appears at every traffic signal. The auto driver is excitedly looking out for the guy on the bike.
Shot down, I thought
and he said " thankyou!!"
I reached home after 40 minutes of trying to control the auto driver's route/ speed accompanied by a million phone calls.

brewing

for brewing discussions on street sexual harassment make sure you visit the following blogs
The Great Bong, Indsight, Indian Writing

(more coming soon...)

Street Harassment Project, a New York based group addressing street sexual harassment has been a favourite.

Your MOTHER
Your SISTER
Your WIFE

“Ghar mein ma behen nahi hai kya?”
“Don’t you have a mother or sister at home?”

(a commonly used statement. Most often heard in Bollywood movies when our hero is ‘eve teasing’/ wooing the female actor.)

Akhila spoke to a number of people at Majestic Bus Stand the day opinion polls were conducted.
Here are some of the results: (translated from Kannada to English).

“One cannot look/ tease married women. But these days I cannot figure out if the girls are married or not.”

“When young men see girls they experience joy but they don’t think of their sisters.”

“Women can wear what they want. We should treat them like our sisters.”

“The people who do it have no common sense. They do it because they don’t think of a woman as their sister.”

Other comments included
“It does not happen here.”- male
“It happens here and not in rural India because women know how to dress.”- male
“Mostly villagers do it. They come and touch”- female bus conductor.
“It is today’s college going generation that does it/ aaj kal ke naujavan.”- male
“I have experienced it mostly from middle aged men.”- 47 yr old female.

Thanking you for sending in the clothes. installing them in the studio space. watching them build up.waiting to hear from you...

YOU CAN:

Hi

Here I go again!

There has been tremendous response, dialogue, and arguments whenever the issue of clothes has been brought light.

There have also been emails from people interested and concerned about street sexual harassment from people across different cities and countries. The response has been motivating and overwhelming.

There are ideas that can be worked out across different cities, where you take ownership of this endeavor, mobilize people in your city and get this going!

Do write in with your ideas at
blanknoise@gmail.com

Most of you know about the “Did You Ask For It” project.
“Within Blank Noise, one of the experiments being conducted is “DID YOU ASK FOR IT?” When attacked on the streets the first thing we look at is our clothing. We question if we ‘provoked’ or ‘asked to be made victim’. The garment worn at that point of time contains a memory and is witness to an experience thus becoming a testimony.

Taking this notion forward, I wish to build testimonies through a gathering of clothes given by all those who have experienced sexual threat/ attack on the streets, and have at that point questioned if they asked for it. These clothes will contribute to the making of a public art installation.

Blank Noise is not a gender specific project and I look forward to your participation by sending me a garment that you wore when you felt sexually threatened.

There is power in numbers. I have faith in the collective.”

You could be the one taking this forward in your city, locality, town, country by being the one who collects these clothes. The clothes will be strung together and installed, thereby reversing the question.

Ps: in return you get a beautiful Blank Noise ID Card and a reflector ;)

http://blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_blanknoiseproject_archive.html
http://blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/2005/04/ongoing-project-did-you-ask-for-it.html