I am prepared and I use both my hands to push him away.

extends his hand to grab

I start walking faster

I could no longer hear his steps behind me

I tapped his shoulder firmly

Too bad he tried to mess with the wrong girl

I went to the Ice cream parlor close by to get my cousins a tub of butterscotch.

I would look “ugly”, “unwanted”, and “undesirable”

UNWANTED

REPORTING UNWANTED INTERACTIONS

UNWANTED 1

UNWANTED 2

UNWANTED 3

UNWANTED 4

UNWANTED 5

UNWANTED 6

UNWANTED 7

UNWANTED 8

UNWANTED 9

UNWANTED 10

Also see:
http://blog.blanknoise.org/2008/01/cars-number-plates-harassers-unwanted.html

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

SEND ME YOUR PHOTO: TO EVERY BLANK NOISE SUPPORTER/ VOLUNTEER/ MEMBER

This goes out to any one that has been involved with Blank Noise in any way-

be it online support and participation, street interventions, documentation, research, performance / other An all new Blank Noise Volunteers Flickr Album is finally up and running! Here is the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blanknoise/ Saptarshi Chakrabarty and Purba Sarkar from Blank Noise Kolkata have set it up and are managing the flickr album. Please note that we are in process of setting this up and not even half way through- thousands of people have volunteered so far but the flickr album has only 200 photographs-

• If you do not find your photograph please let us know.
• If you have never physically met with the Blank Noise Team but been an online participant, we would love to receive a photo from you.
• If you don't want a photo- any visual that symbolizes you- a comic, a plant, a logo- send it in!
• There have also been non blogging, non internet participants - such as parents who may have participated in Blank Noise events- please send us their details as well.
• If its NOT OKAY with you to have your picture in the album, we will remove it.

Please inform us at the earliest by mailing in at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com. Or if you would like to send a picture to include in the album, you can do that too.

Please add in details such as blog address, city you are writing in from, what you do/ profession/ occupation, and how you participated in Blank Noise. Mail in at blurtblanknoise at gmail.com subject titled 'your name + photo' We hope that you will write in as soon as you can. From the rest of us at the Blank Noise Team

BLANK NOISE THIS PLACE- REVISITING TERRITORIES

Blank Noise This Place!

http://flickr.com/photos/blanknoisethisplace


"My daughter ( 46 years) and grand daughter( 22 years) were walking by the lake. A mad man lift up his lungi and flashed his body parts at my daughter. My daughter was hoping that her daughter didnt see this. She panicked and tried to change her route. He flashed again. She yelled for a security guard from an resident apartment. In the meantime I the mad man ran away.

I told her never to walk there again."- (age 77 years)

It is familiar to most of us. I could hear my mother, father, grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends, all well wishers say. ' just dont go there. '

How many such city spaces will not be accessed because sexual violation was experienced there?

Shabana in Manchester never stepped out alone. She never experienced street sexual harassment either.
and then again Bangalore, Tokyo, Mexico City and other cities have women only public transport.


Blank Noise This Place is building evidence.

We ask you to revisit the site and exact location where you experienced harassment and photograph it. Please send in an account of what happened with a photo of that place. This project is open to women from across the globe, across age groups.

It would be fantastic if you could get others around you involved- more so if you got people without cameras involved and even shared them.

We could organize week long events with small groups of individuals who want to participate in this.

(Amrutha Bhushan and Goonja from Bangalore will be re -visiting their site. I will be doing the same from Kolkata. If you would like to get involved from your city and get others involved too- email us!)

All photographs will be uploaded at :
http://flickr.com/photos/blanknoisethisplace

and put on a world wide map at :
http://flickr.com/photos/blanknoisethisplace/map/

To participate email us and we will add you right here. Email us at blurtblanknoise at gmail.com subject titled BLANK NOISE THIS PLACE!

Also see: http://blog.blanknoise.org/2008/03/blank-noise-this-place.html


Why are we doing this?

• Because our experience of the city is based on fear and mapped with places to 'avoid'.
  
• Because we want to break the myth of site- that sexual harassment takes place only in 'certain places' at certain hours.
• Because we want women to reclaim their city spaces and not fear them.
• Because Blank Noise collects testimonials in different forms of media and disseminates them back in public.
• To build an argument collectively.
• The collective building of evidence will trigger towards social transformation
  
• this could also be 'fun'- something for all of us to do and make more meaning once people have participated.
• for those convinced- please add more!

List of Participants for Blank Noise This Place:

• Dianne Sharma Winter
  
• Amrutha Bhushan
  
• Goonja
  
• Jasmeen Patheja
  
• Purba Sarkar
  
• Poorna Banerjee
  
• Sunayana Roy
  
• Dana Roy
  
• Nabila Zaidi
  
• you?

ACTION HEROES ON DUTY

signs for citizens

important: Blank Noise is not anti men. Poster were published on this blog- extending the argument of the previous post- on segregated public spaces.

WOMEN SPECIAL-BMTC

photo above- from a regular bus- image of women's reservation seat

photo below from

Bangalore's 'women only' buses. Painted pink.

The women Soumya C. Shekhar of Blank Noise and I spoke with, saw this as an immediate relief, as something convenient.

How do you experience public environments that are exclusively male or female?

Perhaps bloggers and Blank Noise blog visitors from Bombay/ Mumbai who take the 'ladies compartment' in the train will have anecdotes to add!

check this out:

Also see - Pukar's Gender and Space project
http://www.pukar.org.in/genderandspace/index.html

bbc- women's only hotel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/04/2009_18_thu.shtml

Iran

women's only park:

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2342417,00.html

Egypt
Women only taxi:
http://gulfnews.com/news/region/egypt/women-only-taxis-set-for-bumpy-ride-in-egypt-1.568204