25.6.10

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE AN ACTION HERO?

existing definition: An Action Hero is a woman who faces threat and experiences fear on the streets of her city, but can devise unique ways to confront it. Her final response might have been to choose to ignore the violator, but she will have chosen to do so, not failed to notice it. AnAction Hero does not surrender to power on the street.


An Action Hero sets new rules for public behaviour.

An Action Hero can stand idle in public.

An Action Hero can whistle in a park, nap, read a book

An Action Hero can day dream in public.

An Action Hero can make eye contact with strangers.

An Action Hero can walk the streets without apology.

An Action Hero believes that the city is HERS.

An Action Hero does not take the age old blame for experiencing street sexual violence. She believes there's no such thing as 'asking for it'.

An Action Hero can sometimes twist the situation around and laugh at it.

An Action Hero is not a victim. She reacts. responds. fights back .

An Action Hero confronts her fear. analyzes it too.

An Action Hero choses to make her city safe by being out in public. She inspires new Action Heroes

An Action Hero is NOT afraid, shy, in denial nor embarrassed to say she experienced street sexual violence.

An Action Hero includes men in the dialogue about street sexual violence. An Action Hero believes that street sexual violence or 'eve-teasing' is an issue concerning male behaviour and attitudes.


- ?


Who is an Action Hero?

Pitch in by adding a definition, characteristic or trait


*HINT* could be your action hero moment- your strategy-


An Action Hero is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ?


Join the action heroes event on facebook

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=130518013647915&index=1



Thank you Paromita Vohra

55 comments:

PRADEEP GHOSH (Ashoka Fellow) said...

An Action Hero is one who just not discusses thoughts and ideas, but actually translates them into action.

bn girl said...

completely agree! cannot- should not disconnect the intellect with the experience

bn girl said...

message from mickey sugarless:
" As a young woman, I'm always negotiating with the world, trying to
find some niche to put my foot in and keep going.

Here, I blog about 'Ladies Seat', in BMTC buses ->
http://soapboxfound.blogspot.com/2010/06/ladies-seat.html
I see how this makes sense in the Blank Noise context. I'd say I'm an
Action Hero for not compromising.

I don't know what the BN perspective is to reservations... Do you read
it as undue advantage? Tell me what you think. "

Nita said...

An action hero is the woman,who can control the situation without losing her temper.some time it helps to be calm and stern.

Subha Sundaram Krishnan- cross posting from facebook said...

An action hero is someone who believes there will be a better tomorrow for our girls than we had ourselves. Someone who believes, men and women will co-exist in our society with mutual respect for whatever we are!!!

ishiG cross posting from twitter said...

An #actionhero can choose what she wants to wear in public without d so called "moral critics" telling wat to wear & wat not to

BN GIRL said...

cross posted from facebook: Trishima Mitra-Kahn: An action hero denounces the phrase 'eve-teasing'. She is neither a 'tease' nor a temptress. Her fight is against harassment, not teasing.

Unknown said...

we all consider those individuals who react, respond and fight in public as heroes. but those who are fighting in disguise are also heroes..without revealing the experienses they live as normal ones.i think they are also heroes

bn girl said...

but ofcourse- could you desribe a scenario of 'fighting in disguise'

nisha said...

an action hero believes in taking action which should also include just thinking about what happened to her without fear, anger, disgust or embarassment.
nisha

bn girl said...

cross posted: Bhavita Vaishnava: An Action Hero..A woman who reacts if she is harrased and raises her voice if that happens to another fellow woman..!!

naksha said...

An Action Hero can look in the eyes at men who wink at her

Sandhya S said...

An Action Hero is a girl who thinks "yes, I can do it, whatever I set my mind to." She can overcome her shyness and survive any situation that occurs on the street. I am an Action Hero and I'm proud to be!

Y? said...

An action hero can plonk on random steps on the street and enjoy her ice cream , she can assertively/aggressively depending on who she is confron the harasser. An action hero accepts and loves her body and does not resent it / feel a sense of guilt about being female.An action hero can wear whatever clothes she feels comfortable and will not worry about being considered a 'loose woman'. An action hero is comfortable walking on the street and does not have a defensive body language. An action hero is calm, assertive, confident and really comfortable with herself and her body, basically.

Anonymous said...

An Action Hero is _a woman who does not grow up hating men just because she experienced street sexual violence.

annie said...

An Action Hero sings on the street.
An Action Hero wears jeans that call attention to the pelvis, just to remind herself that that the threat of violence is not linked to the clothes she wears.
An Action Hero does not panic in a general compartment in a train instead of one reserved for Ladies.

machlee said...

an action hero does not always respond with threat. she can interpret and respond to different kinds of masculinities. she knows she has been taught to fear men, and questions that fear itself.

Sandhya Menon said...

You think these people here have been inspired by you? http://www.salon.com/life/violence_against_women/index.html?story=/mwt/broadsheet/2010/07/13/not_ever_rape

manisha sharma said...

hey , nice blog , like it ,
won't be nice if i u can clickover to my blog page too ,
& post some suggestion

Anonymous said...

hi, excellent blog! thanks for being.
happy to see your definition of action hero demolishing the walls of restrained behaviour imposed on women.

i was on a hike with a few friends (two men and two other women) to the western ghats. we knew we would cross a lake on our way back. the surroundings were mostly empty, there were only occasional passers by. still it was impossible for my female friends to change clothes. there was no danger of violence from anyone, it was just pure 'shame', imposed since day-one to a female child : the panic that what if someone somehow happened to have a glance of (even from 200 m or so) my bare thighs! even after my continuos brain-washing my otherwise bold and broad minded friends decided to walk back in wet clothes.

shame is the tricky weapon on women by the patriarchal society.

R

Anonymous said...

An action hero is a BULL HOMOSEXUAL who dresses up as a WOMAN and walks the most dangerous streets and beats up or sodomizes any and all men who dares to engage in "eve teasing".

action hero said...

@anon thank you for your reaction.
your comment has been published we would really like to know what you mean by a 'BULL HOMOSEXUAL' ???

bn action heroes said...

anon- thank you for your very thoughtful thoughts
but do tell us- what makes a street 'dangerous'?

and is your statement above a suggestion of what we at blank noise propose to do?

or is it your accusation?

we look forward to hearing from you,
blank noise action heroes

Suruchi Puri (Author) said...

True action hero is the woman who lives life as it comes...and braves the ups and downs of life..

Visit:- http://rhymesandverses.blogspot.com/

Bhavya said...

Action hero is the one who knows she has a right to speak and speaks whenever society wants her to be quite...against all the wrong things happening with her on road, in her house or in her office...

Sadaf Fayyaz said...

Hey check out my article on eve teasing.........here..leave your comments
http://sadaf-fayyaz.blogspot.com/2010/09/eve-teasing-not-avoidable-issue.html

Sadaf Fayyaz said...

http://sadaf-fayyaz.blogspot.com/2010/09/eve-teasing-not-avoidable-issue.html

priyadarshini dey from facebook said...

Priyadarshini Dey an action hero is one who never fears to tread any place in fear of being harassed and deprived her of her fundamental rights , because she knows how to stand up for herself .

SHAILY DADIALA from facebook said...

Shaily Dadiala An action hero can have a platonic (or not!) conversation with a male in public without worrrying about "what people will think"

Bhavita Vaishnava from facebook said...

Bhavita Vaishnava An Action Hero..A woman who reacts if she is harrased and raises her voice if that happens to another fellow woman..!!

Sidharth Verma via facebook said...

Sidharth Verma Action hero : Is one who encourage others to fight against such type of inhuman behaviour..

Schizo Phrenic via facebook said...

Schizo Phrenic- An action hero takes affronts on someone elses dignity as a personal affront.

Annie Zaidi via facebook said...

An action hero sometimes just rolls her eyes when a passerby makes the 'sssss' sound, like his mouth was full of hot chillies.

Annie Zaidi via facebook said...

An action hero walks in the rain. Sometimes, even in a white shirt

Maesy Angelina via facebook said...

An Action Hero dares herself to walk with her chin up and a smile after going through a street sexual harassment.

Gaurav Chats via facebook said...

an 'Action Hero' is som1 who shud be in a position to walk or roam anywhere/anytime she feels like from her heart and be comfortable with the surroundings =) .. in short, She should feel at ease .. coz she desrves it !!
Hope such a day comes soon for real .. we need to do work 4 dat .. teach the bad elements of society hard lessons !!

Neha Chamaria via facebook said...

An Action Hero fights for her self-respect in the most dignified manner...

Naksha Erappa via facebook said...

An Action Hero can strut her stuff

Barnita Biswas said...

An action hero can knock out a bad guy with two fingers, a knee, her vocal cords or a flick of her purse. She doesn't let bad guys get away. And oh, she doesn't need tights to prove her feminity either. She can save the day in any outfit. Up, up and away!

ANNIE ZAIDI via facebook said...

An Action Hero sings on the street.
An Action Hero wears jeans that call attention to the pelvis, just to remind herself that that the threat of violence is not linked to the clothes she wears.
An Action Hero does not panic in a general compartment in a train instead of one reserved for Ladies.

Jasmeen said...

an action hero does not always respond with threat. she can interpret and respond to different kinds of masculinities. she knows she has been taught to fear men, and questions that fear itself.

Yamini Deen said...

An action hero can plonk on random steps on the street and enjoy her ice cream , she can assertively confront her harasser. An action hero accepts and loves her body and does not resent it / feel a sense of guilt about being female.An action hero can wear whatever clothes she feels comfortable in and will not worry about being considered a 'loose woman'. An action hero is comfortable walking on the street and does not have a defensive body language. An action hero is calm, assertive, confident and really comfortable with herself and her body.An action hero positively influences her female friends to feel comfortable about themselves?

Dipali Taneja via facebook said...

An action hero's gender is not paramount in his/her mind all the time. An action hero believes that all human beings have the right to walk/ride/travel freely at any time of day or night, with their dignity intact, and unmolested at all times.

Ankita Roy Chowdhury said...

‎....is one who is not proud of his heroic acts, is always there for anyone and everyone, is always just with every living organism be it an aves family one or a mammalian.

Trishima Mitra Kahn said...

An action hero denounces the phrase 'eve-teasing'. She is neither a 'tease' nor a temptress. Her fight is against harassment, not teasing.

Titash Roy Chowdhury said...

An action hero acts/protests against any form of street behaviour which tends to outrage his/her sense of modesty.

Nita Patheja said...

An action hero is the woman,who can control the situation without losing her temper.some time it helps to be calm and stern.

Sujata Arya said...

i was horrified,angry and then proud when i read of all the action heroes and their bravery..we all deserve a world in which we can live-without fear,without shame and with the freedom to dress as we like and go where we want without a constant feeling of insecurity.

Subha Sundaram Krishnan said...

An action hero is someone who believes there will be a better tomorrow for our girls than we had ourselves. Someone who believes, men and women will co-exist in our society with mutual respect for whatever we are!!!

Priyanka Rath said...

An action hero may also at times need to wear a very very terrible scowl on her face to feel secure that she can avoid being lynched for that day atleast, she has enough up with her, and may just pound someones' head in.

Pavan Soni said...

An Action Hero is someone who choses not to ignore street sexual harassement

Hillary Simmons said...

inhibition is a nail in the head

Unknown said...

"An Action Hero is not a victim. She reacts. responds. fights back ."

This pretty much summarizes it. Everything else is a logical extension of this.

blank noise action hero said...

Hum Bechari Nahin. Hum Action Hero hain

Anonymous said...

An true action hero is d 1 who fights for wrong n is not afraid to lodge FIR against the bloody culprit.. They are not victims they fighters..be a fighter n fight for ur rights