After #MeToo

Could a wave be told which way to go? When to pause? Or monitor its force? Locked Tongues. Unleashed.

Yes. #HimToo.

I don't view Raya Sarkar's list as  a methodology to 'name or shame', but instead as a response, a wave, a force. Yes, the wave may have a backlash, may polarise us even,  because it disrupted. But a wave has its life. It will reach new shores, new conversations. New force. New futures.

This is vomit. It has to release itself.

What would be the opposite of not having that reaction. More silence?  Another 'well kept secret' ?

I urge us, to step back and notice this instead. Beyond the 'scandal' of the listed names, it speaks out loud and clear that, institutional systems have often failed to protect those reporting. This needs working. This happening, reveals, once again, it wasn't safe to report. It still isn't safe . Those building it, took the risk of naming their perpetrators and had to be anonymous. Again, I don’t see the list as methodology, but a force that says a truth must to be told.

Most of us may have tucked it all away in long term memory to cope and move on with the everyday. But it isn't forgotten. It finds a way to linger or erupts itself out.I meet women who remember what they experienced days, sometimes months, after a workshop or dialogues held at Blank Noise. We have learnt to shrug, dismiss, blur it out to the point we don't call it out. And then a #MeToo happens.

#MeToo gave us collective permission to remember and share. #MeToo led to catharsis, anger, rage, turbulence, towards both personal and collective healing. #MeToo led many to question 'him', leading to #HimToo . He too, ‘ amongst us ‘, our friend, our colleague, the one of ‘us’ is perpetuating misogyny, rape culture, abuse.

I hear opinions on what constitutes harassment and what does not. This is past opinion.This is the force of raw experiences, rage, and recognising an everyday injustice. Our bodies traverse home, streets, web, campuses,  school, offices, art worlds, play ground, buses, trains, marriages, the television screen , experiencing patriarchy, misogyny, abuse in a range of ways. At Blank Noise we talk about looking, not to say 'don't look', but to question how are you looking? It is in the tone of the gaze. This isn't towards setting a moral code of conduct, but towards creating and enriching collective conscience. This is not about the perceived magnitude of a violation, whose judge is no one, but the person experiencing it. 

At Blank Noise, we talk about looking, not to police your gaze but invite you to look at yourself, looking, doing. Step in to internalise. Conversation has the power to be the beginning and the end to change. It is in the power of equal listening. Beyond opinion.Talk To Me.

I Never Ask For It .

- Jasmeen Patheja

Towards Ending Rape Culture on Campus: 
Step into create an Action Hero Campus Network
https://goo.gl/sbb9Zq

Towards A United Call To End Rape Culture and Blame.
Step into create a network of global / regional / local alliances to end victim blame.
https://goo.gl/gDPns3

Intern Or Volunteer to build I Never Ask For It
https://goo.gl/kT84kc