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Bharatnatyam dancer Tirna Sengupta is reclaiming women's rights to male dominated public spaces through her dance forms. Read here about the initiative.
Bharatanatyam dancer Tirna Sengupta is reclaiming women’s rights to male dominated public spaces through her dance forms. Read here about the initiative.
Seen dancing on the street to a poem composed by herself, Tirna Sengupta is breaking out of multiple shackles in one act of assertion. As a part of the #ChalkTheWalk campaign organised by @IWillGoOut.
#IWillGoOut had a nationwide gathering on 21st January, 2017 in solidarity against sexual harassment and misogyny, and to reclaim women’s rights to safe public spaces. They’re a collective of individuals and organisations across various cities in India.
The campaign being a year old last month, they posted a video of Tirna Sengupta dancing to a poem, reclaiming it and at the same time attempting to take Bharatanatyam out of ‘elite enclaves’ on to public spaces.
The idea of a woman being herself, and appropriating a space which has never been given to her is an absolutely amazing initiative. Especially when public places are often used by men to perpetrate violence and outrage against a woman’s body and privacy.
It becomes all the more important if we think of it with the perspective of the future. One girl dancing her heart out on a street can trigger so many reactions, that can lead to a collective influence over the perception of public spaces as inherently male-dominated. Women are rebelling, and subverting old ideas and notions to aid womankind in general, and what can be more wonderful than that?
When we reached out to Tirna Sengupta for her views, she said,
“Bharatanatyam has been inaccessible and esoteric for a very long time. I see activism as an important part of art and I think it is my social responsibility to articulate rebellion. So I use movements, poetry and expressions to invite attention to the kind of resistance I attempt to present. I also try use my art to question my own privileges. I thought dancing on the streets would be an effective way to engage with the masses and democratise the art form. A woman dancing on the streets has tremendous potential to make a statement that we are going to occupy public spaces despite all threats.”
Let us all pledge to go out more, and claim our share of ‘public’ places! #IWillGoOut
Image Source: Facebook Video of I Will Go Out
New Delhi, India I like to read, write, and talk. A feminist through and through, with a soft spot for chocolate. read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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