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These 5 short films on sexual harassment of women in public spaces are great tools to create discussion on the topic. Watch and share!
#AskingForIt is an initiative by Breakthrough to mobilize communities and get every individual, both online and in the ‘real world’, to speak out and not treat sexual harassment as ‘normal’.
Have you ever reacted against sexual harassment when you faced it yourself, or saw another girl or woman facing it? Have a suggestion to share? Login to write if you have a contributor account at Women’s Web, or use this form to send us your post.
The number of cases we hear about harassment of women in recent times is alarming. However, the more disturbing fact is that the cases that do not get reported will definitely outnumber the former. To fight this menace, we need to reach as many people as we can and create awareness about what harassment is, how it impacts women and why we need to stand up to it.
The power of social media in our country has grown very quickly and today, it is one of the best tools to create awareness. Short films are one such great medium that are in vogue these days among young people in our country.
Given the high impact of a video on audience, short films on such subjects as harassment are an exceptional way of communication, to reach millions via social media.
Do have a look at the following short movies on issues women in public spaces face and the change in attitude we need. To bring about this change, you can share such films on your social channels, or if you work in a position where you interact with young people, you could even screen it at a school or college, create a debate around it and get the conversation on gender, harassment and women’s safety going.
As Gandhiji once said, “The day a woman can walk freely on the roads at midnight is when we have truly achieved Independence.” It has been 68 years since the official Independence of India but I really doubt if we have truly attained the same, given the series of issues Indian women face on roads and public spaces. This short film is one on those lines, where it asks citizens to let women live freely without worrying about stepping out every day – or night!
The misconception most of us have is that women need to cover up more and without that they would be asking for it? Really?! The gaze of a perpetrator remains the same whether a girl is dressed in shorts or a saree or even in a burka! When men can decide what they want to wear, then why not give the same freedom to women? Women are not asking for it just because they chose to wear a particular dress. This is for all those narrow mindsets to show them how deplorable they look when they gawk!
How many of us would respond to a situation when someone is being harassed in public? It is time for us to stand up for ourselves and for others to confront the miscreants. Do not turn a blind eye to these kinds of incidents in public spaces and do your bit to help in whatever way you can.
This is a motivating video for all girls who suffer harassment in silence. The first thing a woman needs to express is that she will not brush it off anymore and that she deserves respect as a human being. We need to show that we can stand up for ourselves in tough situations.
Yes, you read it right! The gender discrimination we show in upbringing kids, not giving enough importance to daughters and finally, treating women as mere objects than equal humans whether in the guise of tradition or in our current movies is all adding up to a culture of harassment. This hilarious take on the same issue will get people thinking and make at least a few harassers feel ashamed!
This post is my attempt to bring more awareness and motivation to readers to fight and put an end to harassment. Wake up, women are not #Askingforit!
Read all posts written @ #AskingForIt blogathon
Top pic is a still from one of the short films featured
Loves to click pictures, dance, cook, travel, craft, read and write! read more...
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He said that he needed sometime to himself. I waited for him as any other woman would have done, and I gave him his space, I didn't want to be the clingy one.
Trigger Warning: This deals with mental trauma and depression, and may be triggering for survivors.
I am someone who believes in honesty and trust, I trust people easily and I think most of the times this habit of mine turns into bane.
This is a story of how a matrimonial website service turned into a nightmare for me, already traumatized by the two relationships I’ve had. It’s a story for every woman who lives her life on the principles of honesty and trust.
And when she enters the bedroom, she sees her husband's towel lying on the bed, his underwear thrown about in their bathroom. She rolls her eyes, sighs and picks it up to put in the laundry bag.
Vasudha, age 28 – is an excellent dancer, writer, podcaster and a mandala artist. She is talented young woman, a go getter and wouldn’t bat an eyelid if she had to try anything new. She would go head on with it. Everyone knew Vasudha as this cheerful and pretty young lady.
Except when marriage changed everything she knew. Since she was always outdoors, whether for office or for travelling for her dance shows, Vasudha didn’t know how to cook well.
Going by her in-laws definition of cooking – she had to know how to cook any dishes they mentioned. Till then Vasudha didn’t know that learning to cook was similar to getting an educational qualification. As soon as she entered the household after her engagement, nobody was interested what she excelled at, everybody wanted to know – what dishes she knew how to cook.