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April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. (SAAM). Let's look at what we all can do to prevent sexual assault as well as create an awareness of the problem.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. (SAAM). Let’s look at what we all can do to prevent sexual assault as well as create an awareness of the problem.
Trigger Alert: This post has descriptions of violence against women, specifically sexual assault, and may be triggering for survivors.
Sexual assault is a bigger pandemic than COVID, and is a symptom of the rape culture a ‘traditional’, patriarchal society perpetuates directly through abusive behaviour – either through action or speech; and indirectly through things like controlling choices / voices/ sexuality/ bodies of women, and conditioning everyone to think this is normal.
Here are some critical points everyone must be vigilant about to create a safer society for everyone.
Take action before sexual assault happens. Act against stalkers and eve teasers. They aren’t romantic. Don’t believe the popular entertainment that disguises invasion of privacy, harassment and domination as love. Sexual assault should be nipped in the bud.
Talk to teenagers of all genders. Tell them that no matter how desperate they become, they can’t control someone else’s body, whoever that someone is.
Sexual assault is equally wrong when your best friend/gang member/bff/bro/sis/bae (or any cool term) does it. It doesn’t matter who they are to you or how decent you think they are.
Don’t become a part of the problem by cooperating with them and justifying them.
No means no. If they aren’t in a position to say anything freely, it is a no. Consent isn’t for you to understand or assume. It is for them to give. Read that again.
Sexual assault isn’t rape alone. It is unwanted sexual contact. Sometimes, what we brush up saying it is common or normal (casual) could be sexual assault.
Nothing can justify or be an excuse for sexual assault. It was, it is, always avoidable. Onus is on the assaulters to NOT assault. We can’t push the blame on victims or survivors for letting it happen or for not fighting back.
No form of sexual assault is trivial or forgivable. So if you have ever assaulted someone sexually and the world has forgiven you, you are still a criminal.
Survivors don’t owe anyone anything. Their life is still theirs and will remain. Those who’ve been watching everything from a comfortable place can keep their opinions to rest.
You need not wait for a particular month to become aware and spread awareness about sexual assault. It is a bare minimum expectation from a human being.
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Being a writer, Nivedita Louis recognises the struggles of a first-time woman writer and helps many articulate their voice with development, content edits as a publisher.
“I usually write during night”, says author Nivedita Louis during our conversation. Chuckling she continues,” It’s easier then to focus solely on writing. Nivedita Louis is a writer, with varied interests and one of the founders of Her Stories, a feminist publishing house, based in Chennai.
In a candid conversation she shared her journey from small-town Tamil Nadu to becoming a history buff, an award-winning author and now a publisher.
Nivedita was born and raised in a small town in Tamil Nadu. It was for schooling that she first arrived in Chennai. Then known as Madras, she recalls being awed by the city. Her love-story with the city, its people and thus began which continues till date. She credits her perseverance and passion to make a difference to her days as a vocational student among the elite sections of Madras.
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