Today's Deccan Herald explains the Action Heroes Project.
Article pasted here since the online link has expired.
Keys to the Street
"I have two eyes. I think you are beautiful. I will look!"
"I am not the 'sexual harassment' type of person. I was staring at you because it was crush. It was just a crush. I like your eyes."
"Why are you screaming? ( laughs out loud) I am only asking you out for coffee. I am not even touching you."
It's exhausting being "wooed".
A relentless stream of "compliments", bits of lewd film songs floating down to you, unsolicited attention, a general perception that the 'wooer' has every right to be there, 'wooing you'. That it's fine to stare invasively, to make remarks or inappropriate suggestions – as long as you weren't actually, physically touched. Is it, though? Who decides that staring is alright but pinching is not? That verbal harassment (asking someone out repeatedly when they've said a clear 'no' the first time) is alright, but physical is punishable?
As a project that began in 2003 with workshops and street interventions centred around this notion so flippantly called "eve teasing", as though it were just a little inside joke between the victim and the perpetrator, Blank Noise has often been on the streets just listening to and recording what men have to say about why they "eve tease". (We prefer to call it street sexual harassment.)
We've often had to ask ourselves what the lines are between someone wooing you, however clumsily, and someone harassing you. In a culture where women and men don't always interact freely and openly, establishing contact itself is a big step forward.
"I like girls who wear salwar kameez'es. That's the kind of girl I notice on the street. The one who's pretty in salwar kameezes. That's the kind of girl I want to marry."
What do you do then?
"I go up to them and say, "Excuse me! Hi I am Raju! Can I know your name? Can you give me your number?
They don't say anything and leave.
But I try my luck everyday."
(Stall Owner, Sarojini Nagar market, Delhi.)
Or this:
"I like all kinds of girls; the ones in salwar kameez are most attractive. I saw this girl once and trust my luck- I found a bouquet of roses, I pulled out a rose and gave it to her. She accepted it. I saw her father walking towards her. I quickly gave her my mobile number and said 'mera outgoing free hain, aapka incoming free hain."
"My cousin has a set of visiting cards with a rose on it, which he gives to every girl he meets."
Ajay is 22 years old . He hangs out in a particular coffee shop and has approached many girls and told them that they are beautiful. That has resulted in conversations and a date.
Were these instances of wooing? Or harassment? Did the girls want to be talked to? Did they say 'no'? For some women, these moves might have been appropriate. A way to meet the opposite sex. For others, because of class and cultural differences perhaps, these moves might be offensive.
We've listed the men's stories. What were the women's testimonials?
"His hand was cupped on my breast. I screamed. He did not react until I took the camera out and began photographing him. He got off the bus with me. He said, 'I am sorry. Please don't do this to me. I am a father of two children.' Just a few minutes before that, he ignored me, made it seem like I was screaming for no reason."
"I was taking a morning walk at 7 a.m. A van kept following me and asking, 'how much'?"
"It was during an afternoon stroll in Sadashivanagar. The car pulled along by me slowly, and the man kept blowing his car horn and trying to get my attention. 'Hello, hello...' Finally he threw a piece of paper with his phone number out the car window."
"I was constantly 'accidentally' elbowed in my breasts by the man in front of me"
" I had to bite a man who dragged me in a lane. He held me from the back. I do not recognise his face."
Somewhere along the way from the beginning of this article to this point, the narrative has changed. The experiences have morphed from the men's stories of casual "want-a-coffee" requests to the women's stories of retaliation, of helpless, of something larger, stronger than an indifferent response to a misplaced attempt at wooing. These are now stories of sexual violence. These are stories of sexual bullying of unjustified invasion of privacy, of behaviour bordering on stalking.
At Blank Noise we suggest that the point when a "wooer" becomes a harasser is the point when the girl says 'no'. But what next? We've established a perpetrator, we've established a 'victim' (though you may choose not to see yourself as one) – now what?
The current stage the Blank Noise Project is at reflects the need for women to respond, in their own individual ways, to such overtures. Attempting to make contact with someone could range from the whistle, to the pinch to, as we have seen, dragging someone down a lane with you unable to see their face and no one to listen to your screams for help.
This stage of the Blank Noise Project is the Action Heroes campaign. Strategies, street interventions and a blog-a-thon to mark Women's Day, that all centre around the concept of identifying street harassment and choosing the best way for you to respond to it.
We invite you to join us at our blog-a-thon. We had one last year that was hugely successful and had people share their testimonials of harassment. This year we're asking for responses and reactions. If you've responded to harassment and street violence, email us your story at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com. If you have a blog, blog your story on the morning of March 8, 2007, but before that, send us a shout at this email id that you're coming on board, so we can link to your blog and hopefully you will link back to ours: blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com
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Box:
The Action Heroes campaign
Blank Noise Action Heroes are women who have chosen to react to street sexual violence. Theirs is not an emotional outburst but in fact a strategy, a plan or a choreography. An Action Hero has learnt to judge a situation. An Action Hero chooses to confront or not confront, but at no point ignores or avoids the problem.
Anybody can be an Action Hero. The idea is to challenge oneself and one's comfort levels through very simple acts, that have never been done before. Something as simple as women of different age groups occupying public spaces in numbers of twenties, thirties, forties, fifties.
There have been times at our interventions on Brigade Road when volunteers have come dressed in clothes they would not otherwise feel comfortable wearing. It is easily assumed that the clothes would therefore be provocative by popular standards. The answer is NO. While for one, wearing a sleeveless top is a brave thing to do in a public space, for another it would be a pair of jeans. For a woman always dressed in a sari it is challenging for her to wear a salwar kameez. By participating, each woman starts a process of questioning her limits, her relationship with her clothes, her body and the public space. She begins to take a closer look at her public and private identity.
What would brigade road be like without those railings?
What if for one evening women took over those railings? Brigade Road is one road in Bangalore that many women hurry past, aware of the men draped along the railings "checking them out" often with more than a look. Blank Noise Action Heroes have done simple things such as stand by the railings of brigade road, and enjoy the space as women. We look men in the eye, we confront their gaze head on, we hand out pamphlets on the law against street harassment (yes, there is one!) and we enjoy being out in the public space.
The public reacts by asking us why we are standing? Why we are looking?
We ask, "Why should that even be questionable?" There have been times when people assumed that a woman who looks back at you, is obviously interested in you. Annie Zaidie participated in the blank noise Blog-a-thon last year. She says. "Not glaring suspiciously at every male passerby can be interpreted as an invitation."
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