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THIS ARTICLE in the Guardian has some important lessons for us in India as well. Bidisha, a novelist and art critic living in London, decided to confront harassment instead of adopting the usual mealy-mouthed approach.
I went on ahead and then, as in a nightmare, I saw the boys again up ahead, watching me languidly. My muscles filled with adrenaline and, fuelled by decades of rage, I began to pursue the boys like a killer cyborg – or a killer midget cyborg in bottle-end specs. They freaked on instinct and pedalled hard but there I was, powering across the park and shaking my fist, miraculously keeping up.
Fantastic. In related stuff, Blank Noise Project ran an Action Hero campaign some time back, which had numerous women sharing their stories of how they confronted or challenged street sexual harassment. Read the stories here. Link via Aditya, Ammu Joseph and Space Bar.
Hi Anu, I read that link through Space Bar’s comment and was disgusted at some of the comments people left on there for Bidisha. Far from lauding her stance, they pulled her down, dismissed her and on occasion, lynched her post apart. I noticed some of the comments were deleted by the post moderator, so I can only imagine how offensive those must’ve been. And then people say there is no need for feminism in the world today! How can there NOT be, when a mentality like that still exists?!!
A pvrocoative insight! Just what we need!