“Street sexual harassment is a violation of the human spirit.” Do you agree? Or do you concur with people who say, “Girls ask for it when they dress provocatively,” or “We cannot control ourselves when we see someone dressed like that”— So does the end justify the means?

Women are embarrassed by it and men don’t want to talk about it!  Makes it so convenient for the perpetrators, don’t you think! Eve teasing or street sexual behaviour, as it is specifically called, is an openly neglected crime that people prefer to sweep under the carpet.

In August 2003, an introspecting art student, Jasmeen Patheja, asked a group of over 60 students (girls) to make a ‘mind map’ with the word ‘public space’ and the answers that came out were—groping, vulnerable, fear, intimidating, anonymity and many more.

She felt this was evidence enough to address our relationship with public spaces. From the sixty girls, only nine volunteered to participate in a project on eve teasing. The others said—“It’s no big deal,” “It happens every day”, “It’s normal,” “But boys are like that only—boys will be boys!” Jasmeen’s reaction — “I was shocked with that reaction which gradually made me realise that this itself is our problem—that eve teasing is not even a big deal—we accept it.”

The nine willing participants entered a phase of workshops that entailed self confrontation, healing, releasing guilt, anger and shame.

“The idea was never to give it back or retaliate through violence but instead to collectively understand why there was street sexual violence, what caused it and why we kept quiet and experienced guilt.” The workshop was translated into an exhibition for an audience that was viewed as either victim, perpetrator, or mute spectators of street harassment.

Jasmeen, fine arts graduate from the Srishti School of Art and Design Technology, Bangalore, received different responses to the idea of a project on eve teasing. A male friend in his early thirties said, “Eve teasing? Be more serious, there are far more serious issues to address, don’t get stuck in eve teasing.”
This response summed up the casual attitude that it’s no big deal!

Gutsy group

Luckily for Jasmeen and many gutsy others, it didn’t stop there. In March 2006, the group announced a blog event—the Blogathon. Participating bloggers were asked to share their experiences of street sexual harassment. Over 300 people participated and the idea transferred from one blog to another. This happened on the March 8. There was a mass catharsis happening on the internet. The sheer anonymity of the medium such as the internet allowed people to speak fearlessly about their experiences.

This was the first step. The response from bloggers towards Blank Noise was a pleasant surprise. And soon Blank Noise communities were formed across the country. People e-mailed letters of support, hope, trust, faith and frustration—all wanting to do something about the issue.

The issue turned a full-fledged public and participatory arts project that addresses street sexual harassment or what is commonly known as ‘eve teasing’.  Perceived as casual and expected street behaviour, eve teasing ranges from how one is being looked at, to receiving derogatory comments referring to body parts, touching, groping, spitting, stalking, flashing etc.

Growing response

Thereafter, with a growing response from both men and women, and after sustained dialogue, Blank Noise decided to intervene directly in public space itself. And over the last two years, the ever-increasing group—called Action Heroes—has been doing a series of street actions across cities. The first one involved a group of women to wear an alphabet on their body. Together they formed a sentence- Y R U LOOKING AT ME?

Never one to give up, Jasmeen has been taking photographs of eve teasers over the last two years and putting them on the Blank Noise blog along with section 354 of the Indian Constitution. “Photographing the eve teasers has reversed the power of the ‘perpetrator’, thus making him vulnerable to being exposed,”explains Jasmeen. In one instance, the eve teaser begged her to not publish his photograph. This was after molesting her in a crowded bus. He got off the bus saying, “ Please don’t do this to me, I am a father of two children.”

On International Women’s Day, Blank Noise had a blog-a-thon: bloggers from across the world posting harassment experiences on their blogs. The response was overwhelming, says Jasmeen, which just goes to show that most women in India, despite what they say and how they might be in denial, have been harassed. They’ve dealt with it, invariably, alone. But Blank Noise is a collective effort, she adds. It’s very public; as public as harassment itself.

And Blank Noise asks, ‘Do you accept it because you expect it?’

For more information on Blank Noise projects, log on to blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com