the Blank Noise Project

now here is an admirable cause worth supporting.. the Blank Noise Project seeks to raise awareness about street sexual harassment in india. it's given an informal enough name - eve teasing - which makes it sound like some sort of practical joke, but there is absolutely nothing funny about this.

the saddest part is that almost every girl, lady and woman in india has faced this at some point in her life, from lewd comments, to being groped, and in some cases rape. often these cases are not even reported, because almost always the victim is ostracised, and made to feel that it was her fault! though the connotations are sexual, it is often an issue of power that underlies all this.. indian women have been downtrodden for way too long, objectified and itemized, and often it seems these abusers and criminals just do it because they can do it!

it appears that the archaic tenets of indian society need to be changed, but like all characteristics of this nature, can only happen over generations. it's like corruption, how do you fix it? sexual harassment is like racism, you pre-judge and abuse a certain section of society because of something they are. molestation of women can be stopped by instilling an inherent sense of respect in every man, but this will never be achieved as long as women's rights are not acknowledged. this is going to be a long battle.

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