Blank Noise

Last updated

Blank Noise
Commercial?No
Type of projectCommunity, Public art
LocationIndia
Founder Jasmeen Patheja
Established2003
Website blanknoise.org
Blank Noise, Walk the Night (similar to Reclaim the night, Bangalore on 8 March 2007 BlankNoiseWalk.JPG
Blank Noise, Walk the Night (similar to Reclaim the night, Bangalore on 8 March 2007

Blank Noise is a community/public art project that seeks to confront street harassment, commonly known as eve teasing, in India. [1] [2] The project, initiated by Jasmeen Patheja in August 2003, started out as a student project at Srishti School of Art Design and Technology in Bangalore and has since spread out to other cities in India. [3]

Contents

Activities

Blank Noise is led and run completely by volunteers. A core team of male and female volunteers from across geographical locations and age groups work with the collective. Blank Noise seeks to trigger public dialogue on the issue of street sexual harassment. Conversations range from collectively building a definition of "eve-teasing" to defining the boundaries of "teasing", "harassment", "flirting". The collective builds testimonials of street sexual violence, harassment and "eve-teasing" and disperses them back in public, thereby creating public debate. [3]

It addresses women's fear based relationship with their cities via direct street action and public interventions, which ask women to be "Action Heroes" by not being idle in public. [3] They are referred to as Blank Noise Guys. Blank Noise works towards an attitudinal shift towards 'eve-teasing' and involves the public to take collective responsibility of the issue.

Poster of the campaign "I Never Ask For It". INAFI-WIKI 01.jpg
Poster of the campaign "I Never Ask For It".

Though Blank Noise was founded in Bangalore, it has spread to other cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, and Lucknow. It tackles the notion of shame and blame through campaigns such as "I never ask for it" (ask to be sexually harassed when on the streets). [4] A major notion that it seeks to dispel is that women get harassed because of the clothing they wear. Through street actions and dialogue, Blank Noise hopes to achieve its aims of achieving a safe and free environment for women on the streets, and enable society to become more egalitarian towards women in general.

In December 2012, following the brutal gang rape of a young woman in a moving bus in Delhi, Blank Noise started the Safe City Pledge, an initiative urging citizens to pledge ways in which they can make cities safer for women. [5]

The project has undertaken actions such as spray painting messages, recording the testimonies of victims of sexual harassment in public places, and printing tee shirts with anti-harassment messages on them. It has also staged demonstrations. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual harassment</span> Unwanted sexual attention or advances

Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment can be physical and/or a demand or request for sexual favors, making sexually colored remarks, showing pornography, and any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions from verbal transgressions to sexual abuse or assault. Harassment can occur in many different social settings such as the workplace, the home, school, or religious institutions. Harassers or victims can be of any gender.

In India, eve teasing is a euphemism, primarily occurring in Indian English, used for public sexual harassment or sexual assault of women by men. The name "Eve" alludes to the Bible's creation story concerning Adam and Eve. Considered a problem related to delinquency in male youth, it is a form of sexual aggression that ranges in severity from sexually suggestive remarks, brushing in public places and catcalls, to groping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street harassment</span> Harassment occurring in a public setting

Street harassment is a form of harassment, primarily sexual harassment that consists of unwanted sexualised comments, provocative gestures, honking, wolf whistles, indecent exposures, stalking, persistent sexual advances, and touching by strangers, in public areas such as streets, shopping malls and public transportation. Besides actions or comments that contain a sexual connotation, it often includes homophobic and transphobic slurs, and hateful comments referencing race, religion, class, ethnicity and disability. The practice is rooted in power and control and is often a reflection of societal discrimination, and has been argued to sometimes result from a lack of opportunities for expression of interest or affection.

The Pink Chaddi Campaign is a nonviolent protest movement launched by Consortium of Pub-Going, Loose and Forward Women in February 2009, in response to notable incidences of violent ultra-conservative and right-wing vigilantism; against perceived violations of Hindu culture by women, who were attacked at a pub in Mangalore. The campaign was a brainchild of Nisha Susan, an employee of Tehelka political magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Groping</span> Touching another person in a sexual way without consent

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The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 is a legislative act in India that seeks to protect women from sexual harassment at their place of work. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on 3 September 2012. It was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 26 February 2013. The Bill got the assent of the President on 23 April 2013. The Act came into force from 9 December 2013. This statute superseded the Vishaka Guidelines for Prevention Of Sexual Harassment (POSH) introduced by the Supreme Court (SC) of India. It was reported by the International Labour Organization that very few Indian employers were compliant to this statute. Most Indian employers have not implemented the law despite the legal requirement that any workplace with more than 10 employees need to implement it. According to a FICCI-EY November 2015 report, 36% of Indian companies and 25% among MNCs are not compliant with the Sexual Harassment Act, 2013. The government has threatened to take stern action against employers who fail to comply with this law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jasmeen Patheja</span> Indian activist

Jasmeen Patheja is a human rights activist in India and was born in Kolkata, West Bengal. She graduated from Srishti School of Art Design and Technology in fine arts. She is a former Ashoka Fellow and works towards gender sensitization. She has been bringing attention to sexism and harassment in forms such as eve teasing, a form of sexual harassment which is very common in India. She established Blank Noise for the same purpose.

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References

  1. One night stand on the streets The Hindu , Metro Plus Bangalore. 12 July 2005.
  2. Women take to streets to stake claim to their rights The Hindu , New Delhi. 17 September 2006.
  3. 1 2 3 "Case Study: Blank Noise". Archived from the original on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  4. "The Blank Noise Project, India" . Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  5. "Pledge : Making Cities Safe". Blank Noise. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  6. A night out on Capital pavements to end eveteasing Archived 14 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine Indian Express Delhi Newsline. 17 September 2006.