Mannequins spring up to break silence on street sexual abuse

As a part of Prajnya’s 16 Days Campaign Against Gender Violence, four mannequins have sprung up at city’s popular spots, encouraging women to anonymously express their experiences of street sexual harassment. “We wanted to invite women to place stickers on the part of the body where they have faced sexual harassment, while they’re out on the streets or while commuting in a public transport. The idea is to create a visual representation of the issue of street sexual harassment, which is so prevalent. Most women have faced it sometime or the other but the first reaction is to downplay the incident and keep giving the same message from one generation to another. But I think we need to talk about it; bring the issue out into the open,” said Ragamalika Karthikeyan, Programme Officer – Prajnya. Till December 10, the mannequins will be placed at Chamiers Café (RA Puram), Shree Ayurvedic Hospital (West Mambalam), Women’s Christian College (Nungambakkam) and on the premises of an NGO, PCVC.

In places like WCC, these mannequins have been completely ‘marked’ within a short time, illustrating the pervasiveness of street sexual harassment. On December 10, the mannequins will be displayed at the Vinoba Hall in T Nagar between 4 pm to 6 pm, during which there will be a public forum on the issue. Ragamalika pointed out that it is important to break the silence around street sexual harassment. “Experience sharing is an important part. Unless we end the silence, we cannot tackle this problem. The solution is through bystander intervention. If you see a woman or a transgender person being harassed in a public place, act – either assist the person in distress or distract the abuser,” she said.

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence campaign originated in 1991 as an initiative of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University, USA. Since, organisations worldwide have used the campaign as an organising strategy to advocate the elimination of all forms of violence against women. The Prajnya Trust has been an active participant. This year, kickstarting their campaign during the weekend, most of the events are aimed at addressing the lack of representation, sexual harassment, women’s safety and gender equality. On Saturday, Prajnya along with Red Elephant Foundation held an ‘Editathon’ this time to edit and create pages of several women activists from the south of India on Wikipedia. On Sunday, they held Stories on Wheels, a documentation project by female bikers on street sexual harassment. “We are looking forward to the discussion on gender violence and patriarchy on December 3. It is an open session,” said Ragamalika. The campaign will also have a series of workshops, Twitter chats and talks.