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Posted By JMJ
Recently we were having a very hot discussion about BNP (Blank Noise Project) and eve-teasing. The argument of the post was as follows:
2. BNP is misusing this platform it created into some kind of anti-men hate campaign.
This is how some of the people reacted:
Varun, Derick and Niranjan are of the view that teasing is overrated and is invited by girls upon themselves.
Sreehari comments that though he has seen instances on eve-teasing and the reactions - he thinks that eve teasing is overrated.
The authors (Kenney Jacob) claim that these BNP fanatics are trying to make the most innocent action by a male into an act of eve-teasing. He goes further by saying that BNP expects Rapist’s and eve-teasers at every corner of the street.
Jasmine reacts by saying that the author and his band of supporters have no respect for the Women folk and claims that the author has a very narrow mind and says that no girl is safe - small girls to married ladies.
Jo who is also the author of Of noise, blank and blanknoise,comments by saying that eve-teasing is a reality but BNP is an urban showcase project that is now turning into an anti-men movement.
Nirmal thinks that branding “adjusting rear view mirror” as eve teasing is funny, as everyone who drives a vehicle has to adjust the mirror. Later Depak/Mohnish clarifies that adjusting rear view mirror by auto drivers and taxi drivers to see the bust/pelvic region of their lady passengers is what the website refers to.
Sanjukta while saying that she is no fan of BNP, questions the authors credibility in his joke on oppressing women after marriage. Sanjukta further goes by saying that BNP has given a platform for so many women to come out and testify and asks why the innocent people like the author are getting into a defensive.
Lazy Tiger claims that the personal non experience of the author does not in any way capture the extent of eve-teasing on Indian streets and goes on by saying that the author’s fear of girl’s in misplaced as it is not quantifiable.
Shradha while claiming that most of the eve-teasing was brought about by girls themselves and that women are also capable of harassing men to a far greater extent as the laws are with them, in the authors own words “We shuld just chop dat P****e of the person who do eve teasing or any other disgraceful act..”
Meanwhile Sue offers an explanation saying that BNP’s definition of Sexual Harassment is based on data collected from the public and that different behaviors mean different thing’s to different people. To that extent she invites everyone to discuss the same on BNP’s official blog.
Meanwhile Deepak aka Mohnish has been trying tirelessly to defend the position adopted by BNP on various issues.
Vimal George while claiming that there were a few male chauvinist in the blog, agrees with my point about eve-teasing being an extension of male dominance over our society for centuries. He goes further by saying that any form of fanaticism is dangerous.
This prompted me to do further research on BNP - and accept Sue’s invitation to join BNP’s blog. This is what I find on BNP’s official Blog:
http://blog.blanknoise.org/2008/07/blank-noised-men.html#links
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- Vishal said…
- They, who have commented
(1)Taporis from a boys hostel
(2)Rejected….
coffee boy said… @ jasmine
Try looking at the positive side. They are helping to disseminate information on the existence of blank noise. I don’t know whether I am writing this seriously or just to cheer you up.
Kenny Jacob’s mistake lies in his extrapolation
coffee boy said… Just as Kenny thinks eve-teasing is exaggerated, here is why I think the number of crocodiles is being exaggerated:
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Every once in a while National Geographic and Discovery Channel air programs on crocodiles. I have discussed this with many of my friends including females and males. Majority of them had thought that there are many crocodiles in the wild. But when discussed further they couldn’t quantify
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These are the extracts of 3 comments I found on BNP’s blog about the discussion on www.kenneyjacob.com
I had no comments after this site…
They also have some links on the right side of the blog which tries to define eve-teasing with the following terms:
1. Looking
2. Staring
3. Whistling
4. Staring at Breasts
5. Talking to Breasts
6. Rating
7. Passing Comments
8. Singing Songs
9. Rubbing
10. Groping
11. Accidentally touching
12. Brushing
13. Blowing Kisses
14. Making Kissing sound
15. Stalking
16. Dashing
17. Tickling
and so on…
While I can totally agree that anything to do with touching or any type of stalking can be considered as sexual harassment, I still have no clue as to how looking or passing a comment (which the girl most probably never heard) or even accidentally touching can constitute an act of sexual harassment.
Further down the page, on the right side itself - BNP has put up a list of unwanted -eve teasers. These are photo’s of men who were involved in teasing the author (girls)
1. Is of a man who apparently touched the authors breast in a bus. The case is clear on how the man tried to take advantage and abuse the author.
2. is of an man who tried to ask the author out for a Coffee. Whilst the author has not mentioned any instance of this man trying to physically or verbally abuse her, claims that she was sexually harassed by this stalker. (I looked up the meaning of Stalking on wikipedia - I am sure that this man does not fit into the profile) This is followed by a long discussion which I recommend for reading.
3. is of a man who was staring at the author. The photo depicts a man (who looks to be from the lower strata of the society) staring towards to camera (staring at the beautiful author) Well it again escapes my imagination as to why the author is offended to this extend of calling the man a Sexual Harasser/eve teaser.
4. is of a man who is also caught staring at the author. In the authors own words “He did not touch me. Nor did he say anything. He did not look me in the eye. No.there was no neckline. Its tough to put down in words how he offended me. It was sickening.” Again there is a photo of man looking into the camera, and again the man looks to be from the lower rungs of the society. Again I fail to see the connection (may be I am dumb) The discussion that follows is quite an interesting read.
5. is of some men/boys staring at the camera/author while she was walking down the road and her male friend was documenting all these eve-teasers…is this some kind of joke? It sure did give me a good laugh…
6. is a cartoon/drawing where a man tries to engage in a conversation with the author. Again no offensive language, no offensive approach mentioned. Again it beats my brain as to how this is classified as eve-teasing. (I must be really - really dumb. Cause I could only laugh after reading the post)
7. Is a photo of a toyota qualis - whose driver apparently made some sexual gestures to the author. Going by the word of the author - if the Driver of that vehicle showing sexual gestures towards our beautiful author - it does constitute a sexual harassment case.
8. Is a photo of a man’s hands resting on top of the head rest of his seat behind which the author was sitting, and another photo of a needle stuck to the seat by the author to make sure the man’s hands did not accidentally fall back on her. The author claims that the man in the front seat had actually stared at her when earlier when she was tying to get to her seat. The man also had his seat reclined backwards towards her.
In all the above cases except cases 1 & 7, there is no clear case of any type of sexual harassment. And the author does not mention any attempt by the offenders to try and take it to the next level.
“Just because your cause is just, you cannot violate another person’s rights”: rightly said by the author of Understanding Sexual Harassment
Women may claim that they have the sixth sense to know when some one is looking at them and un-dressing them inside their mind. I thought your freedom ended right at the tip of my nose.
Not deterred by the comedy that I was though their other blog in which women posted their real experiences with sexual harassment. I was touched by the experiences posted on this blog. Apart from the occasional post with comments that did not lend credibility to themselves like this one:
“Everyday, when we walk down the street, we see men in all stages of undress, how come they are never asking for it ??”
Otherwise this blog goes a long way in giving these women a platform to vent their anger and frustration. My heart goes out for all thees women.
I counted the number of posts on this blog. there was a total of 122 posts over a period from 2006 to 2008. Giving us an average of 40 posts per year till date if you take 3 full years of operation, otherwise 60 cases over a 2 year period. I dont know how the numbers add up to the extent that BNP is claiming. Again I accept that there are a lot of cases that go unreported and that BNP operates only in very few towns with very little resources. Even if you multiply, add and multiply a few more times - it still does not make a case which has to be looked at before issues such as education for ladies, proper health care for ladies and so on.
These are the ways in which BNP intervenes:
Why R U looking at me? In this intervention, each woman wears one alphabet around her neck and we spell out the sentence on busy sidewalks, at traffic lights, in a mall, in any public space. And it’s done silently. No-one speaks, no-one answers. There’s only one probing question being asked – why are you looking at me
One Night Stand: this intervention needs women, by the numbers. We are on the street, on specific sites, significant to each city and simply, STARING. it will reverese the situation. there is power in numbers. this is experiential for both the performers and the public in the site. This performance is implicit. all participants are asked to dress in clothes they would not otherwise.
Cheap Publicity stunt:Rightly put by Jo -author of Of noise, blank and blanknoise
Summarizing all the above - there seems to be no seriousness in the cause by BNP. Have a look at the comments posted in the original post by some of the self proclaimed members of BNP. They are just bent on emotional outburst and gerbish - making no worthwhile contribution towards understanding or solving the problem of eve-teasing/sexual harassment. Look at BNP’s own discussion on the discussion on www.kenneyjacob.com
There seemed to be some hidden agenda behind all this - which is clear now - to satisfy the feminist ego of the people running BNP.
Posted by: JMJ
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Review on — August 21, 2008, 11:05 am