Sony Said...

Hey, *sigh* one last stab at this..maybe...

-That kind of SENSITISATION creates empowerment because it makes concerted action seem possible and creates genuine hope.

=I read (not all) a number of the BNP posts. The reason I stopped? 'cuz it was beginning to freak me out. My point is nott that it was not a worthy project. (I personally loved the idea). Instead, it is that women react to this issue in hugely varied ways. And we have to allow for those differences. It's how we heal, it's how we survive.

-bringing in male attitudes is just obfuscating the point and trying to shift the responsibility.

=I don't agree. I think the responsibility rightly belongs to men. An analogy that I find useful (but isn't entirely appropriate but that's another story) is racism. How can we discuss ending racism once and for all if all the people doing the talking are people of color? It hasn't gone away yet, and it is certainly not because minorities haven't been clamoring for change.

-And sexual harassment is a women's issue in part because women won't talk about it.

=The fact that the overwhelming majority of BNP were women somehow translated into silence for you is truly interesting. This 80% that you are flinging around is problematic by your own admittance. The assumption that half of the Indian blogger world are women and that most of them had to have come across the project--are shaky at best. The fact is blogging itself is a new, completely specialized form of communication and you surely agree, that bloggers themselves are not generalizable to the larger population.
But even barring that, it is hugely unfair to put this on women. I blogged for the project, it doesn't make me strong or courageous or an activist. I rant more about this issue than anyone I know--I am privledged to do so, doesn't make me better than those who choose not to.


-If you want to see more active male participation (and we should want to) then it needs to come with more openness.

=I disagree that men are apathetic because women have been reticient about this. In my experience (and I'm certainly not alone), male attitude can be summed up by this post:
If we are playing the numbers game, he got over 50 comments, that's more men who commented than blogged for BNP.

-As for all these countless other ways that women are being strong and helping to solve sexual harassment. What are they exactly?

=Are you seriously asking me what women have done to fight sexual harrassment? All those women who have given over their lives to fighting this cause. I have known quite of few them, and the work they have done is not dismissable. I dare say, it's the reason we are talking about this to begin with. Women have been listening, offering support, walking along with that girl who is out alone with a pack of fools behind her. Women have been at the forefront of starting shelters for other victims, and pooling together resources. And this has been true in anywhere. Sexual violence is talked about because women talk about it. They have been writing letters, giving speeches, lobbying to congress since forever. Some of our ugliest rape laws have been changed because of some angry women. I know there are some men in there. I have met them, and I applaud them. We need more of you--that's all I'm saying...without negating or belitting the work that women have done for the past billion years.

Also on a sidenote: I think a lot of women also didn't post because they don't want to be associated anything feminist-y. God forbid.