Blank Noise Spectators Special

Blank Noise Spectators Special is an online event (July 27th until August 15th- 2008) that invites the third person in the public to comment on their role as a spectator- to street sexual harassment.

The public on the street comprises of those who experience street sexual harassment, i.e. the survivors; those who cause street sexual harassment i.e the perpetrators and those who witness street sexual harassment i.e the spectators.

Our very own stat counter on the right hand bar of the page says that 22% of the Blank Noise blog visitors are spectators. Now its your turn to speak!

Most cases of street sexual violence go unnoticed because they are intangible , can be doubted as 'accidental brush/ touch' ( strictly in the Indian context). More often than not the survivor feels embarrassment and shame for being sexually violated and does not wish to draw further attention. Some survivors of street sexual violence don't seek public support because of the fear that 'the public' may not always show support, act indifferent, or be one more face in the crowd watching the scene.

Blank Noise Spectators Special asks members of the public, both men and women to share what they witnessed.

Step 1:

• To participate in this event please email us at blurtblanknoise at gmail dot com subject titled Blank Noise Spectators Special.
• Announce this event on your blog to let your blog readers know about it and also participate. eg: http://beadysea.blogspot.com/2008/07/to-do.html
  
• Do email us your announcement link and we will add you to the list of participants.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A BLOG: NO PROBLEM. YOU CAN STILL PARTICIPATE
What matters is your point of view. Email us confirming your participation. blurtblanknoise @gmail.com


Step 2:

After confirmation:

• Write down your experience of being a third person, a witness to someone else experiencing street sexual harassment. What did you do? or not do? What did you feel? Any after thoughts?
• What was your first reaction? Was it to intervene? Was it to ignore? What did you do?
• What would you rather have done? If you have been a 'special spectator' , that is, intervened in the situation, please tell us how! Was it with wit and humor? Or did physically assault the 'perpetrator'? Did you walk away? Or call the cops? Or gather a crowd? Or see another spectator take charge of the situation and participate in any way. OR
• write about your experiences with people who saw you getting harassed on the street. did they help you? did they ignore you? you could write a note to the spectator of street sexual harassment.
• Once you have written written out your thoughts on spectators/ witnesses or on being one please email us what you have written. If you have a blog, you could publish it on your blog and email us the blog post link. eg: http://beadysea.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-bit.html

Deadline for your post on being a spectator is August 15th. List of confirmed names is below:

Kshipra

Kis Nakai( Kis does not have a blog to publish the Spectators Special. Her text will be published on the Blank Noise Blog on Aug 15)

Suparna Kudesia
Kshipra

Kis Nakai( Kis does not have a blog to publish the Spectators Special. Her text will be published on the Blank Noise Blog on Aug 15)

Suparna Kudesia

Ritambhara Mehta

Secondwaver

Madhu Agarwal

Saptarshi at urinnersmile

Chandrashekhar Bhattacharya

Anubhav Pradhan

Amrutha Bushan

Suzanne

Rikimi Madhukaillya

Smriti Chanchani

Sarah Khan

Abhishek Baxi

Dale Copley

Trishima Mitra Kahn

Aparna Hajnis

Natasha Hemrajani

Kabir Sarin

Anant Shukla

Jasmeen Patheja

Shaji Krishnan

Varna Shri Raman

Jamie Finlay

Aparajita Sharma

Joann Canning

Fahd Hussein

Anshika Varma

Amit Vardhan

Amandeep Kaur

Ishwinder Jauhar

Preeti Mangla Shekhar

Nitin Sarin

Vivek Kakkar

Beady Sea

Holly K- Stop Street harassment

Ritambhara Mehta

Secondwaver

Madhu Agarwal

Saptarshi at urinnersmile

Chandrashekhar Bhattacharya

Anubhav Pradhan

Amrutha Bushan

Suzanne

Rikimi Madhukaillya

Smriti Chanchani

Sarah Khan

Abhishek Baxi

Dale Copley

Trishima Mitra Kahn

Aparna Hajnis

Natasha Hemrajani

Kabir Sarin

Anant Shukla

Jasmeen Patheja

Shaji Krishnan

Varna Shri Raman

Jamie Finlay

Aparajita Sharma

Joann Canning

Fahd Hussein

Anshika Varma

Amit Vardhan

Amandeep Kaur

Ishwinder Jauhar

Preeti Mangla Shekhar

Nitin Sarin

Vivek Kakkar

Beady Sea

Holly K- Stop Street harassment

This event hopes to be one in the series of events planned in bringing together 'survivors'(http://blanknoiseactionheroes.blogspot.com), 'perpetrators' (male only event coming soon) and 'spectators'.