Eve-teasing

Mood on the table : Eve-teasing and how to combat it??

Held in two cafe meetings. The first Café Mohalla based on eve teasing, facilitated by one of Pravah's youngest volunteers ‘Padmaja Gungun’, began with a documentary ‘Jor se Bol’. Made in an urban slum in Mumbai, the documentary followed the stories of a number the victims of eve teasing, it explained their struggles, how they felt and eventually what they did in order to stop to it. It talked about the importance of collective action, whereby a number of people in the community all came to together to raise awareness of the issue.

The documentary was followed up by an in depth group discussion. People shared with one another their views on eve teasing and brought their own understandings and values to the table. Some people shared that they had experienced eve teasing themselves and felt that they had to remain silent about it because if their parents found out they might place restrictions on them going out for example.

During second Café Mohalla(29 Aug), facilitated by Neha Singh, we looked at the Indian constitution so that we understood the legal protection we are entitled to in the face of abuse from another person. We took this as an opportunity to look at Pravah’s own sexual harassment policy so that volunteers know that there are procedures and structures in place to protect the wellbeing of all of those who come into contact with Pravah itself.

Reflection : Eve teasing is indeed a sensitive topic, but important in the fact that it affects so many people, young and old. It was useful for the group to explore what constitutes eve teasing and where the boundary lies between joking or even ‘flirting’ and where certain remarks can become aggressive and offensive. It was a rare opportunity to tackle a topic which is in danger of getting brushed under the carpet and being allowed to continue.