Blank Noise Project

Blank Noise Project is an initiative by a group of Indian bloggers to highlight sexual harassment against women through a blogathon (of sorts). The idea is to get bloggers everywhere to talk about issues related to gender discrimination, sexual harassment and the like. And to ensure that everyone posts their piece on March 8, and send an email confirmation to the Blank Noise project people at their email address. This way, you are extending support to the cause and doing something about it, namely, writing about it

Last year the project was an incredible success because it saw both men and women talking and sharing their experiences. It was an eye-opener to see what women go through, and it was a revelation to find out that cities that were once considered 'safe' were, in fact, not.

This year, the theme is on "Action Heroes", and instead of me explaining what it's all about, I think, I'll post the email I received from them. And I hope many of you will participate -- I certainly will -- and let's do our bit to make our community gender safe.

Blank Noise invites you to participate in an online event-" BLANK NOISE ACTION HEROES"

On March 8 last year (Women's Day), we had a blog-a-thon of stories of street sexual harassment. The blog-a-thon was picked up by bloggers across India, and all over the world. We shared stories we had never shared before, stories we thought we had long forgotten, stories that we had often wanted to bury. We read each other, we linked to each other and we linked back to the Blank Noise Project blog. We were touched by each other's stories, and drew strength and sustenance from the the long, cross-cultural chain of shared experiences.

This year for Women's Day we're asking you to share experiences of times when you were an ACTION HERO and fought back against harassment. Blog about your experience, and let us know so we can link to you on our blog.

When did you flip a situation so you could resist, when did you give back as hard as you got? How did you choose to confront the situation? When did you become an Action Hero?

We hope that this response helps us understand the different strategies women (across age groups, cultures, and countries) have instinctively created to deal with street sexual harassment.

(If you're a male blogger, ask your female friends and relatives about their experiences.)

Here's how to participate:

1. blog your story (as soon as possible, and definitely before March 8!)

2. email the link to your blog post to blurtblanknoise@gmail.com with a subject titled "Action Heroes Online"

3. we will link to you right away!

And don't forget your non-blogging friends and family members -- we'd love to hear stories from your mothers, aunties and grandmothers!

If you're not a blogger, please feel free to email the action testimonials instead. We will upload them on a new blogsite. (WWW.BLANKNOISEACTIONHEROES.BLOGSPOT.COM)


Questions? Email us at blurtblanknoise AT gmail.com.

Look forward to hearing from you,

Sincerely,

Sujata, on behalf of Blank Noise

PS: PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY. THANK YOU.