In a country struggling with sexual harassment, these 5 initiatives are fighting rape culture

The dramatic scenes that were televised on screens across the world showed a nation no longer willing to accept the abhorrent crimes against women that had been exposed in truly the most horrifying of ways.

Since the end of 2012, many individuals and organisations have refused to let the issue simply go back to being one that quietly continues unchallenged. These people are making efforts to tackle the issue in their own small ways. From keeping the issue in the public eye, to spreading awareness, to making attempts at re-drawing the way rape is shown by the media, their actions are demonstrating a refusal to back down whilst working towards an India that simply has no space for sexual violence against its women.

Breakthrough India is a community organisation and NGO making efforts to change the narrative of rape survivors in mainstream media. They recently ran an event called Redraw Misogyny where they made a call for gender conscious designers, illustrators, photographers and artists to design images that give rape survivors an empowered narrative, and one which doesn’t show them as helpless or ashamed. In doing so, the organisation hopes to change the perception of sexual violence and gender-based violence that is currently portrayed through the images used to represent survivors in the Indian media which largely show women looking helpless, ashamed, or both.

Using photos of women posing whilst wearing a cows head mask in daily situations, the artist hopes to address the inequality faced by India’s women, by drawing comparison to the nation’s veneration to its holy cows.

Women and girls in Lucknow are being empowered to defend themselves from sexual violation through self-defense classes. Most of the girls are survivors of rape and sexual abuse themselves who now dedicate many hours to spreading awareness on the issue and petitioning for increased measures in women’s safety.

The initiative was started by Usha Vishwakarma after a co-worker tried to sexually assault her at the age of 18. The Red Brigade has become a large movement of empowered females determined to ensure that all young women and girls do not have to live in fear each time they step out of their houses.

Many are in agreeance that tackling the issue of rape must begin with changing the mindset of the individuals who commit the crime itself. Raising men who respect women plays a crucial part in addressing the issue, and acts as a preventative solution, and not just a response to a problem.

MAVA is a community of men who work to empower woman through the ‘humanization of men.’ The journey of MAVA is to get more and more men come in touch with their ‘other’ man, that is the one who seeks to reject the role expected of him from society. Community members believe that it is only when men break the moulds of society and express rather than suppress their emotions, they can become less violent towards women.

Source : The Better India