Saturday, December 8, 2018

Day 13: Speak Up! Storytelling open mic for women

On the 13th day of the 2018 Prajnya 16 days Campaign against Gender Violence, Prajnya hosted an open mic storytelling evening for young women at our office. The idea behind the event was to invite young women to a women's circle and create a safe space to share stories of street sexual harassment.

This event was facilitated by our very first campaign coordinator, Nirupama Sarathy. The event started with the nine of us sitting on the floor and writing our name tags and choosing one adjective to define ourselves. Nirupama, then made us all write down the different actions which constitute to street sexual harassment.

With this glaring visual of two charts filled with actions pertaining to sexual harassment in front of us, each of us started sharing our experiences of street sexual harassment. Some of us even found it difficult to pick one story to share. The evening proceeded with laughter and a few tears. A ball of rope was passed between each narrator and we held on to it till it was time. The final imagery was a crisscross of threads which pulled with tension while narrating painful experiences and sagged in relief while the narrator switched to lighter moments and laughter.

We ended the session by letting go of the thread by making one wish. Nirupama then shared some posters on street sexual harassment laws. As the event was coming to an end, most of us felt like we could go on sharing as if a dam had broken resulting in all of us feeling lighter.

I can't thank Nirupama enough for taking the time out of her busy schedule to facilitate this amazing session!


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