Day 1: Launching a Call for Videos

It’s the big day! Months of preparation have brought us to this point: Day 1 of the Prajnya 16 Days Campaign Against Gender Violence, 2013. Starting today, we hope to have a sustained and meaningful engagement – both offline and online – on different issues surrounding Gender Violence. (Do take a look at our Calendar!) We kickstart the 16 Days of dialogue, debate and deliberation with a Call for Videos.

Dear Men, Whip out your phone and take the oath!

Call for Videos is an extension of what we did last year with the ‘Chennai Men Say No!’ campaign. The heroes: all the men reading this, and your friends. Why are you against gender violence? What are your views on street sexual harassment? What would you say to men who indulge in different kinds of violence against the women in their lives? What would you say to a man who uses violent speech and actions in his interactions with women? What about violence in the digital world?

It’s time to raise your voice – and it’s not difficult! All you need to do is send us a video. Here’s how:

Step 1: Pick up your mobile phone and shoot a video of yourself talking about violence against women

Step 2: Take the oath: “I am <YourName> and I say NO! to violence against women”

Step 3: Remember to keep the entire thing under 60 seconds

Step 4: Send it via WeTransfer or Dropbox to vetre.prajnya@gmail.com along with the text of your message, your name and contact details

Step 5: Wait for your video to be uploaded on our YouTube channel and inspire other men to do the same. 

Any questions? Drop in to our FAQs page.

Finished shooting the video? Congratulations! You’re now one of the men who say No! to violence against women

So while you wait for it to upload, why don’t you check out the first post part of our Blog Symposium? Don’t forget to engage! You can also follow us on Twitter where we’re putting out some awesome resources today, and the rest of the campaign.

But wait! That’s not all for Day 1. Watch this space for the launch of a very interesting initiative. (Hint: Make sure you drop in at noon today!)

'Chennai Men say NO!' -- video project

As part of this year's campaign, we are thrilled to share with you, our 'Chennai Men say NO!' video series. 16 well-known Chennai men, over the 16 days of the campaign, will share their personal views on violence against women, and declare categorically that they say 'NO!' to such violence. We will 'release' one video a day on our YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/gritprajnya?feature=watch)

Why is this so important for us? We believe very strongly that men have a vital role to play if we are to prevent gender violence. For many years, we've wanted to get men more actively involved in our campaign to make two important points–

 

• Violence against women is not just a women’s issue, it affects all of us at different stages of our lives. Many of us know friends, family members, neighbours who have experienced violence, in some form or the other.
• This is not about men v/s women – we want to make the point that there are men who do not endorse or support violence of any form against women.

We believe that these men, by saying loud and clear, that it is wrong to abuse women, to beat your wife, to assault a young girl traveling on a bus, will encourage and motivate people (particularly young boys and men) to follow their lead.

Watch, listen, share and join them in saying 'NO!' to violence against women.