There’s no escaping the catcalls and lewd comments. Eve-teasing is a regular problem that girls face. Some bear it in silence. Some brush and shrug it off. But some stop right in their tracks, confront the smug offenders and return the insult — multifold! Recently in Mumbai a “Chappal Marungi” campaign was started by BMM students at Wilson College that encourages victims of eve-teasing to strike back at molesters. The campaigners aim to teach women how to fight against harassment and the campaign is catching up among youngsters.
In the recent past, women and activists have launched various innovative movements to protest against this form of harassment. From the recently organised “Slut walk” to the Pink Chaddi campaign, the voices are growing louder, the protests getting stronger. Ipsita Mishra, a student at IP University, feels that a change in the conservative mindset is the need of hour. She says, “Just because I have tattoos doesn’t mean that I want men to pass lewd comments and whistles.”
Since there are no strict laws against eve-teasing in our country, many men feel free to tease women, without any fear or compunction. Kangan Shukla, a final year student from LSR College, thinks that if the law can’t do anything to stop such behaviour, then it is totally fair to handle such incidents by protesting against it. She says, “Some men have this strangely dated notion that women are weak and won’t speak up. These campaigns are primarily organised to teach them a lesson. The perverts who target young girls should definitely be taken to task, and if hitting them with chappals is the only way left, then victims should do that fearlessly.”
Online campaigns against eve-teasers are the latest mode of lashing out at perverts who letch at women. A recently started online group called “Eve-Teasing Ki Ma Behen” on Facebook has already caught the attention of many young people.
The name of the group may sound explicit, but the administrators justify it by saying, “Stop them, not by asking, “ghar pe ma behen nahi hai kya?”, but by giving them the ma-behen references they truly deserve. Respect is your right. Fight for it.”