safe city pledge

Gynaecologists We Trust: From Amba Azad and Team


Last week Amba Azad tweeted a call for contributions, titled ' Gynaecologists We Trust' .

The Crowdsourced List of Gynaecologists We Trust 
Initiated by @AmbaAzad and Team

This is an attempt to crowdsource a directory of trustworthy gynaecologists. Finding doctors who are on our side is hard enough, and when it comes to something as intimate as our internal plumbing, it's even more difficult.
We need gynaes who are well-trained, affordable, reassuring, and above all, respectful of any sexual or lifestyle choices we make.
We need doctors who know that not all people want their uterus, and that not all people with uteri are women.
We need medical expertise devoid of moral judgements regarding how we use our bodies.
And we need compassionate care that we can rely on when we are scared, in pain and sick, without any shaming for being promiscuous, queer, single, trans, abused, kinky, disabled, fat, childless, or any other aspect of our social identity that should have no relevance to the quality of medical care we deserve.
The folks who’ve spent time and energy filling out our survey to help us crowdsource this list have our gratitude! Our survey remains open, and if you have a positive experience with a gynaecologist whom you’d like to see included on this list, please do fill out the form yourself to share their info with us - http://goo.gl/forms/SL8WLOIqo9
If you have questions or feedback about this project, you can get in touch with us via email (docrecs@gmail.com), twitter (@AmbaAzaad) or by filling out the last question of our form along with an email address we can reach you at. (http://goo.gl/forms/SL8WLOIqo9).
Find a recommended gynaecologist in your city!

Safe Community Pledge with Action Heroes from Tibetan Women's Association

Safe City Pledge translated as 'Safe Community Pledge' during our Action Hero: I Never Ask For It workshop with TWA.

What is the smallest bit that you can do to make your community safe ?

Pledges below:










Safe City Pledge fb page. Take a pledge. Upload it. Identify the smallest actionable you can take to make your city, community, school, workspace, environment safe. 

Badaun

Yelahanka Action Heroes : Safe City Pledge

Yelahanka Action Heroes were formed during a month long Action Hero workshop at the Srishti School of Art Design and Technology. Time period: November -December 2012/ November -December 2013

The Yelahanka Action Hero 2013 team included the following
Saumya Pankaj, Shruti Anand, Ruchir Gupta, Fiza Ishaq, Upasna, Soumya , Ritika, Sachi Raval, Trusha Orza, Muniza , Shivangi ( to be updated)

The YAH team was built also with the support of the auto rickshaw drivers community in Yelahanka. The Action Hero network grew as auto rickshaw drivers took the Safe City Pledge.

We will be sharing all of activities and events built by the Action Heroes over the next couple of weeks.


Yelahanka Action Heroes
Sachi Raval, Shivangi, Trusha







All NEW Yelahanka Action Hero (YAH)
growing network of Yelahanka citizens

CNN IBN reporters take theSafe City Pledge

CNN IBN takes the Safe City Pledge




Safe City Pledge . Small step big change:
https://www.facebook.com/SafeCityPledge
Safe City Pledge calls for a 360 degree approach to building safe cities. It creates that space to step outside the blame game and take ownership of sexual violence. The campaign is based on the premise that each citizen has both the power and ability to influence change . Safe City Pledge brings citizens across roles and professions to identify their role towards tackling violence against women and building safe cities.

Hence what would a school teacher pledge, film maker pledge to construct masculinity and femininity, what would the police pledge? Can the police pledge to work on restoring building public trust ? We seeSafe City Pledge as the start of a conversation around ownership and responsibility, accountability. Small Step. Big Change.


Safe City Pledge was initiated in December 2012 by Blank Noise in India, in the midst of public anger, protests and outrage after the Delhi Gang Rape. On January 1st , 2013 citizens from different walks of life and organisations, across 12 cities in India mobilised fellow citizens to take the Safe City Pledge. Since then #SafeCityPledge has built tweetathon, facilitated workshops in schools, colleges.

Safe City Pledge Action Hero Team includes the following people:
Yamini Deen, Abhishek Chaudhury, Shivangini Tandon, Maria Del Rio, Jasmeen Patheja, Bhamati Sivapali, Viveka Chauhan + every Action Hero who took the pledge.

How To Design a City For Women

Via The Atlantic Cities
"In 1999, officials in Vienna, Austria, asked residents of the city's ninth district how often and why they used public transportation. "Most of the men filled out the questionnaire in less than five minutes," says Ursula Bauer, one of the city administrators tasked with carrying out the survey. "But the women couldn't stop writing."
More here

 Are you an urban planner
An architect
A politician / corporator in charge of an area or district?
Think inclusive design. Take the #SafeCityPledge
Share your thoughts, plans, ideas on making cities safe and inclusive.
We would love to be part of this conversation with you.
email in at blurtblanknoise@gmail.com

Your Attention Please. Reporters . Journalists

By Kalpana Sharma for the Hoot

On Sunday, August 25, three days after the journalistic fraternity and many others in Mumbai were shaken by the gang-rape of a young journalist, the Times of India (TOI) announced that from henceforth it would use the word “survivor” instead of “victim” while reporting on rape and sexual assault.  Its competitor in Mumbai, Hindustan Times, had already beaten TOI to this by using the term in its coverage of this dastardly crime from day one. ....But if it represents just a cosmetic change of using politically correct terminology, it means little. More here

Making "Rapist Lane" the Safest Lane

This lane in Yelahanka, Bangalore was referred to as the "Rapist Lane" by a number of women between the age of 18- 22 years. We don't have evidence of rape in this location but it had taken this name because a number of women had been molested in this stretch. It had earned a reputation of being unsafe; something you don't negotiate, but accept. The Yelahanka Action Heroes ( a locality specific Blank Noise Action Hero network) intervened to change the scene. This place was seen as unsafe due to the following reasons:
1. No street lights working
2. No commercial activity, a vegetable cart at 4 pm, an ice cream cart at 5 pm, factory workers leaving at 5 15 pm.
3. Men would stop their cars and drink. And or get out and pee. 
4. Buses were parked by the pavements all day, they belonged to the factory and would take the women factory workers home in the evening. The rest of the day, the buses were stationery and empty, hence often perceived as threatening.

Unlearning Fear. Asserting Presence
Here's one of the projects towards making Rapist Lane- the Safest Lane
Three Action Hero giants were painted on the wall along this stretch. 
They had a neon paint and so they would glow at night. 
While painting, the Yelahanka Action Heroes befriended the locals and the bus drivers who also got involved in giving feed back, or adding paint to the Giant Action Hero mural. 

{Yelahanka Action Heroes / YAH! was built during a month long Action Hero course 
at Srishti School of Art Design and Technology, November-December 2012}

Team includes : Vishaka Jindal, Anamika Deb, Radha Rohit Parulekar, Pallavi Datta, Masood Ali, Aneri Jhaveri +




Also here

@bedatri tweets


#EndSH #SafeCityPledge #RingTheBell
#SegregationNoSolution

cross linked here


  1. Time to get off now :( I shall tweet in detail in a bit.phone net sucks #endsh
  2. "@shivtan: “@vivekachauhan: Im finding that men get very squirmish if you stare right back at them. fun!" #endsh me too!

  3. “@vivekachauhan: Im finding that men get very squirmish if you stare right back at them. fun!" #endsh yes im trying to keep count
  7. 'dhakka toh lagega hi.bheed ka time hain' #endsh
  9. Really crowded and women have taken to standing in the tiny sliver of space between ladies' seats #endsh
  10. Little funny how ppl are eyeing me with suspicion #endsh
  11. Cranky network.please to bear with me.#endsh @BLANK_NOISE
  12. Amidst much cribbing,I get up and stand.'yeh toh ladies' seat Nahin hain' murmurs.the real thing starts now #endsh


  14. Conductor thinks I am a journalist.sad to know I am not.'rule hain madam,humein kya pata' bus is filling up.more women.#endsh
  17. @BLANK_NOISE still on a general.strong feeling I will either need to fight or shift #endsh


  1. Actually no concept of a general seat.ladies seat or 'admiyon ka seat' (men's seat).there r 8 ladies' seats and ard 22 'men's seats' #endsh
  2. Bus still has a bit to start.I get off and loiter,no woman in sight.trying to tweet pic #endsh
  3. Empty bus because this is where route starts.I take general seat,promptly asked to take a ladies' seat #segregation #endsh
  4. The bus depot has just another woman.she takes the same bus.sometimes there are more women,mostly with husbands #endsh

@vivekachauhan tweets


#EndSH #SafeCityPledge #RingTheBell
#SegregationNoSolution

cross linked here


  1. @BLANK_NOISE went off really well at nehru place. many men many great safecity pledges! @Bell_Bajao #endsh
  2. @Bell_Bajao they should not be silent bystanders to those who stare incessantly, pinch, touch inappropriately...

  4.
    I'll travel by the general train compartment. not Ladies only. Want my entire city 2 b safe #safecitypledge #endSH http://twitpic.com/cikj13 
     Retweeted by Viveka Chauhan
     View photo

  5.
    reading @BLANK_NOISE retweets that sound like dispatches from a warzone. fight on sisters.
     Retweeted by Viveka Chauhan
    Expand
  6. @c_gawker @BLANK_NOISE well I can tell you, rush hour general compartment, del metro is almost feels a war zone #endsh
  7. heading back to saket station.been an introspective ride on the general compartment Delhi.metro @blank_noise #endsh
  8. @BLANK_NOISE @shivtan just looking casually back at them when they stare. the eyes turn immediately aware
  9. this has definitely given me confidence to travel in the general compartment of the Delhi metro. @BLANK_NOISE #endsh
  10. Im finding that men get very squirmish if you stare right back at them. fun! @BLANK_NOISE @Bedatri @shivtan #endsh
  11. finding it tough to hold my ground in rush hour general compartment, but holding on. @BLANK_NOISE #endsh
  14. @BLANK_NOISE making eye contact and reclaiming space on the general compartment Delhi metro. #bell_bajao #Endsh
  15. every woman walking into the general compartment shrinks into a shell. either on phone or eyes pointed to the ground. @BLANK_NOISE #Endsh
  16. just got told by an man to move to the women's compartment. feel segregated rather than protected by this statement.#blank_noise #ENDsh
  17. reporting from the Delhi metro. talk about a tight squeeze! #blank_noise #endsh

Address Fear :



CNN IBN hangout with Amrita Tripathi
Anuja Gupta / Rahi, Kiswar Desai, and Jasmeen Patheja / Blank Noise

Reports of children being raped ( April 2013)

Warning: Do Not Panic #safecitypledge
Recall your first memory of sexual violence.  Continues building here

Take your #SafeCityPledge. Without Panic. Without Fear. Your issue. Own up.
Arrest the Issue.

To the police- Take your #SafeCityPledge. With Pride. Without defense. Your issue. Own up. Vardi Ki Shapath / Vardi Ki Izzat 


चार Action Heroes का सफ़र

Featuring: 
 #ActionHero Shivangini Tandon
#ActionHero Viveka Chauhan
#ActionHero Bedatri Dutta
#ActionHero Renuka
No.of Location: 4 ( one with each Action Hero)
City: Delhi
Time: 5-7pm
Date: April 11

 Plot: As part of International Anti Street Harassment Week, Breakthrough and were in the midst of an all day twitter event examining the myth of security via gender and class based segregation. We're for inclusion. Each Action Hero selected a bus or metro route and chose to sit in the general compartment not the ladies only section. They tweeted their experience live.

 #SegregationNoSolution #SafeCityPledge #RingTheBell #endSH 
*
Shivangini Tandon: @shivtan
Metro. Green Park- Nizammuddin
The Delhi Metro is a relatively new public transport system in New Delhi.  My experience during the tweetathon was positive. While many men did stare I did not feel threatened at any point. When I interviewed a woman who travels in the metro often she told me she chooses to use the women's compartment out of convenience because it allows for place to stand or sit, not because it makes her feel safer. At some point, during rush hour, a man even apologised to me for not being able to give me enough space to stand. I also believe that it is helping create a new social etiquette for behaviour in public spaces. New spaces change behaviour. The sanitary, orderly environment that the metro creates is unique to the normal chaos that a large Indian city typically offers.
It did feel like a war zone and we were deliberately putting ourselves in the line of fire to test our defense                                                           
" The as I decided to wade through the men to get to the gate a man apologised for being too close #wow #EndSH 


@shivtan live tweets here

*
Action Hero Bedatri Dutta: @bedatri
Bus Number

 It is of course easier to compartmentalize our daily lives into gendered sections- this is for women, that is for men. Be it in domestic spaces or even public spaces. The public transport system, for example, is modeled on this kind of segregation and one often considers this to be the best way of avoiding a conflict between the two sexes. Yes, that does make life simpler sometimes- i stick to my pink compartment, you stick to the rest of the train,and life goes on. But what does it really say of ourselves as a society if we cant even co-exist within the same space without a conflict? Why do we necessarily need to alienate and why cant we make an effort to co-exist through mutual respect? Why should i stick to one compartment or sit myself in one of the eight seats in a bus that seats thirty people? It was with these questions in my head that I decided to sit in the "general" seating area in a DTC bus. What was most amusing was the appropriation of a "general" space into being a "male" space. The general seats are considered to be "aadmiyon ka seat" and the decision of a woman to not stick to her "allotted space" is essentially seen to be an aberration. It didn't get violent or abusive but the disdain and disapproval was made amply evident by my co-passengers.It isnt a comfortable position to be in when one pushes the envelope and steps out of one's allotted space but how long can one really lay out one's life in terms of eight seats, one compartment and a strip of platform marked out in pink?

 @bedatri live Tweets here




 * Action Hero Viveka Chauhan 


  1. The ride on the Delhi Metro general compartment brought me back to how occupying space as a woman in Delhi is an effort. One has to push ones boundaries in a space where pushing boundaries is not a norm.
    That day on the metro I was made painfully aware of my presence there not as a human being, but as a woman. I noticed that every woman walking into the metro would shrink into a shell and just wait to reach there destination while every male eye bore into her skin from every direction-challenging, curious, lusty at times. But at the end of that ride I could say that I had lost my inhibitions and that I would not think twice the next time I travel by metro to use the general compartment

    @vivekachauhan live tweets here

© 2003,Blank Noise * @2004, I Never Ask For It

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On Independence Day , 11 rapists were garlanded. 11 rapists and murders were celebrated . Sweets distributed. 2 days later MLA #CLRaulji denied the crime saying that that the rapists were #brahmin , were ‘sanskari’ and couldn’t ha
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We are done defending. Towards the right to be defenceless. #INeveraskforit Bring the garment you wore when you experienced threat, violence or intimidation. Bring the garment you wore from an experience unnamed, yet not forgotten. Your garment
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