Action Hero Kat

I’m writing my PhD on performative responses  to the delhi bus gang rape of 2012 and I went out into Bangalore last week and met Jasmeen Patheja who started Blank Noise. Had a really long conversation with her about how she thinks we live in a world in which we are governed by the politics of fear. And in which where fear is used as a way of controlling us and telling us what’s appropriate or inappropriate for us to be doing and she said I want to live in a world that is based on the politics of trust. And I’d never heard someone put it that way before, like I had never someone say what happens if we just like, decide the world is based in a politics of trust and live that way. So I was very curious to see what would happen today. I think it was hard for me because it was cold. But yeah.. I don’t know can we just decide to trust and like live our lives that way and what happens if we do. and the last thing I’ll say is I’d like to pull out this statistic , “ men are far more likely to be attacked in public spaces than women. The reason that women are told to fear is because the way in which they might be attacked can be sexual but like if you’re walking around alone and you’re a dude then you are much more likely to have something physically happen to you and no one talks about that ever. I mean I think this statistic is something like  you’re five times as likely as a man  to be attacked as if you were a woman walking alone in public space so it’s something worth thinking about, yeah? We’re taught that sexual violence  is the most horrifying thing that can ever happen but violence in general is scary and can happen to anyone. So yeah.. I don’t know. What else do you want to talk about.