Wednesday 10 October 2012

there is money in every misery



There ´s nothing relevant done against gender based violence, but someone developed and designed this pepper spray for self-defense against:




and this is how you use it:



















we learn that we always need to be prepared!


and it comes in pink. because it is for women and we like pink things and how great is it that we can combine one gender stereotype with others, such as women being portrayed as victims. 



 ah here we see, some other people might need protection as well, even businessman and call centre employees. and people near "places of interest" for attackers. as we know crime only happens in these places. 

Wednesday 25 July 2012

public announcement hindi version


Texts the Posters which are used to declare and take over new zones.
By the way 5.30 am in the morning proved to be a really good time for undisturbed action - not many men out there, most of them sleeping and already enough light. 



Public Announcement
As of today this area will be declared women friendly territory!
As most public places are occupied by men and the authorities and the majority of men failed to create a safe environment for women, the Safe Urban Space Committee decided to create women-friendly zones all over the NCR in order for women to be safe.
Men are still allowed to enter the public space declared as women-friendly zones.
But all forms of violence and street harassment are strictly forbidden in this zone.
Street harassment is defined as any form of unwanted attention towards a woman.
In order to secure and to enforce the street harassment- free environment:

·      Men are not allowed to come in groups
·      Every man has to be escorted by a woman
·      Men are not allowed to speak to unknown women, only to the woman escorting them
·      There is a total ban for men from 7.30pm to 7.30am.

In case of a violation of the women-friendly zones, street harassment or any other form of violence against women
Call the Police: 100
The Women Cell: 1091
The Anti-stalking and Anti-Obscene Calling - Cell: 1096


change of strategy against street harassment


Street harassment is a strategy to scare women away from the public space so they do not work or go to school, earn their own money, go into politics, make decisions, claim property and take power.

Decades of women-focused victim-blaming approach did NOT result in a decrease of harassement, rape, murder and other gender-based violence. To the contrary, according to the National Crime Records Bureau numbers are increasing. More women might report more crimes. But clearly they do not feel more safe.

 Time to change strategy!

The plan is to take over the National Capital Region and declare more and more women friendly zones.
Newly claimed territory, the progress and development will be closely monitored.

Everyone can declare a women-friendly zone!
Everyone can be part of the movement and report how it goes and for how long it lasts on the facebook page or send their report and pictures to safeurbanspace@gmail.com

As response to the failure to create a safe environment for women in public spaces the Safe Urban Space Committee decided to create women-friendly zones in the NCR.
In the style of the women-only compartment in the metro, these zones should create a safe haven for women. But opposed to the women-only zones, the women-friendly zones will still allow men in the public places. Sex segregation is obviously a step backward not forward and does not contribute to the elimination of harassment in the long-term. Segregation is a drastic measure, which can only be seen as a temporary method, because other strategies by the authorities proved to be unsuccessful.

The permanent feeling of insecurity makes women follow unwritten rules to go out in public.
They are always careful, they are made to think about what to wear (although not at all relevant as a strategy to avoid harassment), avoid going out alone, go in groups or with trustworthy male friend, avoid being out in the dark, avoid certain routes, avoid to generate attention, change their body language and attitude.
For all these efforts women are neither rewarded by feeling safe, not are these restrains publicly acknowledged.

It is time for a new approach to address street harassment.
The focus needs to shift towards the perpetrators.
As women´s behavior has no impact on their safety, it is time to demand change in men´s behavior.

The women friendly zones do allow men to enter, but in order to secure and to enforce a street harassment – free environment; these (half-seriously meant) opposite rules of what women follow in order to be safe, apply:


  1. ·       Men are not allowed to come in groups
  2. ·       Men have to be escorted by a woman
  3. ·       Men are not allowed to speak to unknown women, only to the woman escorting them
  4. ·       No cameras, no mobile phones
  5. ·       If men are unsure if they are still creating an atmosphere of harassment, they have to option to be blindfolded
  6.  There is a total ban for men from 7.30pm to 7.30am

First women friendly zone is Kamal Cinema, Safdarjung

KAMAL CINEMA IN SAFDARJUNG, SOUTH DELHI WAS DECLARED A WOMEN FRIENDLY ZONE. 




Monday 23 July 2012

Safe Urban Space Committee

Safe Urban Space Committee declares women-friendly zones in the NCR! 


It takes over public spaces by announcing that it is from now on a women friendly zone.


The aim is to create awareness about street harassment.


The approach is perpetrator -based and solely focuses on what men need to do/ need to stop doing in order for women to feel safe.


It recommends men to change their behaviour, the same way women tend to change their behaviour when they are out in public in order to avoid harassment. As this strategy fails, the only solution is that men do the opposite of what women do.


  1. Women avoid going out after dark - in order to change that, men should not be out after dark.
  2. Women think about how to behave and how to dress - in order to change that, men should stop staring at women and if they cannot control that, they can get blindfolded.
  3. Women always try to avoid being out in the streets by themselves and coordinate to go in a group or with a male they trust - in order to change that, men should not hang out in groups and should be escorted by a woman, so that other women see that this man is under supervision of a woman who knows him
  4. Women are harassed by men who take pictures of them with cameras or mobile phones - in order to change that, men should not take cameras and phones with them.





Women do not need to change! The mind set of men needs to change!