[11 Jan]The Catalog: 2017. Ground Zero. Square One.
Welcome to the 1st Catalog of 2017. Each fortnight, through this entire year, we will put together and share news, resources, voices, opinions and point-of-views that help shape the larger discussion around child safety and child protection.
2017 started by quickly dimming whatever little hope and joy the new year may have brought in, when news of the Bangalore New Year’s Eve mass molestation broke. It was a ghastly sight worsened only by the cluster of depressingly dead-headed responses from ministers, law enforcement and social media that followed in the wake of the incident.
It ranged from complete denial (police) to victim blaming (ministers) to misguided scream-fests on mostly tangential issues (social media). It’s been over a week and other than some pockets of beautiful resistance, the furor shows no sign of ending well.
An incident such as this is the worst kind of reminder that the progress against gender-based violence in the country, despite all our best efforts, can still come down to square one. There is a long battle ahead with much to do – on the safety of our public spaces, on altering mindsets that create talk & taboo detrimental to the well-being of victims, on passing the right messages to our children, especially our boys.
In 2017, nothing could be more urgent.
#Quote of the Week
“Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak… It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world.”
– The first few lines of the late John Berger‘s masterful “Ways of Seeing”
#Bangalore
What Happened in Bangalore on New Year’s Eve?
A straight account of what happened and all that followed when a New Year’s celebration in Bangalore turned into a ‘mass molestation’ against the women gathered in the crowd.
Why You Should Talk To Your Child About The Bangalore Molestation?
When a crisis occurs in our community & country, it is important to give age-appropriate but factual information about it to children. By avoiding discussion on issue like the Bangalore molestation you are failing to help the child engage with the realities of the world around them and to learn from it. Also, you never know from what other source the child will get her/his curiosity satiated from. This terrific article lists out a series of important lessons that a parent or school can impart to the child in the aftermath of the Bangalore incident.
I Will Go Out: The Solidarity Walk
On 11th January 2017, Bangalore comes out and walks the spot of the incident in solidarity and resistance. If you are around, click the above link and join in.
#Transgender
Abuse of Transgender Indians begins at an Early Age
A survey of over 2000 transgender individuals across the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka highlights the vulnerability of of the community to various kinds of violence, including sexual violence and abuse. In many cases, incidents of abuse starts in early childhood (18% suffered abuse between the ages of 5 and 10, 68% said between 11 and 15). What is eyeopening is when we can see how the larger socio-economic marginalization of the community entraps the individuals in a cycle of abuse that continues well into adulthood.
India’s first Transgender School Opens in Kerala
Sahaj International School in Kochi will be the first residential transgender school in the country. The school will initially accommodate 10 transgenders, who will study under the National Open School system.
#New @ Aarambh
An Easy Guide To Right Terminology: Protecting Children from Sexual Abuse & Exploitation
Words matter. Not just what you say. But how you say it as well. On a sensitive issue like sexual violence against children, saying the right thing is about maintaining the dignity of the victim and their family. Helping us stay updated is the ‘Terminology Guidelines for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse’ 2016. It was put together by experts in the field, in a process facilitated by ECPAT International. It is a worthy document but its academic nature may not be best suited for a quick read. So in a Rubik-ian manner, we’ve put the puzzle in a moving grid of colorful squares.
#MustRead
This Is What Happens When You Report Historical Sexual Abuse To The Police
David was a child from a loving family who fell into the hands of powerful predators. But when he finally broke the silence, what shocked him the most was the way in which the police operated – without any accountability and sensitivity. It’s a sobering & scary account of the odds that stack up against a victim when the perpetrator is a person of influence. Once this powerful article was published, the police reopened the case. But the larger questions about what sways the balance of justice still remains.
Why Rape Cases Should Not Be Subject to Reasonable Doubt
Across the globe, conviction rates for sexual assault against women are so shockingly low, that as the Guardian columnist Julia Bindel puts it, “rape might as well be legal”. One contributing factor is the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ standard of evidence . This standard requires that the jury not have any reasonable doubts about the defendant’s guilt in order to convict. The standard is incorrectly applied due to the prevalence of rape myths – prejudicial, stereotyped or false beliefs about rape, rape victims and rape perpetrators. These myths involve blaming the victim and sympathizing with the perpetrator, along with the common belief that women, motivated by jealousy, revenge or spite, falsely claim rape after consensual sex. A timely read.
#Events
Responsible Netism Cyber Psychology Conference 2017
When: 20th, 21st January 2016
Where: Mumbai
The conference aspires to empower educationists and mental health professionals to understand the struggle between man and machines with strategies to overcome online distress and provide a platform to explore possibilities of e-healing. (source:- Ahaan Foundation)
#Video
Starring Dr. Shaibya Saldanha and Dr. Sangeeta Saksena from Enfold & made by the colorful folks at Agents of Ishq, Part 1 of Gyan from Your Gynae looks at how you can talk about sex, comfortably. (source:- Enfold)
Learn the touching rules with Ravi & Rani. Adorable & essential. Click here for the Hindi version. (Source – Tulir)
To Contribute to The Catalog, email us at aarambh.prerana @ gmail.com or call/whatsapp on +91-8652625505.
(click here for the original newsletter.)
