Women plan ‘sleepovers’ in parks, in bid to reclaim their space

Most women are not comfortable walking alone on the beach. One has to be either part of a group or be with other men to avoid those lecherous stares or other unsavoury experiences. “Once when I was out with my female friend at Marina beach, a man flashed at us. On another occasion, a man followed me for nearly twenty minutes. It may all seem harmless but it is traumatising for a woman and I have started avoiding going there alone,” says S Smitha, a graphic designer.

Similar is the case with parks, and there are a few in the city where women dare not enter. “The only women who come here are sex workers,” says the watchman of Mayor Sundar Rao Park, that has turned into a den for miscreants. “Most parks are not making the effort to make it women friendly,” points out S Nirmala, a resident of Kotturpuram.

Meanwhile, the state of affairs has inspired initiatives across the country, where women are coming out to reclaim public spaces. Bengaluru-based Blank Noise has started a campaign called Meet to Sleep and have asked to meet up in public spaces and just sleep to normalise the sight of women in public. Chennai-based NGO the Red Elephant Foundation along with Safecity is getting more women to come together to reclaim public places.

“Through ‘#InvisibleWomen’, we are inviting entries from women, to send in a picture of themselves in a public place and a picture of that very place without them. We will display them online as a curated exhibition to depict what public places would look like if women are forced to continue to keep away. The idea is to put a visual image to the kind of damage we do to society. We hope to create a positive message about women and their space, and, at the same time, tell men, that they cannot monopolise spaces by being misogynistic and sexist,” says Kirthi Jayakumar, founder of Red Elephant Foundation.