We believe that Men can play an active role in eradicating violence against women. With this Blogathon, we want to collect ideas, thoughts and experiences of diverse men and women on the importance of men's role and the urgency of the issue. We hope that this Blogathon will help expose men to ideas they may never have seen before and find unique insights and perspectives on Violence against Women.

The sense of community, change and action is genuine for those of us who hold and participate in this Blogathon. 'Men Say No' will allow bloggers and readers to really dive into the many facets of violence against women, men's reaction to it and everything in between. We would like to run this Blogathon in solidarity with the International 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. We would like to invite entries to the Blogathon between 25th November & 10th December 2011. Please get in touch at kuber.sharma@commutiny.in 

 

LATEST ENTRIES TO THE BLOGATHON:

Amrita Tiwari asks a simple question- if men are saviours or sinners.  10th December

Purna Bhattacharya has faith in the youth to change the reality of Gender discrimination and inequality that we face today. 10th December 

Shreya Manohar Singh on The dilemma of a feminist who simply enjoys being beautiful. 10th December

Nandan Latwal questions why a man should not be allowed to feel pain.  10th December 

Sahiba Kaur on Recognising the signs of an abusive boyfriend. 10th December

Prabhleen Tuteja believes that great potential for change lies in first coming out of set moulds of the Masculine and Feminine. 10th December

Rachit Sai Barak wonders if separating spaces for men and women in public can solve the problem of sexual harassment. 10th December 

The Must Bol Team tells men how to be Real Men.  10th December

Kirat Sodhi on who a woman really is.  10th December 

Prathma Raghavan on The roles and responsibilities of men and women in cases of harassment.  10th December  

Pulkit Mogha feels that the first step to stopping violence is removing the discrimination that is inherent in simply calling one sex weaker than the other.  10th December

Sucharita Sengupta relates the story of a man she once met, and how knowing him gave her hope that there are many men who really care.  10th December

Sukanya Sen narrates the story of a little girl who saw too much.  10th December

Safoora Zargar is disturbed that most women are not given the respect they deserve.  10th December

Radhika Saxena shares the poem of a hurt woman.  10th December

Gayatri Parameswaran on what happens when a woman gets groped.  10th December

Deepak Minhas narrates the heart-warming tale of a father who said No to the callous attitude shown toward his new-born daughter's life. 10th December 

Annie Zaidi on The illusion of tenderness in scenes of physical intimacy in Indian cinema. 10th December

Kuber Sharma presents a Haiku on heartbreak. 10th December

Raewyn Connell has faith that though it may be difficult to achieve Gender justice and Gender equality, it is not impossible. 10th December

Sakshi Chopra is really baffled at why men rape.  10th December

Arvind Badrinarayanan asks pardon on behalf of other men of the country who have not respected women, and appeals to them to work toward a world in which women feel safe and secure.  10th December

Sangeeta Das on An experience of sexual harassment at the workplace, and learning to deal with it. 10th December

Sangeeta Das shares some posters she had created for Sakshi  10th December

Manak Matiyani plays with the plot of the first fairy tale he heard, imagining what else could the frog prince have wanted.. could he too, say no? 10th December

Nimisha Srivastava on The subtle discrimination which women face even in places that human beings visit to experience the simple bliss of devotional music. 10th December

Karuna Dayal dreams using beautiful poetic verses, of the day all men will walk shoulder to shoulder with women in an old quest for dignity.  10th December

Smriti Jain is very worried about the Gender-based inequalities India faces presently.  10th December

Ipsita Sengupta relates the lyrics of a song to the reality of many men who probably don't know how to say No to Violence Against Women. 9th December 

Arjun Shekhar questions the power that society bestows on men at the cost of women's liberty.  9th December

Vidyut Kale on The maturity that men require to understand the abuse and discrimination that women face.  9th December

Shilpi Gupta urges all women to stand up to sexual harassment at the workplace.  9th December

Naghma Abidi questions an unjust reality in her City of Dreams. 9th December

Jyotsna Debnath feels that the new generation should be taught certain things a little differently  9th December

Karan Vohra believes that empowering a woman is the first step to curbing the violence that she faces. 9th December

Akanksha Garg is irate that women have to deal with so many unfair beliefs and practices.  9th December

Shivam Vij relates the two different reactions towards perpetrators, which he witnessed in two different modes of public transport in Delhi- each of which surprised him. 9th December

Sarthak Prakash disagrees that certain professions are reserved for the male sex, and disagrees that it is fun to harass women.  9th December

Pramada Menon on Real experiences of real people who have said 'No' to injustice and discrimination.  9th December

Ishita Sharma shares with us a conversation she once had with a faith healer.  9th December

Manvi Malhotra on The revolution caused by the invention of the bikini in France, and her hopes of a similar revolution in the mindset of Indians regarding clothing of women.  9thDecember

Sangeeta Das wonders about the day every woman can be rest assured of the respect and dignity she deserves. 9th December

Ashutosh narrates an inspiring incident wherein some women retaliated confidently to harassment.  9th December

Debora Moura on How male community leaders in war torn countries have a fundamental role to stop mass rape and violence against women in conflict areas. 9th December

Amrita Anand wonders if more men can take advantage of their projected image as "the stronger one", to speak up for women facing violence. 8th December

Anonymous A woman describes her journey of emancipation, when she left home and her abusive father.  8th December

Dhruv Arora on A teacher who helped him make sense of his adolescence 8th December

Malvika Rawal on The male chauvinism she witnessed in public opinion, in the summer of 2011 when India happened to have four women Chief Ministers. 8th December

Ankur relates an incident from his childhood, when he saw a lady being hit by her mother-in-law; in a post on Love Matters.  8th December

Stuti Sen puts forth an informed definition of Violence Against Women, and hopes that it will help men empathise with what the victims go through. 8th December

Makepeace Sitlhou on The discriminatory perspective that the genitals of men and women are subjected to. 8th December

Arvind Das  8th December

Rachit Sai Barak questions why a woman should have to be chaperoned, to not experience sexual harassment.  8th December

Moitreyee Banerjee on How a woman shouldn't let her own self-esteem be compromised by abuse. 7th December

Kunal Malhotra captures a comic moment of a serious offence. 7th December

Ravisha Mall sends out a message to all men who stare at women lecherously. 7th December

Veronica Weis feels confident after an incident, that intervention of the right kind can scare perpetrators and curb harassment 7th December

Amruta Mehta is glad that certain men recognise and don't conform to the fixed notion, that men have to dominate and subjugate. 7th December

Aniek de Wit on How she dealt with a young boy who verbally abused her daughter for rejecting him, in a post on Love Matters 6th December

Prakriti Mukerjee reiterates to men that they can indeed play a major role in curbing street sexual harassment. 6th December

Sapna Shahani introspects on how easily we fall prey to attaching rigid Gender roles on individuals  6th December

Ravisha Mall dreams through the eyes of an abused woman she once met, of days of hope and happy sunshine  6th December

Aprajita Baja wants women to raise their voice louder against the abuse they face   6th December

Nisha Ambika Ramachandran narrates the stories of three women who've faced violent relationships, and wonders if a simple "No" to perpetrators could wipe out the problem once and for all  6th December

Jocelyn Jose on How the perpetrators should be given training to stop harassment, instead of the victim always being taught to exercise caution  6th December

Hari reminds us that many men really don't like to be aggressive, in a blog on Love Matters  5th December

Filmmaker Onir adds invite action to prevent violence against women 5th December

Zennia Bhattacharjee questions the women who allow their male partners to be derisive to them 5th December

Aakash Yadavon The gender-based power relations in society. 5th December

Dipika Chaurasiabelieves that non-violent behaviour should be taught to men in their growing up years.5th December

Ipsita Sengupta questions some notions that men have of who they are and what is expected of them4th December

Aishwarika Ojha is bewildered as to why men molest women at all. 4th December

Tara used to think her boyfriend's messaging her was cute, till it got out of hand. 3rd December

Cynthia Cockburn and Ann Oakley on How the practices inspired by popular ideas of masculinity, are costing society dearly 3rd December

Kuber Sharma needs just a few words to say that each one of us has the power to make a change 3rd December

Vikram Sheoran on How his understanding of Gender related issues improved after he joined an organisation working for Social Development, (on behalf of Centre for Social Research).  3rd December

Kara Brown on A frightening incident in an auto-rickshaw, which could have led to dangerous developments if she hadn't disembarked on time. 3rd December

Anonymous A man, on reading about a woman's experiences of sexual harassment, feels guilty that he'd once been a culprit. 3rd December

Gayatri Parameswaran   2nd December

Holly Kearl describes exactly how some men have intervened to stop Street Sexual Harassment.  2nd December

Manak Matiyani shares his thoughts on the recent incident of a police officer harassing young couples in a park in Uttar Pradesh 2nd December

Shobhita Dhar has faith that men are doing something to stop Violence Against Women, given their participation in movements throughout history 2nd December

Lokesh Kalal on a Film Screening event organised by the Must Bol Campaign, and the reactions of the women participants when they saw a film on Street Sexual Harassment. 2nd December

Kuber Sharma appeals to men through a poster, to actively oppose Violence Against Women. 2nd December

Raja Sharma urges women to stand up to miscreants, in fact harass them back.  2nd December

Thea Aguiar realises that one should speak up against harassment as it happens, especially the one being harassed. 2nd December

Sachin wants to break the stereotype that men are insensitive and stone-hearted, in a post on Love Matters. 1st December

Manak Matiyani asks Men if they are creating a certain kind of women?   1st December

Ishan Prakash on The power of images in influencing us, and how they should be accompanied by the right kind of education  1st December

Rohit Negi reflects on whether caste hierarchies make the experience of Violence worse for some women than for others 1st December

Simran Mehta shares her dilemma of whether her ex-boyfriend's hitting her was her fault or his crime, in a post on Love Matters  30th November

Sanchari Banerjee believes that sexual harassment of women can stop if if the perpetrators are outnumbered by individuals who stop them.  30th November

Ishleen Kaur questions set Gender roles, and feels that some men really need to change their attitude towards women. 30th November

Pinki Solanki appeals to the men who do not abuse women, to make the abusive men understand their folly. 30th November 

Love Matters in an article by a porn reviewer, breaks some myths about what women like to see in porn.  29th November

Anand Kumar brainstorms about possible reactions to Gender Violence 29th November 

Pragati Siddhanti on The self-perceptions of men, plus the perceptions that women have of the abuse they face, and related goals of Slut Walk Bangalore.  29th Novembe

Shriya Soora on Simple unwritten rules that many men should follow, so that women are not restricted in public spaces by some other unspoken "rules".  29th November

Sambhav K Sharma on A family wherein one male member is trying to lead the others by example, to understand the violence faced by women, just as the women in that family have understood the problems of the queer. 29th November

Manavi Siddhanti encourages all women to stand up to harassment, no matter what they wear, where they go, or what time of day they go out. 29th November

Dhruv Arora shares the story of how a teenage boy was taught by his peer group to grow into a "Man".  29th November

Love Matters shares the story of a woman whose ex-boyfriend stalked her despite all odds, till she shifted to another city to avoid him. 28th November

Dan Husain asks all the men, a  rather simple Question.  28th November

Manavi Siddhanti on Men who empathise with women who face harassment and abuse, and are actively standing up against such practices.  28th November

Gunjan Pai appeals in poetic verses, to all fathers to say NO to Dowry 28th November

Atanu Dey reflects on social norms and attitudes because of which women experience violence, and how men can contribute in addressing it. 28th November

Chhavi Sachdev on How a workshop gave a young man a much healthier perspective on Gender.  27th November

Ritesh Uttamchandanirelates an incident one night, in which a man helped his wife fight off a few drunk men who were harassing her. 27th November

Sarah Millson The sensibilities and value-systems of two men, which led them to start a grassroots organisation that works against Trafficking and Violence.  27th November

Abhay Chawla relates an incident of brutal violence on a woman, in which his delayed intervention proved futile.  27th November 

Nilofar Ansher on The violence inherent in the difference in the way male and female individuals are addressed in many Indian societies  27th November 

Dianne Sharma Winter on How it is a man's choice whether to be or not be violent toward women 26th November 

Malvika Rawal on How equality between men and women is above all, a matter of attitude 26th November 

Amitabh Kumar on the general tendency of blaming the victim of street sexual harassment, and overlooking the fault of the perpetrator 26th November 

Makepeace Sitlhou profiles five men who work towards eradicating social ills based on gender 26th November 

Love Matters on Male bosses and sexual harassment at workplace 26th November 

Rahul Roy on Men taking up real action against Violence against Women 25th November 

Pramada Menon  invites the men to join the struggle in solidarity with women, because its their problem too.  25th November 

Monica James talks about the kind of violence men can stop in a post on Love Matters. 25th November 

Mohnish Moorjani wants the Chief Minister of Maharashtra to punish those responsible for the Keenan-Reuben incident. 25th November 

Caroline Liou on The idea of the "real man", and how this man is indeed the one who can take a lead in restoring non-violence in relationships, in society. 25th November 

Manish Tiwari talks about an incident in his childhood, which permanently ingrained in his mind that hitting women is not right. 25th November 

Vikas Gupta on challenging Human Trafficking and how we can stop it if we really put our mind to it. 25th November 

Aqseer Sodhi wants to invite men to be feminists and broaden the realm of feminism. 25th November   

 

BLOGATHON COUNT on 10th DECEMBER: 125 posts