How Revealing'? A place for abuse victims to write and share their pain and sorrows
Bengaluru: The recent Bengaluru playschool horror had brought to the fore instances of other children being sexually assaulted by the same person. Sadly, in many other incidents such cases go unreported because of the stigma and the excruciating delays in justice delivery system.
Hence, victims feel discouraged to come out and share their stories. However, a city-based lawyer has a different plan for such victims. Urmila, the founder of a website called ‘How Revealing’ is helping such victims share their story without fear of being blamed and name calling. “The main intent behind creating such a platform was to question the most common reaction to the victims which is ‘you must have asked for it?’ or ‘did not dress appropriately’. But, honestly is it really because of this reason?" wonders Urmila.
How Revealing is a platform where anyone can post about experiences in India - irrespective of gender, sexual orientation or nationality. “We want people to know that there is a place to share as there is a culture of silence surrounding sexual assault in India and for some, there may be nowhere mainstream to go because their very existence is questioned in India. It is a place where you write and share and there is no discussion. Also, you see about the other person's experience and you don't feel judged,” she added.
A month after the launch of the website, people posted 67 stories and the site has received more than 60,000 page views which reflect the gravity of the issue. “More than 50 per cent of such stories were of child sexual abuse and a lot of them have never communicated about it. It was the first time they decided to talk about it breaking the psychological and emotional barriers,” she said.
“We hope people, especially men, who see it happening around them or to people close to them post their experiences as well, because to take this movement forward, we need everyone to fight this. We can fight if we are together,” Urmila summed up.
