“In 2004, we used to ask people if they have ever experienced harassment, and the reactions were largely of denial or anger. The ones who got angry at the question, I realised later, had internalised the demarcation that good girls don’t experience harassment, and the reactions were largely of denial or anger. The ones who got angry at the question, I realised later, had internalised the demarcation that good girls don’t experience harassment. That culture needs to change. Out of the few who were willing to share, she says, most women spoke about the clothes they were wearing. “It is here that the ‘I never asked for it’ campaign found seed. They always recalled what they wore. School uniforms to salwar kameez and burqa “It is here that the ‘I never asked for it’ campaign found seed. They always recalled what they wore. School uniforms to salwar kameez and burqa, the modesty of the clothing didn’t change their experience."

Quote by Jasmeen Patheja. Read more

“We discussed experiences rooted in misogyny and patriarchy, which had left a ‘sick’, unforgotten feeling. We learnt to recognise, identify and articulate personal injustices each of us had experienced. This led to I Never Ask For It (INAFI). The projects have led women to recognise our power as women, confront fear, question the environment of warnings and blame, heal and build empathy.”

“The INAFI mission brings together clothes that women wore when they experienced violence. The mission of 10,000 garments as witness, memory and voice is a work in progress. I am motivated by what it would take for the garments to be 10,000 testimonials and am committed to building long-term approaches towards this. Our practice is continuously responding to the current climate by creating vibrant spaces for people to question, express and articulate what they feel.”

Quotes by Jasmeen Patheja. Read more

“Advocacy group Blank Noise started the INeverAskForIt campaign which has become part of a nationwide conversation about harassment.”

“Garments help people see it as it was and realise that it doesn’t matter what you are wearing when you are harassed or abused.”

Quote by Eeshita Kapadiya, Published in The Hindustan Times. Read more

"Jasmeen is also the founder of I Never Ask For It, a project which puts the onus of gender violence on the abuser.

As part of it, she set up the Blank Noise collective in 2003 to confront and challenge the fear that women live with.

By gathering testimonials of abuse, she has brought out a conversation that had long been hushed into silence."

Quote by Sneha Bengani. Read more

"We believe that blame leads to shame, shame leads to guilt, guilt leads to more silence and that perpetuates sexual and gender-based violence."

“The first step to confronting any fear, Patheja says, is to start a conversation around it and one of the things that Blank Noise does as part of the "I never ask for it" project is to gather testimonials from women.”

Quotes by Jasmeen Patheja. Read more

We found women often wondering about their garments. They'd say, 'I was wearing that red skirt', or 'I was wearing that pair of jeans,' or 'I was wearing that school uniform.' So it became a deliberate question at Blank Noise and we began asking, so what were you wearing,". And this does make women wonder. They wonder whether they actually asked for it. And the answer is always no. What women need to understand is that their clothes have got nothing to do with assault.”

Published in Oddnaari.com. Read more

“Most women and girls in Bengaluru and across the world can also recall the clothes they wore when they experienced any form of sexual violence. This holds mirror to the environment of victim blame; that which has long justified, excused and perpetuated sexual violence.”

Quote by Jasmeen Patheja. Read more

“How deep-rooted is victim-blaming? How are spaces of violence connected? What does it mean for you to revisit something you’ve experienced and end blame? This is about anyone who is made to feel vulnerable and is made to feel shame,"" says Patheja, who juggles many such complex yet fundamental ideas at Blank Noise, a network that seeks to transform attitudes towards private and public sexual violence.

We are in the process of co-creating a safe place together, a space that is not judging you,"" adds Patheja, who started Blank Noise in 2003 as her final thesis project at the Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Bengaluru.”

Quote by Jasmeen Patheja. Read more

“Most women and girls in Bengaluru and across the world can also recall the clothes they wore when they experienced any form of sexual violence. This holds mirror to the environment of victim blame; that which has long justified, excused and perpetuated sexual violence.”

Quote by Jasmeen Patheja. Read more

"Organiser Jasmeen Patheja says she wants 10,000 photos of dresses and other clothing to display for a project called ""I Never Ask For It"".

It follows reports of widespread sexual assaults in Bangalore at New Year.”

Published in BBC Newsbeat. Read more

"Just as much as women talk about having inherited fear, we need to get men to see the fact that they are seen as suspicious, not for something that one man alone has done but the fact that a man is seen as a threat,"" Patheja says.

Action Heroes actively question fear not only by engaging with the people they see as threatening, but also by doing activities to unlearn the countless warnings that condition their behaviour since childhood. That could include sleeping by herself in a park or walking alone in the late hours.

But ensuring safety for men and women is not only the latter’s responsibility.

“Each and every person has the ability and power to influence a safe space,” Patheja says. “You can be an Action Hero too. Whether you know it or not, you have the ability to do so. What's the smallest thing you can do to build a safe space? What can you do as a man, what can you do as a father, what can you do as a brother, what can you do as a taxi driver?”

Quote by Jasmeen Patheja. Read more

“A feminist revolution is sweeping through India, and women from all walks of life are standing up to be counted as equals to men.”

-The New Indian Express

“The idea behind the campaign is that when women experience sexual violence/ harassment, they are made to feel guilty for experiencing it. They are taught to blame themselves for being ‘dressed provocatively’

“By sending the garment the women wore, they are rejecting blame. Blame needs to be arrested.”

Quotes by Jasmeen Patheja

“Since 2008, Blank Noise has received countless number of garments, ranging from burqas to school uniforms to T-shirts to saris, evidencing that sexual violence could be experienced by anyone, regardless of their wardrobe choices and that sexual harassment is never the fault of the survivor.”

Quote by Shyama Krishna Kumar

Published in The New Indian Express. Read more

"CJ Jasmeen Patheja turns the focus away from what women wear. She invites women to fight sexual harrasment , they face on the streets in a novel way- by donating the clothes in which they have faced nuisance".

Published on News 18. Read more

“Sexual violence cannot be justified by blaming survivors of sexual violence.”

"Isn't the perpetrator responsible for his own action irrespective of what time we go out on the roads wearing the kind of attire we want to," she said. Clothes contributed to the drive are usually accompanied with a note by victims explaining circumstances under which they were harassed and the emotional trauma they underwent. Acting as a cathartic experience for these young girl victims, the initiative not only creates awareness, but also counters the tendency to brush off street harassment or live in denial about its existence. The action programme, as they prefer to call it, kicked off from Kolkata and Bangalore last month.

With plans to gather around a thousand clothes, the volunteers say they want to hold such events across the country in cities like Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Lucknow.

"Girls have been eve-teased in all kinds of clothes. Sarees, burkhas, school uniforms, T-shirts, skirts, bikinis, salwar we have received the entire range of women wear in response to our campaign,"" Patheja says adding that they have already collected hundreds of such outfits from all over the country."

Published in The Indian Express. Read more

The latest stage of this project is “Did you ask for it?” Patheja has asked people to send her clothes that they were wearing when they were sexually harassed or threatened on the streets. “Since the common perspective is that women ‘ask for it on account of the clothing they wear’, I want to confront this justification for sexual offence. The clothes will take the form of testimonies that have been witness to an incident. When clothes from different The clothes will take the form of testimonies that have been witness to an incident. When clothes from different parts of the world are put together, the question can be asked again. This is an ongoing project and I am still waiting for clothes to reach me.”

Quote by Jasmeen Patheja, Article by Rachel Corbett. Read more

The latest stage of this project is “Did you ask for it?” Patheja has asked people to send her clothes that they were wearing when they were sexually harassed or threatened on the streets. “Since the common perspective is that women ‘ask for it on account of the clothing they wear’, I want to confront this justification for sexual offence. The clothes will take the form of testimonies that have been witness to an incident. When clothes from different The clothes will take the form of testimonies that have been witness to an incident. When clothes from different parts of the world are put together, the question can be asked again. This is an ongoing project and I am still waiting for clothes to reach me.”

Quote by Jasmeen Patheja. Read more