Movements like Me Too, Name and Shame, Time's Up and many more have come alive in the recent past and a lot of women and men seem to associate with it. And here we are talking and feeling disgusted with this new form of harassment that girls in the national capital are facing. It is called semen-flinging.
Ask us what it is? At the onset of Holi, it is when men and young boys fill balloons with their semen... yes! Not anything else but their fluid and burst them on girls in public areas. Feel repulsed yet?
An LSR girl recently posted her account of semen-flinging on Instagram on Saturday to vent out her pain. In which she states that she was out with her friend in Amar Colony market of South Delhi at around 5 pm and while returning on a rickshaw, a liquid-filled balloon hit her.
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Semen-flinging
“Its content seeping into my kurti and leggings. It dried on my black leggings and the foreign smell clearly indicated that it wasn’t water. Of course, at that point of time I did not guess what it really was. Not even close to what it really was. You see nobody had thrown semen at me before yesterday or any other substance for that matter."
“For the past 18 years of my life , I had the great privilege of not having semen flung at me and I hadn’t realised just what a fine life I had been allowed to live—commuting on roads without having things thrown at me by groups of men!” she added.
Her post just shows how this episode has scarred her for real. She goes on to say that upon talking to her friends, she came to know that is currently a “Holi fad” in the market area.
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Semen-flinging
When realised what it was on her Kurti, “disgust, nausea, anger and frustration” filled her up. She also brought out a very important detail through the entire episode and it was that when she went through this, not a single person in that busy market “batted a single eyelid at the sight of men throwing liquid-filled balloons” at her.
ALSO READ: Delhi women reclaim streets, seek freedom from sexual harassment
A lot of people on social media have come across this post and are reposting and sharing it on their profiles as well. College girls are in fear around LSR and other nearby colleges as it has come at the hit list among these horrifying men.
Shethepeople.tv reached out to the girl and on asking her if this episode has dampened her spirit of going out in the market, she said, “I have a mixed-feeling about it. At one side I feel how dare somebody try to tell me that the streets are not mine too as much as it is anybody else’s. I will not stop going out because someone has thrown something at me, of course, I will. At the same time, I am scared because the feeling that I’ll go out and something like this can happen with me because I am a woman is terrifying. But definitely, I am not going to stop going out because of this.”
She has told her college (LSR) administration about the situation and she told us that they are doing everything in her capacity to ensure that it does not happen again.
“They have increased security around college. We haven’t yet reached the decision of what we are going to do next but the authorities have given me confidence that they will do something about this very soon,” she said.
“I have a mixed-feeling about it. At one side I feel how dare somebody try to tell me that the streets are not mine too as much as it is anybody else’s. I will not stop going out because someone has thrown something at me, of course, I will. At the same time, I am scared because the feeling that I’ll go out and something like this can happen with me because I am a woman is terrifying. But definitely, I am not going to stop going out because of this.”
The Women's Development Cell of the college has also taken cognizance of it and called a meeting today to voice their concerns and look for possible mechanisms for change.
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Nikita, who is studying journalism at LSR said, “I was in shock when I heard about this incident. I still wonder what is wrong with people who perform such activity. This is disgusting as well as cringe worthy.
There have been similar instances in the past as well, when the girls have complained that guys throw balloons filled with their piss and other dirty material. I mean this is serious harassment, I really think they have some serious mental problem if they feel this would be a funny act to perform. The worst part? Everyone is still telling us not to go to the college or not to step out of the campus for your safety.”
Another girl who studies in IP College for Women, Anchal Goswami says, “We have sex with man of our choice, we choose whose semen we want to use to create another life but now men are throwing semen at women walking on the road. Their semen is not creating but destroying a woman’s belief to have a safer nation and a nation that promotes equality. This is beyond disgusting. Our politicians are focusing on maintaining roads and making them smooth for driving but they forget to make these roads safe for women.”
Such cases of harassment dampen a woman’s spirit. It also encourages narratives from people in power and elders who say that it is dangerous for women to go out in public spaces.
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