Girl Up Neev

Crimes against Women (2001-2014) A case-study We have all heard blood-boiling stories of rapes, human trafficking, abusive assaults against women but often all we can do is sympathize towards the victim and eventually, the story gathers dust at storage rooms of police or media archives.  This is an attempt to shed some light on these crimes. At 3,44,124, WEST BENGAL has the highest Cruelty by Husband or his Relatives accounting for 15.40% of the cases. It is a linear graph translating to an increase in cases with time. After 70+ years of Independence and amelioration of human rights and science, Dowry Deaths are still a common sight in India, which is not only shameful but also hideous and pathetic. At 57,256 , UTTAR PRADESH had the highest Dowry Deaths accounting for 26.57% of Dowry Deaths.  A general uptrend is abysmal. 2003 had 12,416 cases (least) and 2011 had 17,236 cases (maximum).       Rape is one of the most shamele...

  The term 'Harassment' is a form of discrimination. It includes any unwanted physical or verbal behavior that offends or humiliates you. It covers a wide range of behaviors of an obnoxious nature. Such behavior affects the physical and mental well-being of a person.The ‘Me Too’ movement gave courage to numerous people to speak openly about offensive conduct at the workplace.Yet, many are still skeptical about opening their mouths and reporting harassing behaviors of managers or colleagues. Workplace Harassment is common but not openly talked about in utmost work surroundings. It can ruin a job and could turn a company into a poisonous terrain. Many individuals are not even sure of what is considered to be harassment at the workplace because of which a lot of cases go unreported and it continues to be a problem. The ‘Me Too’ movement has enhanced the awareness of sexual harassment. There are a lot of employees who leave ...

We live in a world where we still fight for equality and justice for women and the queer  community. We still beg for equal opportunities and it is yet so difficult to voice our opinions because when we do, we are titled as ‘stupid’ or our opinions are declared ‘void’. Apart from fighting for all these existing issues, one of the things that still remains the same is the taboo  of menstruation or to put it differently, “Shhh, do not tell your father about it! He is a  man!” Talking to our male counterparts on this topic of menstruation is still taboo in society. People hesitate, rather feel embarrassed to talk about this with their fathers or brothers, thinking, “They do not even know about this, is it even fine to talk to them?” and the same feeling of ignorance is also encountered in men as they feel embarrassed to talk about periods. They term it as a ‘disease’ or ‘apshagun’ (meaning: unholy). Men feel like it is wrong by their masculinity to speak about or address the...

  We live in a society that is engulfed in pop culture thanks to media. Media, in some fashion, is a part of almost everyone’s daily routine, and because of this, pop culture is a powerful and influential force for each individual in our society. Regardless of quality and accuracy, media coverage and portrayals are highly modelled and valued by those who partake in any form of popular culture. Unfortunately, several groups of individuals “suffer unequal treatment both in and outside the media,” and one of those groups is the LGBTQIA community. Several studies indicated that the influence popular culture has on individuals both within and outside the LGBTQIA community is striking, as LGBTQIA individuals were likely to be portrayed in a negative or stereotypical manner. The media's portrayals of LGBTQIA individuals have been increasing and are becoming less stereotypical over time, but realistic portrayals are still quite rare. However, there’s a glimmer of hope after all. Thanks t...

  For pretty much all of fashion’s history, the perfect modelling body was supposed to be lean and tall. It wasn’t until the last decade that plus-size modelling became acceptable in society, let alone be taken up and be promoted by fashion heavyweights. Activism has played a huge role in bringing plus-size people’s to mainstream modelling. Voices have been raised to make modelling more inclusive and diverse. Fashion shows have seen an increasing number of plus-sized people walk the ramp. From Ashley Graham on Vogue to Candice Huffine in New York Fashion Week to Paloma Elsesser, the fashion world has been accepting plus-size models into their community.  While the west has been more or less accepting and including plus-size models into mainstream fashion industries, India lags far behind when it comes to diversity and equality in the modelling world.  Plus-size models in India have a difficult route ahead of them. There have been limited efforts from the fashion and corpo...

Women in Sports Sport has been a part of all our lives in one way or another. Whether in the form of primary school memories, playing for clubs, or being ardent fans of certain sports people and teams, it has created an impact on our lives in some way. Sport has a lot of power – it can even change lives. We have seen multiple stories in the media, of lives being changed through a sport. And the beautiful thing is, this impact lasts for generations. For women, sport is one of the biggest mediums to drive the gap between genders. It shows that no gender is less than the other and takes steps towards gender equality. Women who play sports defy social norms, gender based stereotypes and make inspiring role models for an entire generation of younger girls looking up to them.  But the situation wasn’t the same about 50 years ago. Today if you see a little girl picking up a bat and playing with boys or dribbling a ball in the court, you probably won’t be surprised. This has been a big cha...

Every now and then, we come across the instances of women being a part of abusive relationships. Factors like financial dependence on the abuser, hesitation and fear to leave, lack of self- esteem, love for the children, etc stops a woman from severing the ties with the abuser and one of the outcomes of this predicament is Battered Woman Syndrome. Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) has been created as a psychological tool for understanding the mental condition of battered women who kill their batterers. It is basically a pattern of symptoms and signs displayed by a woman who has been a subject to persistent suffering, psychological, sexual or physical, owing to intimate partner violence by the male partner. It is sometimes also referred to as battered wife syndrome. Mainly, there are four stages through which the women who develop this condition generally go through. These include: denial about the fact that she has been subjected to abuse; guilty feeling that she is the culprit of the ab...