F said...

Yes, I thought you'd say no. So my next question is - if it didn't change your argument on whether I was right in my earlier post, why bring it up then? That's a classic example of starting a second argument that has no connection with the first one. It's like saying: "I won't go out with you because you're not rich enough." "If I were rich enough, would you go out with me?" "No." And you wonder why I call it a red herring.

So, now that we're clear that your disagreement with what I'm saying has nothing to do with the fact that I'm not raising the issue of whether men should be more active or not, I'm still waiting to hear what, according to you, is this magic answer that will solve sexual harassment without talking / blogging about it. you keep saying that it exists, but not once in all these comments have you come up with a single coherent action that would help stop sexual harassment but did not involve talking about it. Or perhaps the point of solutions that don't involve talking about sexual harassment is that we don't talk about them. how convenient.

As for awareness - what is awareness anyway. Sure, we all know in abstract that women get sexually harassed. Just as we know that there are orphans starving in sub-saharan Africa, or there are people dying by the dozens in Iraq. Does that mean we understand the magnitude and scope of the problem? does that mean we feel motivated to do something about it? When I speak about consciousness it's not some hazy awareness of the issue, it's the issue being understood and being top of mind. That's something only projects like BNP can achieve. Saying that everyone's aware of something so it doesn't need to be talked about, is like saying you don't need to advertise a product once it's been out on the market for a year.

Also, help me understand this - you think BNP is about solidarity but you don't see it as a problem that most women aren't participating? brilliant. So presumably it's about the wonderful feeling of togetherness that comes from being isolated.

Bottomline: If you have any alternate ways by which sexual harassment can be solved, that don't involve resorting to saying "it's complicated" and 'there are other ways' in the ominous voice of village witch doctors, I'd love to hear about them. Otherwise stop wasting my time by trying to make up additional arguments that may be valid but don't change your stand on this issue either way.