Unsafe

By Mahima Varma

Photos by Areet Roychowdhury

We have constructed a society in which every girl is abused. We fight against abuse. We never think it’ll happen to us.

And then it does. We go silent. We stop talking. Stop responding. Silent. We move into the sidelines. Avoid confrontation. Hope it will stop. We give up pieces of ourselves, waiting for the storm to pass, for the five minutes of peace.

And then the storm is back. We’re pulled back out of our corners. Abused. We’re sucked into the whirlwind just when we least expect. Spinning. Going quieter. So quiet, that we lose our voices.

“He was just angry.” “It was a one time thing.” We start to make excuses. So, so scared of confrontation, we start to blame ourselves.

Its time we stop.

It’s time we come out of the sidelines. Out front and center. Claim the spot light. We are abused. Verbally. Physically. Mentally. We are pushed and pushed and pushed. Cornered. Broken.

.We ignore this abuse. Put on a happy face. Smile for the rest of the world. Pretend it doesn’t happen. Hope that it will end.

But it doesn’t.

It sticks. It happens to us everyday. In every Uber, on every street, in every elevator. We are constantly threatened, constantly hurt.

We can’t take it anymore. We won’t take it anymore. We will show to the world all that we have mastered concealing

Mahima Varma

Mahima Varma is currently writing a book on what it means to be a woman in India, and strongly believes women's safety in India is a public health crisis that every individual is responsible for.

She recently graduated from Duke University majoring in Sociology and Psychology and has conducted extensive research with refugees in Jordan and Rwanda. She hopes to use narrative as a catalyst for social change.

Mahima loves to make fun movies, write extensively, celebrate extravagantly and obsess over her dogs!