Of the three films seen this Friday, I want to reflect of the first one, Myanmar: Whistle for Help. Here, the women of Myanmar developed a system to help fight sexual harassment often conduced in the public transportation. These women recognized a problem and sought out to fix it, by their own means. They taught themselves, developed their own tools, and carried out a plan that had an impact in their community. I was moved by all of this. Their drive and passion to right a wrong in their society led to a community project that was greatly received and pushed how a lot of people in their society view men’s actions towards women. Coming from a mainly patriarchal society, I understand the women’s frustration and shame that they felt when put in situations where they were met with unwanted advances by men. They felt defenseless, ashamed, and hopeless at the time but the whistle project gave them a voice and power in the situation, which I thought was extremely powerful.

Attending the short screening of three different independently produced films that documented the struggle of women’s equity in Myanmar was very interesting to see, especially when so starkly understood as a comparison to Western ideas of feminism. The first film was about how whistles began to be used as alerts to keep sexual predators accountable. The second was about the trials faced by three different religious women all engaged in male-dominated fields. The final short clip was a celebration of the different initiatives and successes of these initiative in Myanmar.

My favorite film was definitely the first because it provides an immediate solution for sexual assault on public transportation. and while the system is not fool proof or completely refined, it has made huge strides in reducing and preventing sexual assault of young women on buses. I think it was my favorite because it is a way to fundamentally change the way misogynistic men think: by using shame as a social tool, sexual predators are literally unlearning their predation. Some scholars may say that humans are inherently social animals, and that social acceptance and interaction are necessary to living a healthy, happy life. And when working under the assumption, it isn’t hard to see how using shame as a tool would shift one’s understanding of their actions.

This is so much more production than implementing a fine for sexual assault or simply discouraging it through formal means.  Fines often imply that those who can afford to assault women- or those with the money to pay off the fines- will continue to do so because they face no other ramifications. And trying to simply ‘educate’ men on why it is wrong to sexually assault women is not always effective; men know it is wrong to do it, yet some still choose to. The shame is a way to keep people accountable for their actions.

I also saw comparisons in a Rose Cafe I attended my sophomore year, about two years ago. GRF Seema talked about the work of urban planners in the reduction of sexual assault on public transportation in India. One of their immediate reactions was to segregate buses by gender, which is a great start to abruptly cut assault. But it lacked the accountability aspect that the whistle-blowing (haha wordplay) has in the Myanmar framework.

I also really liked the second film when the Muslim doctor talked about how she is working not only for herself and those immediately around her, but how she is focused on uplifting the women who have not had opportunities she has. This small acknowledgment of privilege is always refreshing to see, and it almost always happen when placed within the context of brown and black women. I love seeing references to intersectionality, especially because Kimberle Crenshaw is a Cornell alumna.

It was also great to see intersectional feminism outside of Chicano Queer Theory. I minor is Latino Studies, and often read people like Anzaldua, Moraga, and Viramontes (who is a professor here and is highly recommended!!) twice over. Gaining insight into other spheres of feminist activism was interesting to see as a comparative tool. I just wish the attendees could have been provided a bit of background information before attending the showing because I felt inadequately prepared to participate in the discussion that was expected of us.

The Friday night movie series showed three (3) short documentaries about women’s rights.  The documentaries were Myanmar: Whistle For Help, She, and Women’s Desire. The one that I found to be the most interesting was Myanmar: Whistle for help.  This film highlighted how young girls and women are frequently sexually assaulted by middle age men on crowded buses in Myanmar.   I found it incredible that many women in Myanmar described these assaults as something they just had to live with and accept.   Many of the women blamed themselves for the assaults.   Myanmar was described as a very religious society and yet these middle age men think that sexually assaulting a girl as young as 10 years old is somehow ok.  It’s obviously completely disgusting.  And just as unbelievable, the government did not do anything of substance to stop it.   Fortunately, a small group of women started a campaign to make people understand that what these men were doing is wrong, and that everyone could help to stop it.  This small group of women started handing out whistles to both men and women on buses, and told them to blow the whistle if they observe a man acting inappropriately on the bus.   Unbelievably, the group was worried that the government may arrest them for handing out the whistles even though they are trying to stop this disgusting behavior against innocent young girls.  The women handing out the whistles also worried that men would physically retaliate against the women for speaking out about the behavior.  Fortunately, the government did not arrest the group, and no retaliation was taken.  I really like the whistle campaign and the community activism.

This week was very eye-opening for me. I learnt about inequality in other parts of the world and the rawness of reality. This came as a surprise to me because I did not think that such inequality still existed in such blatant and disgusting forms. Women were literally being harassed, marginalized and disrespected in broad daylight and without any compassion from society. Apart from that, I witnessed the discrimination of women in terms of the possible occupations they can have- women in the same position as men are not afforded the same respect at all, nor are they even given a slight bit of recognition.

This video reaffirmed my desire to be able to create a world were everyone can be viewed as equal regardless of gender, race, or background. I would want to be able to empower people (regardless of gender, race, or background etc) to reach higher heights and to break all stereotypes and any barriers limiting them.

It was interesting to see the movement that took place in Myanmar when it came to dealing with sexual harassment on the bus. To see something simple as a whistle be used to combat sexual harassment was fascinating. The disturbing reality in some of these countries like Myanmar is that often times the victims of sexual harassment are young girls who do not understand what is taking place on the bus. They receive no sex education and have no outlet when dealing with sexual harassment. After watching the documentary, one thing that popped up in my head was another country that dealt with sexual harassment on public transportation. In Japan, sexual harassment is common on buses and trains when it is rush hour and the people are cramped together. A form of harassment that is common is men using phone cameras to take pictures under women’s skirts. An interesting resolution that was adopted to combat this behavior was every phone sold in Japan making the flash sound when taking pictures. Even if your phone is on silent, whenever you took a picture, the flash sound was on so if you tried to take inappropriate pictures on public transportation, people around you will hear it and be able to identify harassment taking place.

There is a huge issue in Burma (or Myanmar). Girl as young as ten are stuck on overcrowded buses with men who rub themselves against the girls. These females are too young to understand what is happening and just how violated they are. This is such a ubiquitous problem that one of the women in the documentary said she didn’t have any friends who haven’t experienced this. And so a group of brave women volunteered to hand out whistles and information sheets to women at bus stops so they can be informed and protect themselves. This was a dangerous act given that the government could intervene and punish the volunteers. I found this to be very moving because I often questioned how change happens. Usually people complain about an issue, but its left as a complaint. In rare situations are actions taken and even rarer for actions to make impacts. These brave volunteers handed out over 30,000 whistles and information sheets. I was in awe of how these women had taken matters into their own hands and let women know that they are in charge of their own bodies. The victims often questioned if it was their fault and this is a common phenomena in America as well. It is never the victim’s fault. Men point their fingers at women like Adam pointed his finger at Eve in blame is something that needs to stop. So as these brave volunteers have, we too should make a change.

This week as a part of Friday Films, I watched three short documentaries on Women in Myanmar, specifically about the sexual harassment and discrimination that many of them face on a daily basis. All three were eye-opening, but I was most surprised and shocked by the first film “Whistle for Help”, which showed how volunteers are combating the rampant sexual harassment taking place on crowded buses by passing out whistles. The documentary outlined how the buses in Myanmar are always very crowded, and often middle-age men will get aroused by young girls on the bus and will actually take out their penis and assault them in public. What is even more astonishing is that for a long time nobody was speaking out about this issue or doing anything to stop the perpetrators. What surprised me the most was that these were not just isolated instances that happened to a couple of girls, but rather it was a cultural phenomenon where men thought it was acceptable to abuse and harass women in public. In light of this, I found it inspiring that a small group of women decided that enough was enough, and so they started a campaign stop this behavior, and it quickly grew into a huge movement. What is even more impressive was they did this in a society that is run by a military dictatorship that does not appreciate changes to the status quo, so many of the leaders and volunteers were potentially risking their freedom to advocate for change. Despite this looming threat, the women pushed forward against the odds to fight for their rights, and the safety of future generations of girls riding the bus. This just shows how a small group of determined people can bring about significant changes to society.

        Last night, I had the opportunity to view three short documentary films about women’s rights in Myanmar: Whistle For Help, She, and Women’s Desire. The two that I found to be the most impactful were the first and second of the films.

        Whistle For Help, directed by Rhoda Linton, centered around a campaign launched in 2008 to end the sexual harassment of women on buses in Yangon. The film begins on a black screen with text fading in, reading “Everyone knows about the ugliness that is happening on the bus, damaging the image of our country.” I could quickly see that this truly was the case. Before viewing this film, I had no idea that sexual harassment on buses was such a pertinent issue in Myanmar, but every woman interviewed mentioned experiencing harassment at some point in her life, whether that point was in recent years or during her youth — some of the women interviewed even mentioned that their grandmothers had experienced the same sexual harassment on the buses. The low-budget appearance of the film only added to the gravity of the issue that it was speaking about; each woman interviewed talked about how she felt and the message was communicated more directly as a result of the lack of elaborate visual effects. I also felt that this do-it-yourself aspect of the film was appropriate for the similarly low-tech solution to sexual harassment that the group in the film championed: handing out brightly colored plastic whistles to women (and men) at bus stops. 

        I was happy to learn that the campaign worked in the end, and that even though people do not necessarily carry around the whistles on the buses anymore, the conversation about sexual harassment on public transport has become more important and less taboo to the people of Myanmar. Being interested in design, I also appreciated how such a simple object could be so effective — the whistles were mass produced and uncomplicated in form, perhaps costing less than a dollar to manufacture, yet gave both victims and bystanders an unignorable way to say “no” that previously did not even exist.

        The second film we watched was She, directed  by Kyal Yi Lin Six, which focused around the lives of three women of different religions in Myanmar: a Buddhist nun, Sayarlay Ketumarla; a Catholic nun, Chit Pon, and a Muslim doctor, Dr. Thet  Su Htwe (who we also had the pleasure of meeting in person). The film opened with shots of the three women each praying in their own way, with bells in the background, and this set the tone for the rest of the film. Each of the three subjects of the film spoke about their lives and the difficulties they faced specifically because they were religious women. Although I am aware that women face challenges everywhere, it was especially eye-opening to hear specific examples from these women who all had a drive to help others, such as by creating schools or helping children in IDP camps, yet were held back from implementing their ideas because of societal expectations. There was no soundtrack to most of the film, and there were many long shots of the women walking down paths or hallways, which I felt was effective in symbolizing the long journeys that they had to face in achieving their goals. 

        Before watching these films, I knew that I had a certain amount of privilege in being a man, but I did not truly understand what that meant. These films’ directness in communicating the obstacles of various women will help me to reflect more on that privilege in a more concrete way in the future. Despite the obstacles the women faced, I found the films to be hopeful. I found it inspiring to see them overcome — or at least begin to overcome — the challenges  they faced in their lives and in the society of Myanmar, and I am grateful to have gotten this view of women’s rights from a country other than the United States.