No, I Am Not Asking For It

Manisha Mohan was a student in India at a University where she had to be dressed head to toe and wasn’t allowed to leave her dorm room after 6:00 PM. The school insisted the rules were put in place for women’s safety, and implied anyone who did not follow the rules was ‘asking for it’.

One night, Mohan was working at a lab at her internship; this is the night she was sexually assaulted. Mohan kept quiet about the assault at first, she says, “the time gap [from a moment someone is sexually abused to when they talk about it] is directly dependent on where they come from or what torture they have been going through.”

 

Manisha was a member of the Living Mobile group at the MIT Media Lab where she was working to merge her studies and her past experience to make the world safer for women. At the Media Lab, she developed a wearable sticker that detects if clothing is removed differently than normal. The movement will trigger a pop up onto the person’s cellular device where they will be asked if what is happening is consensual. If there is no response, an alarm will sound as well as send their location to an emergency contact.

Manisha’s work stems farther than her experience, she is passionate about being the face for the invisible victims that did not speak up and serve as the body for victims who are still in trauma. She hopes to create a world where her children will not have to grow up fearful.

Manisha predicts a future where children can be raised the way they want and parents will not live in fear, but a change starts with us. Every voice against sexual assault matters; a future without sexual abuse starts with making the unsafe safe again.

To hear more of Manisha’s inspiring story, watch HERE.