#LetsTalkAboutRape Has Eight Celebrities Opening Up About Sexual Assault. Read It Yet?

You may also like: Join the Full Stop Campaign to put an end to child sexual abuseThe national daily has roped in eight eminent Indians to write open letters that address the issue of rape and sexual assault in India. Starting this series is actor, director, producer, poet Farhan Akhtar who in an open letter to his daughter writes,What is this country that I live in? In this letter she opens up about how she was molested while walking to her training camp in Hissar, Haryana and why it is important that her sons should stand up and take action when they see someone assaulting a woman instead of being mute spectators.

You know how as parents we sayÂ things like, “Don’t throw like a girl”, “As a girl you should dress like this only”, and even, “You are a girl, don’t think you can do the same thing that boys can”. Â Ever stop for a moment and wonder whether are kids absorb all this subconsciously?

We live in a world where newspapers report instances of rape and sexual molestation every day. The statistics are there to prove it too. Try to wrap your head around this – in 2012 alone 24,923 rapeÂ cases were reported across India. Of theseÂ 24,470 were committed by someone known to the victim (98% of the cases). These statistics were part of the National Crime Records Bureau’s 2013 annual report.

Where are we as a country that reveres women and places them on pedestals as goddesses going wrong? Shouldn’t we make sure we raise our kids to respect women and to speak up when they see a woman being assaulted. That is the crux of Hindustan Times’ latest campaign simply called Let’s Talk About Rape.

The national daily has roped in eight eminent Indians to write open letters that address the issue of rape and sexual assault in India. Starting this series is actor, director, producer, poet Farhan Akhtar who in an open letter to his daughter writes,

What is this country that I live in?
That takes away her right to love
Brutalises her with an iron glove
Rapes her without fear
of there being justice for her tearâ€¦
â€¦what do I tell my daughter?
That sheâ€™s growing up to be lamb for the slaughter
weâ€™ve got to make a change
Reboot, reformat, rearrange,
and never give in
no matter how much our head may spin
Just keep asking the question
What is this country that I live in?

Mary Kom, boxer and one of India’s most decorated sportspeople wrote a letter to her sons and titled it, “Your mother was molested: Mary Kom’s open letter to her sons.” In this letter she opens up about how she was molested while walking to her training camp in Hissar, Haryana and why it is important that her sons should stand up and take action when they see someone assaulting a woman instead of being mute spectators. She says, “I know it is shocking to learn that even a woman who has earned her spurs, boxing her way through life, was made to feel violated.” Â

She goes on to talk about why women are treated so differently from men when other than a few differences in the body, man and woman are basically the same. “Remember, dear sons, like you, we too have two eyes and a nose. Some parts of our bodies are different and thatâ€™s the only thing that sets us apart. We use our brains to think, like all men do, and we feel with our hearts, like you do. We donâ€™t deserve our breasts to be touched or our bums patted.”

The series continues with six more pieces but it has already gained a lot of attention on social media. #Let’sTalkAboutRape is trending and it is time for parents everywhere to start the conversation at home – no matter how young your kids are.