Why women need to Speak Up

A still from Breaking The Cycle of Violence

If women want to put an end to the acts of violence against them, they need to come out and speak about it! The short film Breaking the Cycle of Violence highlights the importance of speaking up with Poorna Jagannathan talking about being sexually assaulted at the age of nine.

The film, which is a part of WEvolve - a World Bank campaign to empower young men and women, has Poorna relaying her childhood spent with an alcoholic father and experiences of dealing with violent situations as a child and as a young adult. She was asked “not to talk about the darkness”. Poorna says, "My first encounter with sexual violence was probably when I was nine. There was a neighbor, a family friend who got his hands on me and he obviously told me not to tell anyone but I had learnt that lesson before.”

Travelling in Delhi buses and being groped had become a routine but Poorna had learnt to not talk about it. "I always thought that silence was the best, safest, most acceptable way of coping," reveals Poorna, a sentiment and fear that resonates with most women who have experienced sexual assault. The actor urges women to take her case as an example and learn from it. She asks women to not wait this long to speak up about the acts of violence for silence cannot stop the abuse.