The number of times I’ve received lewd texts, sexist Facebook messages, spam phone calls, and even unsolicited pictures of male genitalia from an unknown source, is downright terrifying. And as soon as I’ve done the needful to block these perverts and have them reported to the authorities, they’ve fled from the scene of the cybercrime and moved on to their next victim. Of course, I’m not the only woman in India who is subjected to the sick mindset of the filth roaming out there; but, according to a recent survey, the number of women who receive calls and texts from strangers, stalkers, and spam callers is quite frightening.
Truecaller, the Stockholm-based phone number identification app, collected data and surveyed over 2,000 women aged between 15 and 35 across 15 Indian cities from January 20th to February 22nd. The results of the survey titled ‘Understanding the Impact of Harassment and Spam Calls on Women’, showed that every 1 out of 3 women surveyed reported having received sexual and inappropriate calls, or text messages at one point or another. Around 78 percent of women received calls with inappropriate and sexual content every week, while 82 percent reported receiving inappropriate videos and pictures every week.
Let those statistics sink in.
India is the largest market for Truecaller’s database, with an estimated 150 million users, and the first country where it has studied how calls and messages impact the women. In an interview with a popular publication, Alan Mamedi, Co-Founder & CEO of Truecaller said, “We were realising that women on an average report far more spam calls than men. In fact, on average, women in India report 18 percent more unwanted calls than men”. Like women didn’t have enough fighting to do to keep themselves safe on the streets that now we’re being relentlessly harassed in the safety of our own homes as well?
Worry not, my fellow goddesses. There’s always a way to smite all the creeps out there with your power. We’re here to give you some of the best tactics to give them a taste of their own medicine! Here’s how you do it:
The next time a creep wants you to send ‘bobs’ and ‘vagenes’ (shudders):
1. Send him pictures of Bob Saget, Bob the Builder, Robert Frost (I’m sure he was affectionately called Bob by someone in his literary life)
All them bobs are going to drive him crazy, eventually.
2. Don’t delete the unsolicited dick pics that come your way; send them to the next creep who asks you for your nudes
Let them stew in the filth of their own making.
3. If he desires pictures of your ‘vagene’, send him links to biology articles on the internet
The ones that explain the human reproductory system with diagrams. That’ll teach him a ‘lesson’ (see what I did there?)
4. If dirty talking is his thing, then you can go ahead and do EXACTLY what he asks
“Unwashed dishes”, “Five-day-old milk”, “Cobwebs on the ceiling”, “Excreta”, “Vomit” – the options are endless, and he did say ‘dirty’.
5. Ask him his political affiliations and immediately proclaim everything he believes in is false
Rile them up real nice. Why should you be the one hot and bothered with his antics anyway?
6. Converse entirely in emojis
That ought to get you thinking creatively and chuckling to yourself, as he wonders if it was a good day to harass you in the first place.
Good luck, ladies. And let us know of your own methods of dealing with no-good creeps, because we sure as heck could use them!
Images: Shutterstock, Giphy
