Mumbai-based filmmaker Srivinay Salian teamed up with JoinFilms to make "Stripped," a short film that explores the effect that silent street harassment has on women.
View this video on YouTube
Salian made this video on a low budget and with help from friends, he told BuzzFeed India in an email, "as a public awareness endeavor" intended to highlight what is a daily struggle for millions of women.
The film shows how a mundane task – commuting to and from work – can be emotionally exhausting because of constant ogling.
As the protagonist silently makes her way from home to an office and back, we are shown that some men stare openly at her every step of the way.
Despite it not being a physically violent act, we are shown how ogling can, nonetheless, be extremely difficult to withstand.
To show how cumulatively toxic staring can be, the woman withstands one tear in her clothes for every instance of ogling...
And, by the end of the day, she feels like she's been stripped.
#ProTip: Sure, everybody stares a little, but if you're doing it in a way that could make your subject feel uncomfortable, threatened, or violated – stop.
