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The multimedia I have provided doesn't really help with the actual prototype of an app, but I think they are still useful because they portray attitudes towards sexual violence from different layers in Indian society, and we can't create an app targeting a particular audience if we can't understand the context around it. Further,  what would and wouldn't be effective can be gauged from the videos. For example, as Chloe writes below, this app probably won't help the women in the 'Gulabi Gang', but it could help women like Jyoti in 'India's daughter' by directing them to safe public transport options.

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Annotation: This is a useful example of a similar app targeting similar audience. Way of university students to notify people of their situations if uncomfortable or unsafe.

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Technology - and particularly smartphones - could reshape safety efforts on college campuses. At least that's the hope of some developers.

Several new apps offer quick ways for college students facing unsafe or uncomfortable situations to reach out to their peers, connect with resources on campus and in their communities, or notify law enforcement.

These apps for the most part target sexual assault and rape, amid growing national concern about the prevalence of incidents and criticism of the ways colleges and universities are handling them.

Apps like Circle of 6, born out of a recent White House technology challenge, are now in use on campuses across the country.

You might think: Why does a student who feels unsafe need an app? You can't walk around a campus without seeing one of those blue-light call buttons.

The problem is that hardly anyone uses those, says Nancy Schwartzman, the creator of Circle of 6. What college students do use, she says, is a cell phone.

"Most young people first report sexual assault to a friend or a peer, not to the police or a blue safety light," Schwartzman says. "And they're always on their phone."
Who's In Your Circle?
Circle of 6 was born out of the 2011 " Apps Against Abuse" challenge, a partnership between the Office of the Vice President, the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Here's how it works: A student who downloads the app picks six trusted friends to join a "circle." Then, if faced with an unsafe or dangerous situation, they can send a text to those friends with just two clicks.

They can quickly choose from among several pre-written messages. For example, "Call me and pretend you need me. I need an interruption." The texts even get more specific, like "Come and get me. I need help getting home safely. Call when you're close." That text automatically includes the sender's GPS location.

Circle of 6 allows students to access their personal networks - but also gives them the ability to tap into broader networks, like national hotlines and emergency numbers.

And it was created by sexual assault survivors.

"I know what I would have wanted," Schwartzman says. "I don't want to have to search through my phone and find out who's around. I've already had this conversation with six people I trust."
What's On The Market?
While Circle of 6 was one of the earliest apps to target campus sexual assault, many others have flooded app stores.

Some, like Here For You are being created by colleges. That app, from Loyola University in Chicago, provides students with resources if they're a victim of assault, as well as information on how to help a friend.

Created by a survivor of the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech, LiveSafe allows students to track crimes on campus. Users can report incidents, view a map and a list of reported activity, broadcast their location to family or friends for safety, or call or send a message to 911 or campus police. Students can also submit photos or audio to go along with a report.

LiveSafe also allows anonymous reporting - something its founders say might make college students more apt to report bullying, rape or sexual assault.

Then there's Kitestring, which doesn't specifically say it's targeting colleges, but has a similar bent. You provide the app with emergency contact numbers in the setup phase, then let it know when you're going out alone - say, on a run or walking home from the library - and how long it will take you to reach your destination. At that time, the app texts you to check in. If you don't respond, it alerts your emergency contacts.

Of course, none of these are perfect solutions.

They all depend on having a charged cell phone and enough signal to get a message out. Many are limited by phone platform. And, in the case of Kitestring, it's targeting students who are traveling alone. Statistics show that most rapes and assaults are perpetrated by acquaintances, not the stranger jumping out of the bushes as is often suggested in popular culture.

But they do provide students with a tangible tool that they previously lacked and proponents say they can be part of a comprehensive approach by colleges to curb instances of rape and assault.

"It's not a magic bullet. Prevention programming that's well done and smart and provocative and continuous is desperately needed," Schwartzman says.
Does It Work?
So students have smartphone apps in their hands, but do they actually help prevent assaults?

That's only part of the point, Schwartzman says. The other potential benefit for these tools, she says, is that they can help students get information about resources when an assault does happen.

Circle of 6 seeks to "put all the information that can help enhance safety in one place that's easy to find," Schwartzman says. Otherwise, she adds, "it's very confusing. Every campus is different."

She envisions Circle of 6 not as some kind of silver bullet, but part of a suite of options for students. And she means all students. Not just those who are assaulted, but their friends and classmates, too.

While these apps are first and foremost tools for students, colleges might also be able to learn something. At least that's the hope at Williams College in Massachusetts.

Williams is bringing Circle of 6 to its campus for a two-year pilot program, says Meg Bossong, the college's director of sexual assault prevention and response. The goal is to get real-time data that can inform future bystander education programming on campus.

So what does that mean, exactly? In a lot of ways, bystander intervention is just common sense. For example, if you're at a bar and see an intoxicated woman being harassed or groped by a man, the bystander should step in, intervene, and get the target out of the situation.

Circle of 6 and other apps are adding a technical aspect here. Instead of seeing bad behavior up close, student "bystanders" are responding to a text.

The pilot program at Williams will give students access to a customized version of the app. Instead of national hotlines and resources, they'll have the option to connect with resources locally or right on campus.

In return, Circle of 6 will provide Williams with data, Bossong explains, that the school will use to see not just how many students are using the app, but how they're using it.

"I think we're at a point where we need more data about how to best deploy bystander work on our campus," Bossong adds. "It's not just about the specific bystander skills, it's building a culture that is less accepting and less tolerant of sexual violence."
Thinking Outside The Phone
One campus safety tool that's still in the works isn't pocket-sized or smartphone based.

Callisto is an online reporting system for survivors of sexual assault that's still in development. The mission, according to Jessica Ladd, one of the creators, is to make it more empowering to report a sexual assault.

Ladd herself is a sexual assault survivor, and says her own reporting experience was less than empowering.

"It was confusing to know where to go, I wasn't even sure why I was doing it," she says. "It took me almost two years to report it. For many survivors it can take a long period of time. You don't always record what happened to you right after."

With Callisto, she says, survivors will go online, fill out a form documenting their assault and, respond to questions similar to those a law enforcement or campus official would ask. The site would then provide them with reporting options.

At that point, they could choose to file a report, or save it for later. They would also have a third option: to have their report submitted automatically if another person reports sexual violence at the hands of the same assailant.

"A lot of people who do report right now often do it because they heard through the rumor mill somehow or from a college administrator that their assailants have assaulted someone else," Ladd says.

While Callisto is still in development - it was presented at the recent White House Data Jam - Ladd says her goal is to launch a pilot in March.

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Smartphone Apps Help To Battle Campus Sexual Assaults

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Technology - and particularly smartphones - could reshape safety efforts on college campuses. At least that's the hope of some developers. Several new apps offer quick ways for college students facing unsafe or uncomfortable situations to reach out to their peers, connect with resources on campus and in their communities, or notify law enforcement.

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The trailer for the Bollywood film, Pink, gives a short insight into themes that occur in the whole movie. Whilst the movie is not based on one particular incident, it is broadly inspired by various cases of sexual assault and violence that occur in India. The movie itself brings to screens a fresh perspective and highlights an issue which is usually a taboo. The movie will be useful to us in creating the app as it provides an insight into the realities of such cases and how we may be able to help the survivors.

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PINK | Official Trailer | Amitabh Bachchan | Shoojit Sircar | Taapsee Pannu

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PINK is a social thriller that reflects on the dubious morals of today's times. In Theatres on 16th September, 2016.

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This photo highlights how societal attitudes are changing, especially amongst young Indian women at whom our app is aimed at. Here, university-aged women students are pictured at a protest, holding candles and a poster which states 'Don't tell [your] daughter not to go out, tell your son to behave properly'. The photo demonstrates how our app is likely to be successful as women university students are quite active in spheres of activism against sexual assault.

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This satirical video pokes fun at the culture of victim blaming which still occurs not only in India, but also all over the world. The video highlights how people still victim blame, especially in the most absurd ways. It highlights the need for an app like we are designing in order to provide a caring environment for survivors.

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Spread the message on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/HAaMYS Spread the message on Twitter: http://bit.ly/19EjiQM Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/allindiabakchod Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/AllIndiaBakchod Like us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/IndiaBakchod Every sexual assault case in India inspires a string of stupid and hateful remarks against women. This is our response to those remarks.

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This image is taken from a photo shoot done after the 2012 Dehli gang rape, where the scenario was glamorised and turned into "fashion". It is this pervasive attitude of sexual violence that allows for bystanders to avoid stepping in and helping the survivor, that allows for sexual violence in the public sphere to be normalised. This is the kind of attitudes we are trying to fight with the app, by raising awareness of the unacceptability of sexual violence, linking women to services that will believe and assist them, and encouraging support of businesses that fight the normalisation of harassment.

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A video discussing the reinforcement of the patriarchy through advertising in India. Understanding the background of womens 'roles' and the expectations placed on women in India is vital in informing how we create an app and what issues we address.

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The False Mirror: Representation of Women in Indian Advertising

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A documentary on the representation of women in Indian media. This video is inspired by the work of Jean Killbourne's "Killing Us Softly" series on the representation of women in the United States. services@thisisstudio33.com www.thisisstudio33.com

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A TedTalk on the complex inter-relationship between a more sexually aware society and a more sexually violent society. For our app this interrelationship is highly important as a reflection on why we need to address issues of sexual health concurrently with issues of sexual violence.

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India’s Sexual Violence Problem | Ira Trivedi | TEDxIIITD

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Ira Trivedi shed light on India's sexual violence problem. Essentially, Ira dug deeper into the root causes of rape in our country and expressed how the society is becoming more aware sexually but also more violent sexually. Ira Trivedi, an alumni of Columbia business school is a world-renowned Indian novelist, yoga teacher, entrepreneur, and speaker.

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We realise this app needs to be discrete and not something that women feel they cannot access. For this reason there is always the danger of men using it to wreak havoc/trolling in the chatrooms or writing fake reviews/info etc. However, these sort of apps are very much opt in and it may not be worth these men's time, considering the ones who are not harassing/assaulting won't troll and those who do will find less burdensome ways to do so, like on the street etc. Also, these issues are still very 'taboo' in India so there would be internalised shame for men to overcome before they would troll the app.

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I was touched at rush hour at the busy Andheri Station. A person passing my rickshaw simply touched my breast and ran away while I sat disgusted and dumbfounded in the rickshaw at a signal. I couldn't even see his face and don't even know whom to hate more - him or my timing for being there at that point. (Andheri West)

The Safecity app lets women share their stories of harassment and abuse in public spaces in cities. Elsa D'Silva, one of its founders, says that women can use it to report "what happened, where it happened and when it happened".

D'Silva started to form the idea for Safecity during a visit to Sweden where, having recently begun working on women's issues following 20 years in the aviation industry, she met the founders of HarassMap - a project that, among other things, uses online and mobile technology to work towards ending sexual harassment and assault in Egypt. Shortly after D'Silva returned home to Delhi, the now infamous gang rape of a 23-year-old medical student on a Delhi bus took place.

That rape changed something for D'Silva, and for many other Indian people. She says: "That was when everything lined up and I said to myself: Safety and security need to be urgently addressed. Until then, not many of us were even talking about it actively or openly enough, including me. It was that rape that really got me thinking more actively ... And then I started to remember the various incidents that had taken place in my own life." Her personal silence broken, D'Silva began to talk to friends: "I realised that every one of them had a story to share, but until then we had never really spoken about it."

And so, inspired to act, in December 2012 D'Silva set up Safecity. It was initially conceived as an online-only platform, but the founders soon decided that they needed to take their efforts offline as well: "We go into the communities and do workshops and campaigns where we target people who have been involved with either a community based group or another NGO. Then we collect information, analyse it and find trends, and then find solutions. For each place it's different."

There was another incident, on 1 Jan 2013, in Malad West, near Liberty Garden. Less than a month previously, the horrible Delhi rape case had happened. As I was walking down the street to buy something from the local shop, a really old man looked at me and made a disturbing gesture. He shook his head from side to side, which meant he would like to put his face between my breasts and do that. When I said, 'What the hell?' he just smirked. It was just the first day of the year. (Malad)

D'Silva talks about the importance of identifying hotspots of harassment within cities, and then working with local partners to find solutions to fit those neighbourhood contexts. In Delhi, they identified one hotspot by a tea stall: "Men would loiter and intimidate women with their constant gazing. We asked the young girls what they would like to change ... in our culture you can't go to a man and say, 'This is intimidating, please stop.'" They partnered with a local artist who painted an entire wall right next to the tea stand "with staring eyes and subtle messaging that loosely translates as 'Look with your heart and not with your eyes.'" Since it was painted last December, D'Silva asserts that the situation has greatly improved.

In another nearby hotspot, an entirely different solution was needed: "We identified that women were being molested when relieving themselves in the open either first-thing in the morning or late in the evening because of no access to the toilets." When Safecity investigated, D'Silva realised that "actually there are toilets, but they were under lock and key because the municipal authorities do not want to clean them. So, armed with the data, we went to the relevant authorities and pressured them to open the toilets and maintain them as well. They started doing that, and, through our community partner in that space, we then had to educate the women about the toilet being available."

Data is key, D'Silva says - not only to pinpoint issues but also to force solutions. "You can hold institutions accountable, be they school authorities, or college authorities, municipal police or transport authorities." Of course, this all depends on authorities being receptive. Their receptivity is, she says, helped by the threat of being called out online: "Where you have social media, I think everyone's going to be on their toes if you have evidence. It's hard to ignore crowd-sourced information. Yes, it's unverified, but when there's a larger trend that's emerging, how can you dispute that?"

By feeding online personal reports, as well as data gathered through more traditional pen-and-pencil safety audits returned to the municipal authorities, Safecity aims to achieve concrete changes fitting each individual urban context; breaking cycles of harassment as well as allowing catharsis for individual victims.

"I was wearing a skirt and was boarding the local train. Some guy stuck his hand under my skirt and held my bum. I grabbed his hand and pulled it off. The train was crowded so I couldn't find the perpetrator. (Borivali)

Safecity is one of a growing number of apps aiming to tackle women's safety in Indian cities. Carolyn Whitzman, professor in urban planning at the University of Melbourne and lead editor of Building Inclusive Cities: Women's Safety and the Right to the City holds, that "feminists in Indian cities - urban feminists - are at the forefront of using tech to create change".

Kalpana Viswanath is one of the founders of Safetipin, an app that similarly allows you to report harassment and feelings of threat in and around the city. It also has a tracker function that allows you to "track loved ones to know they are safe". Viswanath explains how Safetipin grew the opposite way from Safecity - offline to online. It was the result of the Safe Delhi campaign, launched in 2004 by the NGO Jagori, which carried out citywide safety audits in partnership with UN Habitat and UN Women. The aim of the campaign, according Viswanath, was to "move discourse of women's safety out of a narrow, traditional set of stakeholders - women's groups and women - and to get it looked at by transport planners and urban planners; to get a range of urban stakeholders to begin to look at women's safety."

Whichever way they grew, Whitzman sees these apps as having their roots in the more traditional safety audits that started "in the global north, in places like London municipalities before going to cities such as Montreal and Toronto". But there has been a change, she says. "They've gotten so much more interesting since they've gone to India, Africa, South America, because they've cross-fertilised with some really interesting ideas about the right to the city."

A guy was yelling and physically assaulting a girl on the road at 1pm. I had to go downstairs and intervene to stop it. I told him that I would report him if he didn't stop. What was horrid was that people were watching it happen and no one stopped it. One man yelled from his home on the second floor that he would call the police, but that was all. This kind of apathy is quite scary." (Andheri West)

So far, Safecity has had reports from more than 50 Indian cities, including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi, as well as the Nepalese city of Kathmandu. They also have (tiny) datasets from the Kibera slum area of Nairobi and from Cameroon, as well as some reports from London, New York and San Francisco. But to go beyond the safety audit function and start trying to effect concrete changes such as those seen in Indian cities, D'Silva says they would need "a partner on the ground in those places because it's important for them to get a more detailed dataset" and to take a lead in advocating solutions that suit each local context. Safetipin has partnerships in Jakarta, Nairobi and Bogota.

As D'Silva points out, violence against women in cities is a global pandemic, with India often unhelpfully held up as its poster child, and there's no reason why apps such as Safecity and Safetipin shouldn't work in other cities around the world. There are similar safety apps already up and running in other cities; in the Middle East, for instance, as well as HarassMap in Egypt, there is Ramallah Street Watch, Safe Streets Yemen, and Resist Harassment Lebanon.

This is my space, I'm capable of mapping it,​ and asking for these changes to happen

Carolyn Whitzman, University of Melbourne

D'Silva sees another function of these safety apps to work as a kind of TripAdvisor, rating areas of cities for safety and allowing individuals to make informed decisions about personal safety. For example, she says, before a recent trip to San Francisco, she was looking for accommodation: "A lady wrote, 'If you finally book this accommodation, please don't take the metro station which is the closest, take the one before or the one after. The walk may be slightly longer, but it's safer.' Those are the kind of intelligences that I would like to capture with Safecity," D'Silva says. "We may say that the police and the government are responsible, but we have to take our own precautions."

There is one sentiment echoed by all the visually challenged women: we feel unsafe while travelling in the handicapped compartments of local trains, when men often try to touch us inappropriately. We are glad that, at least on this website, we can express our bad feeling towards this sexual harassment that we face almost every day when we travel in local trains of Mumbai. (Bhandup)

But might this not lead to the demonisation of certain areas of cities? "We don't want to brand neighbourhoods as safe or unsafe," stresses D'Silva, "but wouldn't it be better if you were to be able to understand the issues that each neighbourhood faces?" This way individuals can make informed decisions about their own safety, but by feeding collective data back to relevant stakeholders, the app can work towards making all neighbourhoods safer.

Whitzman sees the development of safety apps as part of a trend for apps used by citizens to get involved in "improving the city and making public space more accessible for everyone". Using technology to map everything from the trivial - such as a good area to park your bike or get a coffee - to the potentially life-saving, such as mapping harassment, offers "a form of participatory democracy; being engaged in your city and not just being frustrated if there's a poorly accessible footpath, but actually taking action on it."

Whitzman adds: "I think that women's safety is vitally important, obviously, but I think it's part of that larger argument about the right to the city and I think it's part of a larger move of people saying: 'This is my space, I'm capable of mapping it and asking for these changes to happen.'"
Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter and Facebook and join the discussion

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Can the Safecity app make Delhi safer for women?

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I was touched at rush hour at the busy Andheri Station. A person passing my rickshaw simply touched my breast and ran away while I sat disgusted and dumbfounded in the rickshaw at a signal. I couldn't even see his face and don't even know whom to hate more - him or my timing for being there at that point.

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Sexual Violence in South Asia

-       Helping survivors / warning off India

-       Aiming it at female university-aged and college students

-       ‘Eve teasing’

-       women rating food establishments, police stations, places on campus, rating hospitals, rating doctors and chemists

-       discreetness

-       women connecting with other women - chatroom idea which allows survivors to talk to other survivors without revealing their own identities or feeling uncomfortable

-       where to get tampons and pads and emergency contraception - location based

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- Care2Care

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‘Understanding the spatialities of sexual assault against Indian women in India’ is a unique article because it connects gendered/sexual violence to both the public AND the private. In particular, it considers the intersection of patriarchy, poverty and cultural values in both these spaces. How these actually play out depends on whether the violence happens in the public or the private, which we have to keep in mind when designing this app. For example, what happens if there is ongoing abuse in the private – how effective will the app be then? Is it even possible for us to address both spaces without losing the effectiveness of the app? The app will hopefully be influencing and shaping attitudes to spaces like restaurants, pharmacists etc. so we need to study this article in detail.

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This article discusses the effectiveness and achievements of the app "SafetiPin", an app that is designed to crowd source information on different areas of a city to assist individuals using the app to best ensure their own protection. The "SafetiPin" app is based off a very similar idea and strategy to our Care2Care app and therefore the article is extremely useful establishing what has already been achieved and successful and trying to build on this success to make an even safer India.

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Annotation: I chose this video to provide background into how pervasive and how open toxic ideas of women's sexuality and freedom are in India. This will inform how we market our app, how discrete it needs to be and why it will probably be responded to in the same way men in this video are responding to women's empowerment/sexuality.

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Mirror Now - Faye D'Souza gives back answer to Yasoob Abbas for Challenging her to show up underwear

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StopShamelessTrolls : Here's Maulana Yasoob Abbas, a cleric challenging an anchor to show up at her workplace in underwear to prove she's equal to men. Mirror Now's Faye D'Souza gives it back in her own style. #WATCH

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We recognise that our app is not one that is preventative, it is actually on the contrary - responsive. Whilst we originally wanted to create an app which would be educational and preventative, we recognised that that kind of app would not have been successful, as it would be unlikely that people who become perpetrators would actively download an app that prevents sexual assault and sexual violence. We do hope that the educational aspects of our app though stop such incidents from occurring though. For example, with the rating system, if a doctor hears that they received a bad review, they might change their practices, and the same applies for restaurants, chemists, etc.

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This article observes the positive impact of a contraception app in helping rural communities. Through educational elements as well as interactive discussion boards, change and improvement has been seen in rural India surrounding the topic of concern, contraceptives. In regards to our app this is important as it demonstrates the ability for a well-created app to achieve a desired effect and impact on a practical sense beyond education. However, one of the critiques of our app is that for now it is primarily aimed at higher middle class and non-rural women. This article highlights the ability for apps to still impact and assist rural women, so although they may not be the current target audience, this article demonstrates the potential for expansion in the future.

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The accessibility of our app is questionable, on similar lines to what Chloe has outlined, there will be many women who will be unable to use the app, even out of fear. We hope to combat this by making the app very discrete, as mentioned by Aditi. We plan to do this by making it look like a calculator at the home screen which requires a maths equation password to enter into the app. The name of the app may be need to be changed if it is actually launched, as Care2Care may be too obvious.

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There is a reality of victim blaming that occurs in India, even amongst survivors of sexual assault and their close friends and family. There may be a group of women who will be reluctant to use the app because the app shifts the blame and takes the onus away from the victim. Although attitudes in Indian society are slowly changing, it may be many years before our app can be effective to its maximum capacity in India as women who actively victim blame may be reluctant to use it.

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This article highlights the differences in the sexual violence situation of India compared to other countries. Comparing the US, China and Japan with India on statistics surrounding willingness to be a bystander and not step in if witnessing sexual violence. This paper also focuses on students, the target group of our app, offering us insight as to why services beyond just calling for witnesses to help is essential in protecting women. The paper found that Indian students were aware of the issues of violence against women in India but unwilling to step in or be proactive. If bystanders are unwilling to step in, there is a huge gap for support from external sources. Someone to believe the survivor is vital in providing them the support they need in dealing with a sexual assault and therefore filling this gap, as well as trying to address the cultural changes that need to occur is important.

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Find it at ANU link resolver - The Australian National University Library

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Bystander Attitudes to Prevent Sexual Assault: A Study of College Students in the United States, Japan, India, Vietnam, and China

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Annotation: The Delhi gang rape which made international headlines for its brutality led to widespread outrage and calls for cultural and political change. This article outlines the Verma  Report -  which was a response to country-wide protests. This article dissects the Report and the recommendations it made, reflecting on whether central and state governments in India have actually implemented the research driven recommendations based on an overview of Criminal laws, medical/police examinations of victims and educational practices. It is useful because our app is seeking to also fill the gaps and centralise sexual violence services for university students, so considering how this article maps out gaps in governance, policy, society and health will inform how we structure our app
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Annotation: This is the trailer for a documentary on netflix, about the brutal 2012 delhi gang rape. I have found another source connecting to the incident because it really did catapult this issue into national consciousness in an unprecedented way. This documentary is useful because it incorporates the experiences of university students, who are our target audience. It also depicts the repulsive attitudes of the defence lawyer and the accused, once again contextualising our app and what we are up against.

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Uploaded by India's Daughter on 2015-09-24.

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Using an app as a vehicle to address sexual violence is, in itself, closing the scope of reach of your information. Apps increase the reach of projects in an unprecedented way compared to the past. However, there are still many limitations including the cost of smart phones, the cost of internet plans, and internet availability; all very real concerns for poor and/or rural women in India. Moreover, many features of our app in this current stage are about alerting women on university campuses or in cities about access to services and assistance. These features limit the reach of the app and somewhat prevent engagement of women from all backgrounds and from all areas as there may not be as much useful tools for them to engage with. We felt as though the scope needed to be narrowed at the beginning in order for us to effectively address the specific concerns of that group, before potentially expanding to other regions and demographics in the future.

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Annotation: This article makes the case for the link between sexual assault and domestic violence. It is useful in the creation of our app because it clearly shows how neither are just public or private issues, the scope is far more complex. This particular article focuses on 'spatialities' of violence against women, and how every echelon in society contributes to it. Spatialities is not an everyday concept so applying it to technology could make for a dynamic and creative method of addressing sexual assault/violence against university age women

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A number of elements in our app are links to other sites. I am critical because these elements are obviously not original, however, I also believe that utilising established resources and expanding the reach of other great services is the most beneficial and efficient way to spread detailed and useful information. For example, the Eateries section of the app utilises the already established companies/apps that collate food reviews and then our app uses an algorithm to collate the most relevant reviews for our audience. To have started an entirely new interface for reviews would limit the vastness of reviews that can be used for the benefit of the user. We are however, relying on other forums to assist us in our app and therefore are at the mercy of their reach and success.

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Annotation: This scholarly article is useful because it maps out the discourse surrounding sexual violence over the 1980s and 1990s, which provides us app creators with valuable context that we must work within. It focuses on the independent journal Manushi's covering of sexual violence from the 1980s and 1990s, placing women's sexuality at the forefront of rights discourse.  Such radical ideas were/are not uncommon in India, but they don't always enter mainstream discourse until much later. We can take cues from the journal so that our 'radical' app can be useful immediately

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There is a real danger of men or ill-willed people infiltrating the app and undermining the aim of the app; a supportive network of women sharing advice and support. There is very little we can do to avoid this other than plan for the app to be closely monitored for cases of concern, as well as implementing a 'report' feature where women using the app can highlight any comments or actions that seem illegitimate or problematic. Beyond this it seems extremely difficult to control the content posted by individual users, and one critique of our app is that it is so reliant on its users being helpful in order for it to operate effectively.

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This article aims to address whether awareness of emergency contraception methods is widespread in Chandigarh - which is a city in the north of India. It discovered, as largely expected, that awareness of emergency contraception methods was actually quite low and this highlights a need to raise education and awareness about this. Additionally, the article states how it is difficult for young women to access contraception, even if they are aware about it. Our app aims to have a rating system of doctors and chemists which will allow for women to see where they can easily access contraception without feeling embarrassed.

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This article discusses discourses that occur around the issue of rape in India. It summarises the different views that a range of people hold regarding the issue. The author utilises statements from politicians, survivors and even from large media outlets. As it is quite a recent article, having been published in 2014, the article will allow us to investigate current sentiments of individuals about rape and sexual assault in India. The article mentions instances of victim blaming as well as the male-female hierarchy which exists in Indian society.

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This study on survivors of sexual offences in South Delhi gives a good insight into the target audience for our app. The language which the study uses is quite interesting and contrasts the language we will be using - the article uses the term 'victim' and we will be using 'survivor'. The study is very effective in highlighting the issue, especially as it compares statistics from Delhi to other parts of the world such as the US, South Africa and Nigeria.

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This article specifically discusses portrayal of sexual assault in Bollywood movies. It is quite recent, as it was published in 2014, however there have been many films, such as Pink, which have been released since then which also discuss and portray sexual assault and sexual violence. It addresses how often, women victims are seen as responsible for assaults and that a large majority of Indian films assume traditional gender roles. The article also brushes on the 'casual' assaults which occur in Bollywood films - such as following the girl around until she decides to be with the 'protagonist', etc.

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This news article highlights the creation of a 'preventing rape' device which makes a loud noise when pressed.

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ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands , March 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Somebody Save Me Foundation presents Hero Key, an innovative high-end device designed specifically to undermine the rising number of rapes and sexual assaults in .

, famous for its , spicy food and Bollywood, is infamous for its rising number of rape cases. To combat and reduce the number of or prevent rapes and sexual assaults altogether, the Somebody Save Me Foundation announced their latest venture, called the Hero Key Program.

This initiative is centered on a new device called the " Hero Key", an advanced type of panic button specially designed to intervene in an attack. It works by sending out a wide-range alarm equal to a police siren (125 dB). Offenders cannot turn off the gadget because of a unique algorithm. Each Hero Key has a unique code registered to the person who owns it. When a Hero Key is found and reported, the foundation will contact the next of kin to make sure that its owner is safe. In case of doubt a search will be initiated. A GPS variant is optional. What makes this device stand out furthermore is that it will be available for free to women in high-risk areas regardless of their religion, social class or caste.

Norma Gogar , founder of the Somebody Save Me Foundation, said, "The pulsating sound of this device is impossible to ignore unlike existing personal alarms". She also said, "Bystanders can no longer bury their heads in the sand, and the chances of getting help will increase massively. The result we aim to achieve with this initiative is to prevent the attack from happening."

Based on a study looking at the number of reported rapes in , the Hero Key Program chose as its pilot location because of the high number of occurrences. The latest estimates of sexual assault in the country reveal that an incident occurs once every four minutes. After the evaluation of the pilot program is complete, the plan is to expand the project to areas of the world where the number of rapes and sexual assaults is high.

In order to accelerate progress, the foundation is seeking crowdfunding for its Hero Key Program on Indiegogo.com. Somebody Save Me is also giving away exclusive perks to contributors, divided into two segments: individual and company donations.

Please visit http://www.somebodysaveme.org for additional information/images.

Laura Roosevelt
Somebody Save Me Foundation
info@somebodysaveme.org
+31-(0)85-00-306-75

SOURCE Somebody Save Me Foundation

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Revolutionary Solution to Prevent Rape and Sexual Assault in India

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ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands , March 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Somebody Save Me Foundation presents Hero Key, an innovative high-end device designed specifically to undermine the rising number of rapes and sexual assaults in . , famous for its , spicy food and Bollywood, is infamous for its rising number of rape cases.

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This article also addresses the discourse of rape in India, particularly focusing on news outlets. It discusses how US media outlets had portrayed the issue and consistently show India as a 'backwards nation' that has a population consisting of 'savage males' and 'subordinate' women. The article was published in 2015, making it a very recent one and showing how such commentary still exists. The article also demonstrates how our app will be useful in order to change the rhetoric around sexual assault.

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Annotation: This video is one of many news stories/documentaries on the 'Gulabi Gang'- a group of vigilante women who are taking the law into their own hands because it is insufficient and ineffective in dealing with sexual/gendered violence. While it is not exactly what our app is doing/targeting, it is useful to consider other responses to sexual violence and how effective they are in changing cultural/political paradigms.

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India's "Pink Ladies": Defending Women's Rights | Journal Reporters

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The case of a 23-year-old medical student who died Saturday after a brutal gang rape on a bus in New Delhi has seemed to snap India to attention about its endemic sexual violence problem. Hundreds of Indians poured into the streets of New Delhi to mourn the young woman, and police announced that the six men arrested in connection with the attack had been charged with murder.

In recent years, New Delhi has earned the title of "rape capital" of India, with more than 560 cases of rape reported in the city, but violence against Indian women is widespread and has deep roots. Here's a look at some of the reasons behind the issue that's bringing Indians into the streets:

1. Few female police: Studies show that women are more likely to report sex crimes if female police officers are available. India has historically had a much lower percentage of female police officers than other Asian countries. In New Delhi, just 7 percent of police officers are women, and they are frequently given inconsequential posts that don't involve patrol duty, according to the Times of India. Of the 161 district police stations in Delhi, only one has a female station house officer.

When women do report rape charges to male police, they are frequently demeaned:

"The police refused to file a complaint. Instead, they asked my sister such vulgar details, it was as if she was being raped all over again," Charanjit Kaur, the sister of another recent rape victim who committed suicide, told The Washington Post. "There was no lady police officer, they were all men. My sister cried in front of them and kept asking, 'Would you still ask such questions if I were your daughter?'

As a result of the gang-rape incident, Delhi Police said they will launch a special effort to recruit more women.

2. Not enough police in general: There aren't enough police dedicated to protecting ordinary citizens, rather than elites, a Brookings article argues, and the officers that are available often lack basic evidence-gathering and investigative training and equipment:

Delhi, for example, is home to one of the largest metropolitan police forces in the world with some 84,000 officers. But only one-third are involved in any kind of actual "policing" at any given time, while the rest provide protection services to various politicians, senior bureaucrats, diplomats and other elites. According to the Times of India there is one officer for every 200 citizens and about 20 officers for every VIP. Many of those who do perform police duties can be found shaking down motorists, participating in protection rackets and simply looking the other way as crimes take place.

3. Blaming provocative clothing: There's a tendency to assume the victims of sexual violence somehow brought it on themselves. In a 1996 survey of judges in India, 68 percent of the respondents said that provocative clothing is an invitation to rape. In response to the recent gang-rape incident, a legislator in Rajasthan suggested banning skirts as a uniform for girls in private schools, citing it as the reason for increased cases of sexual harassment.

4. Acceptance of domestic violence: The Reuters TrustLaw group named India one of the worst countries in the world for women this year, in part because domestic violence there is often seen as deserved. A 2012 report by UNICEF found that 57 percent of Indian boys and 53 percent of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 think wife-beating is justified. A recent national family-health survey also reported that a sizable percentage of women blame themselves for beatings by their husbands.

"When a boy grows up seeing his father assault his mother, he starts to accept such a behavior and repeats it," Anuradha Gupta, mission director for India's National Rural Health Mission, was quoted as saying.

5. A lack of public safety: Women generally aren't protected outside their homes. The gang rape occurred on a bus, and even Indian authorities say that the country's public places can be unsafe for women. Many streets are poorly lit, and there's a lack of women's toilets, a Women and Child Development Ministry report said recently.

Women who drink, smoke or go to pubs are widely seen in Indian socirty as morally loose, and vi llage clan councils have blamed a rise in women talking on cellphones and going to the bazaar for an increase in the incidence of rape.

6. Stigmatizing the victim: When verbal harassment or groping do occur in public areas, bystanders frequently look the other way rather than intervene, both to avoid a conflict and because they -- on some level -- blame the victim, observers say. Male politicians contribute to the problem, making statements that make light of rape or vilify rape victims' supporters.

One regional policymaker, Anisur Rahman, recently asked a female minister what "her fee" would be for getting raped. The son of India's president also recently apologized after calling those protesting against the Delhi gang rape "highly dented and painted" women, who go "from discos to demonstrations," the AP reported.

7. Encouraging rape victims to compromise: In a recent separate rape case,a 17-year-old Indian girl who was allegedly gang-raped killed herself after police pressured her to drop the case and marry one of her attackers.

Rape victims are often encouraged by village elders and clan councils to "compromise" with the family of accused and drop charges -- or even to marry the attacker. Such compromises are aimed at keeping the peace between families or clan groups. What's more, a girl's eventual prospects of marriage are thought to be more important than bringing a rapist to justice.

8. A sluggish court system: India's court system is painfully slow, in part because of a shortage of judges. The country has about 15 judges for every 1 million people, while China has 159. A Delhi high court judge once estimated it would take 466 years to get through the backlog in the capital alone.

9. Few convictions: For rapes that do get reported, India's conviction rate is no more than 26 percent. There is also no law on the books covering routine daily sexual harassment, which is euphemistically called "eve-teasing." The passing of a proposed new sexual assault law has been delayed for seven years.

10. Low status of women: Perhaps the biggest issue, though, is women's overall lower status in Indian society. For poor families, the need to pay a marriage dowry can make daughters a burden. India has one of the lowest female-to-male population ratios in the world because of sex-selective abortion and female infanticide. Throughout their lives, sons are fed better than their sisters, are more likely to be sent to school and have brighter career prospects.

In recent days, Indian politicians have put forward a slew of potential remedies for India's sexual violence problem. But it's worth noting that it will be hard to end discrimination against women at police stations when it starts in the crib.
Lakshmi reported from New Delhi.

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10 reasons why India has a sexual violence problem

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The case of a 23-year-old medical student who died Saturday after a brutal gang rape on a bus in New Delhi has seemed to snap India to attention about its endemic sexual violence problem.