Hi, this is Rimona.
Hi, this is Namma.
Hi to you guys, our viewers, and thank you again for joining us on Hot Insight,
a space where an open narrative is discussed about a recent hot viral topic
and that has grabbed all the Nepali youth and got them talking.
In this Hot Insight episode, the topic that has grabbed the attention of the Nepali public
and that we will be discussing is the notorious Nepali Babes Reddit page.
Reddit is an online platform where network of community is based on people's interests,
users can find communities they're interested in and become part of the online community.
And in this incident, there was a Reddit page named Nepali Babes and the second Nepalese Babes
where photos of Nepali girls all around the globe were being shared by a group of certain individuals,
particularly Nepalese men and the users of these communities were commenting on these females.
The comments were vulgar and sexualising the women.
Bottom line - the comments were degrading and unacceptable.
These photos were uploaded on to the Reddit page without the consent of the women.
These photos were originally shared and posted of the individuals from their social media page,
so from Instagram or Facebook, and in addition to the Reddit page, it was later unfolded that
there was also a Discord chat room where the Reddit page users would congregate virtually and discuss the photos.
Discord is another online platform that allows to communicate either through audio or text in a group setting by creating a community.
Once this Reddit page was found, the news slowly started getting momentum
and spread like a wildfire among many Nepalis including Hot Insight.
Once these issues were raised, the victims of these set of pages have been very strong
and took proactive steps, and finally, the page is now banned and closed
due to violations of Reddit content policy against involuntary pornography.
Here, today, we have a panel of four strong ladies with us who were the victims of this crime.
They have agreed to speak on our platform to raise awareness of this issue and discuss it.
Hi, my name is Nirvana.
I am a feminist, writer, artist and social activist
and doing a lot of work, I live in Australia
but spending a lot of time back in Nepal.
I'm doing projects with young women mainly
and talking about a lot of different topics that relate to being a young Nepali woman of Nepali descent.
Hello, I'm Pooja.
I'm a student at the University of Surrey.
I'm doing my first year at Law & Criminology.
Hi, I'm Soniya.
I study osteopathy at the University College of Osteopahty in London and I'm in first year.
Hi, I'm Amber.
I'm a digital marketing manager here in London, and nice to meet everyone.
Okay, so before we divulge into the topic a bit more,
we wanted to talk about how you guys felt
and how it's affected you personally.
My story, I guess, is quite similar to all of the girls here.
So, basically, you know, I was public on Instagram.
I didn't really have a huge following
and I was aware about Reddit like about last year.
And I know a lot of people knew about it.
It's like an open secret in the community.
But, you know, I think we kinda brushed it aside, like just report it and so on.
But I don't think we realised the extent of the content that was on the page
and how actually some of the stuff there, you know, is not legally okay,
you know, child pornography, leaked out photos.
And it just infuriated me because once I mentioned about it on my Instagram,
the Reddit users, this particular admin, I guess, or a user, I dunno,
he saw that I reported the page and he started...
he started mentioning it and posting even more on to the page
and writing even more rude comments and he posted on my Instagram.
So, every time I updated my Instagram, he would update,
you know, the images as well as my username.
So once I noticed that he was like keeping tabs on me, I went private.
I removed a lot of the random followers
and then I changed my username that day four five times
but each time he kept on updating the fact that Reddit users with my new username.
So he was kinda like poking me.
You know, 'I can do this to you' and it made me quite anxious.
It made me angry and that's why I think I started speaking up a bit more on my Instagram
and people started, you know, speaking up as well and sharing their stories.
So, basically, one time I was on, I was just on Instagram
and I was just messing around with my little brother.
I thought let's go on a live stream, just 'cause I put makeup on
and thought it would be funny.
And then there was this person who popped on the live stream
and was, like, talking about some Reddit thread
and obviously they said the name was Nepali Babes or Nepalese Babes
and obviously, you know, I realised that, obviously, like,
the vibe was quite like, you know, sexualising women
and it's uncomfortable 'cause my younger brother is right next to me.
So, obviously, after that, I checked that out
and it was just weird, like, seeing my photos
that I had no idea was being posted on there
and obviously, as I was scrolling through,
I saw loads of mutuals I have seen all over Instagram as well.
So I was really, like, I'm sure none of these girls know they're on this Reddit thread.
And also, the comments were very vulgar
and then I was also posted on PornHub as well.
Basically, I was going about my day and this guy popped up
and basically, he said, 'Congrats, you're on PornHub'
and I was like, what?!
He sent a screenshot of me on PornHub, like, literally just my selfie
and then I scrolled through and there was loads of other Nepalese girls as well.
And then there was also like a whole private album just dedicated to me as well,
with 16 photos in there that I couldn't access
and apparently he could.
And then I said could I see what's in the folder
and then he wouldn't show me.
From the way he was texting, I'm assuming he was, like,
from the UK 'cause he had normal UK slang and stuff
so I was really, like, I was really confused
how we're not being told we were being posted on these things.
And also, it's not in a nice way, not in a flattering way.
It's in a vulgar, pervy way.
For me, it wasn't so much to the lead up to before it got exposed,
but more afterwards.
I think as an artist who is quite radical in her expression,
I have been, you know, controversial in what I do
and I knew that people, you know, were talking about me
and my photos since like last year.
I never really paid much attention to it because I thought, you know,
they clearly don't understand artistic expression
and I don't care.
So, when someone first told me they saw some of my photos on the site,
I didn't really think twice about it.
I thought, you know, it's gonna happen.
I think the time I started taking it more seriously was,
I guess, a few weeks ago when I was added to a private group chat
on Instagram with a bunch of other victims like 15 or 20 women.
Some of them, you know, quite renowned influencers
and they were sharing their stories of how much worse the harassment had been for them
and you know, their phones being hacked and photo being leaked, private photos.
So seeing all that made me feel like, okay, this is something that, you know,
we need to do something about this
so yeah, I guess I was the first one to publicly speak about this.
I didn't know anything about the Reddit thread
and this was a year ago so obviously when I got loads of DMs, like really nasty DMs,
I was sort of, like, shocked and, like, really scared.
And there was this one person who was, basically like my little glimmer of hope, like, I,
she just said that she knows that it's not true
and that like she can help me, she sent me this link
and it ended up being like a virus kind of link where you can hack
and I ended up giving her my email, my username, my phone number.
I sent her all the codes that were being sent to me
because I actually trusted this person
and my SnapChat ended up getting logged out
which I was able to quickly recover my password though.
I found that she was trying to hack it because as soon as I did that,
she asked me for more codes that were being sent to my phone.
So, urm, I was actually a victim of hacking.
If I hadn't realised sooner that they were trying to hack into my account
then I'm pretty sure many more of pictures would be up
and on top of that, I was getting harassed.
I was private at the time but they were still able to do that
so literally happens to everyone,
it's not just because you're on public or if you're on private
and it's really weird because the post, which I later found out, I think it was a couple months after,
someone did send me my post on the Reddit thread
but the captions were removed
but when the people were harassing me they were harassing me with
as if I had a price tag associated with my name and it was really, like, derogatory.
I think the tactic they use is that they make it mysterious, they don't know...
they don't sent you what's being shared 'cause it was just me in my dress.
I wouldn't have bothered, I wouldn't have cared because it's just in my dress
and it's a very popular dress 'cause they made it really mysterious,
I didn't know what was being put up.
I didn't know if someone has got a picture of me, taken a picture of me, like, secretly.
I didn't know anything so that's what made me really really vulnerable.
So, firstly, as the topic has grabbed the attention of lots of Nepalese around the world,
there has been a lot of negative comments that have risen from both females and males
but I want to raise one specific comment which says,
'She posts thirst trap like this, what does she expect to attract,' what do you say to that?
Firstly, I'm, I'm so angry still now.
It's like basically the same as, you know, when you're victim blaming someone who's getting raped,
"they've been asking for it"
but no one is asking for it
and a lot of the stuff that we have posted on our Instagram,
yes, it's in the public but at the end of the day, it's still our content.
They didn't ask us to, you know, credit us,
they just posted out personal details which is still our Instagram on to that page
and their policy does say it does allude to that as well.
If you post private even if it's Facebook account names which is the same essentially as the Instagram,
it's still their content and because it's in the public,
who wants to be in that page with the stigma around it?
Like no girl on that page wants to be on that page
and they think that we will completely be okay with that
and that we're just gonna shut up and let them do their thing
and you know, as a result, it's been taken down now.
It really really angers me that they think, like, we're asking for it because a lot of the girls here are educated.
You know, they've gone to uni,
they have got done some sort of education,
they're more than just, you know, the content they post online
so it really angers me that they think we're just, you know, a piece of object.
I think Amber touched up on a lot of things.
It is victim blaming.
I mean, I think my question is, these are females and males, you know,
saying these comments and did they ever make you feel like
'Oh, damn it, maybe I shouldn't have posted these photos?'
'Cause look at the comments they're saying.
Heck, no.
Yeah.
What about you, Pooja?
Urm, I actually did end up apologising to one of the people harassing me so I was literally, like..
No, but you need to kinda see it from my point of view as well.
I was really vulnerable and people were just attacking me.
I just wanted it to end so I was, like,
and it was a woman as well I think,
so I was like 'I'm sorry, didi. I didn't meant to disrespect you with my post.'
'I love my parents. I love my family. I go to university.'
I said all that and that really provoked her to harass me further.
That's why if you go on my Instagram, like, literally
my bio says, 'Law and Criminology, University of Surrey.'
I just really wanted to accentuate that
so that no one has, like, any bad, you know, view about me, like,
being uneducated and just like something else.
So yeah, that was really scary and it does happen.
They do make you feel terrible about it.
Obviously, now, I'm just like I wasn't in the wrong
but at the time when it's like really sensitive,
you're not really thinking straight
and another thing I wanna add about the victim-blaming concept,
I think it's much more easier for people to victim blame
when they haven't gone through the same experience that we have.
That's definitely something we need to understand
and they need to understand as well, like, you're not gonna know
how it feels unless it happens to you
and then you'll be calling out people victim-blaming you.
Yeah, I think with the whole online experience happening
nobody think about the person behind the screen,
as in the victims and their feelings,
how they would feel if this happened to them.
To them, women are just meat, it's just something to gouge on.
There is no heart behind this.
It's just really sad.
I think it's really sad that you even had to change up your bio
and have a reasoning behind who you are as a person
and you know, that person is defining you.
It's like you have to justify yourself on who you are
and having to show your worth when, you know, you don't need to prove anything to anyone.
And that's what is annoying, urm, because a lot of these girls are highly educated, goes to university.
They can do both and that's what people oppress
because, you know, they grew up thinking girls can only do one thing.
But no, you know, there's multiple surfaces to the layers.
I think the, urm, really crazy thing that this mentality
that comes up from this is like people still have this weird, I don't know,
notion that girls can either be really attractive or really intelligent,
and now, you know, all of us, they're putting our photos on these sites,
we're like we're not just about our looks because they still have the association
that, yeah, if you're beautiful then you're not smart
or if you're taking confident photos of yourself then [...]
and it's so ridiculous that we have to prove that we're more than our looks
and I feel like, yeah, it just makes me really upset.
Basically, I just think, like, when we're trying to attract,
obviously, we're attracting attention but if anything we didn't really ask for the treatment that we received.
No one should ever receive such vulgar, vile comments.
That's not pleasant, it's not uplifting.
'Cause a good comment will be something flattering that makes your day, makes you smile.
Victim-blaming, like, it's quite embarrassing for me
'cause, yeah, like Pooja, I just used to make jokes about
if creepy men just popped up to me or sent me weird pictures
'cause none of my closest friends were going through anything, like, similar.
So I was like, it's 'cause I post these photos,
am I putting myself in a vulnerable position?
'Cause they don't post these kinda photos and I am,
so it's my fault, maybe, that I'm getting this treatment.
But, you know, obviously, over time I realised,
actually, a lot of girls post pictures like this,
I really can't be the only one receiving this type of treatment
and you know what?
It's not even our fault.
Like, we genuinely, if we look good, we look good.
We leave our house looking like that,
we dress the way we want to and, like, that shouldn't be an issue.
I don't know why it make them feel uncomfortable
or make them feel like, yes, it's okay to just view us as sexual objects.
Something that I think you, Amber, touched upon is the society
and the mindset the society has
and something I want to kinda address is the societal expectations of Nepali women.
There has been a comment where, when I've been, you know, researching about this concept,
where a male has said, it's quite a long quote,
"There's so many hard-working, talented woman who have zero interest in showing skin."
Good for them.
"They work hard, compete with men, earn for their living, overcome all odds."
"Women, mothers, sisters makes great sacrifices to survive. That's the true Nepali women."
"Not these attention seeking girls who you mention, who have no self [...] display of their inner skin."
And of course, to follow that question up, that was by a commenter,
someone who after this incident went viral,
they commented that but then the perpetrators addressed it saying,
"cannot trust any Nepalese girls who have been raised abroad countries."
And I think they have kinda compared, or another term I'd like to use, gaslighting,
they're gaslighting women against each other.
I just kinda wanna touch up on the society.
So these individuals, they're douchebags regardless
but have they been conditioned to think like this because of the society we live in?
When you read that first quote, it just makes me laugh
because this mentality is so limited, you know,
and I think it really comes down to
people cannot seem to grasp the fact that women can be multi-faceted.
Like, we can go to university, we can feel confident in our bodies,
we can show our skin if we want and it's just, they cannot seem to grasp that which is so simple.
I think in our culture, especially in South Asia,
although so many Nepali people are living abroad,
I have often encountered that even here in Australia,
I've met Nepali guys who lived here for ages
but some things in their thinking is still very conservative.
It's things like this, you know, how women should behave
and if you're like a good woman then you wouldn't do this.
I know it’s a lot of conditioning that takes a lot of time to undo
but it's, it's just ridiculous.
I think it's too late for them personally.
We can't change their mind and you know what, that's their life.
If that's what they're gonna think then that's what they're gonna think.
And, like, on top of that, if we wanna live our life like that
we're gonna live our life like that.
Who are we, you know, to tell them even though they have a shit view on it?
That's their view and we can't change it.
So, you know, if they've got a problem,
that's their problem so, you know, whatever.
And then, in terms of like, the whole conditioning and,
you know, growing up in a more western culture,
you know, even in Nepal, there are people who are more liberal, who are more open-minded.
It's not just people from Nepal who are, you know, being all these trolls and hating on women,
it's also, you know, I've experienced it, friends have experienced it,
guys who are brought up here from an early age,
they still have a very traditional mentality.
Like, I have experienced it, you know, slut shaming,
all that stuff in an early age and you know what?
It made me work even harder to prove them, you know,
I'm more than just what you say I am, you know,
so that's where it stemmed for me originally.
And like I said, like, we think that these guys are just in Nepal,
like, hating not being traditional but it's also guys from here like Soniya baini said,
there was a lot of UK terminology used from her, you know, haters.
A lot of these guys, I have seen the words used peng, ..., you know, like a lot of UK terminology.
They definitely were brought up here yet they still have that mindset
so it's a shame really and quite disappointing
because we still have our, you know, traditional values
but because we grew up in this environment,
not everyone is in the same boat as us really.
So it's disappointing.
The photos that were posted on Reddit,
was it just international Nepali girls' photo?
Was there, like, Nepal's girls' photos, too?
There was both, wasn't there?
Yeah, I think so.
That would be my challenge to these perpetrators, like,
it's not just international...
in Nepal, there are girls who are modern so what are they tryna say you can't trust...
Sorry, lemme just read the quote...
"Nepalese girls who are raised in abroad countries."
So that comment was directed to me after I, like,
you know, revealed this thing on my post.
And I think what they're actually trying to say is that
the fact that I'm speaking out is in itself a trait that because I don't live in Nepal.
So I think it was more that they were coming for me in that regard, like,
how dare she think this is an issue
because they were really minimising it, right?
After this came out, a lot of people were defending these pages
saying, like, you know they're just trying to appreciate our ethnic beauties.
Someone even said something like they're going with white guys,
what are we doing wrong, you know.
Like, we're just appreciating our ethnic girls.
And they're defending themselves saying it's our fault for making a big deal out of this.
That's just...
Amber and I have been talking about this a lot as well and seeing the aftermath of this.
On the topic of living abroad making us less Nepali, like,
I'm not gonna lie but living abroad does makes us a little different from, you know, people in Nepal.
It's not a negative difference.
I don't see it as that.
The difference is there because when you're born
you don't have the same level of restrictions as you do in Nepal
and because of those restrictions, you know, like, we appear different.
And obviously, 'cause they're not used to it, they start to, you know, target and attack us for that.
Lemme tell you even in Nepal,
there are girls who are just as westernised as us, if not more.
They go on holidays, they wear bikinis as well.
The community itself in Nepal is much, much more restricted than the community here.
That's what I'm trying to say.
So I would say it's not being less Nepali, it's more the less restrictions.
That's the emphasis there rather than less Nepali
'cause we can't really change our ethnicity just 'cause we dress a little different.
I think also rather than just clothing,
it's the freedom of expression like
that's what they have a problem with.
It's any way that we express ourselves
so now even, you know, being vocal about what happened in all these Reddit pages,
I have been getting asked if we were ever scared for our safety.
I think I am now since speaking about this
and being quite vocal so I had to put my profile back on private.
Although I wanted to talk about this more
but people were warning me though that they were gonna try hack into your devices,
you need to make your profile private,
they're gonna find a way to get to you
because you are the one who started talking about this,
they're really angry at you, right?
So even, I planned to go back to Nepal quite soon,
I'm spending the rest of the year there
but I am a bit worried about what if people follow me
and what's gonna happen to me.
So it's like the price of speaking out about injustice which is crazy
and I think that's what they're really attacking.
These men are saying a "real, proper" Nepali woman is only going to express herself
in a way that is deemed appropriate by society
and that society is patriarchal
so that's what they want of us and we’re not doing it.
I found that comment so funny.
So somebody said we’re only admiring our ethnic Nepali girls.
Did you guys feel like you were being admired?
Fuck, no.
No.
Because doesn’t admire mean that you’re appreciating somebody in a very positive sense?
Uplifting.
Yeah.
But it was doing the opposite
and why were they doing it in a closed chat, is my question.
Why are they not publicly telling you guys?
To me, is a whole lot of non sense.
I don’t know if you guys have thought about this.
My question to those perpetrators would be
are you admiring your mothers and sisters the same way?
That applies to how guys not sharing the stories as well
‘cause they have to remember their cousins and sisters even like their female friends,
they’re the ones, you know, who have been going though this
and they should share it, the stories, too.
And even if they’re not affected or they don’t know anyone that’s going to be affected,
they’re gonna have kids, they’re gonna have, like, you know, when they’re older, like,
vulnerable younger girls in their life
so this is why we should educate them that, you know, this is not right.
It’s about changing the society, isn’t it?
It is actually about changing the societal mindset
because if we change that then for the next generation,
it’s gonna be easier or better.
Open-minded. Yeah.
For men to understand they should respect women,
we really need to drill this point in.
Like, think about your mother, think about your sister, you know.
We need to make it so emotional to them
rather than us being able to say respect all women
whether she’s your mother, whether she’s your sister or not,
even if she’s a stranger she deserves the same amount of respect
but it’s like we always have to use these examples, right?
And even with Nepali women
they also have the same mindset as these conservative guys.
Sometimes women also goes against women
and they say, you know, “you're a woman, you shouldn’t be doing these things, you should be more respectable looking” etc.
So it’s just this whole conservative concept
that is really frustrating and
shape you into somebody that you’re not.
I have a problem with that definitely.
I definitely agree.
Yeah, because I was attacked by women as well
so I definitely agree to that as well.
I think what made it worse,
if it was just men attacking me then I would, you know,
just be able to kinda brush past it
‘cause it was a woman, it made me doubt myself
‘cause, you know, it was coming from, you know, a woman.
So if they can’t understand why I’m, you know, freely expressing myself
then it’s kinda like, you know…
They’re the ones you’re supposed to relate to and open up to on these things,
and instead of showing you doubt …
I can identify with them.
And yeah, if they shut you down, it’s kind of like that means I’m doing something wrong then.
But, for me, I still don’t blame those women
because I think it is the society that has conditioned those women.
It’s because our society is so deeply rooted in patriarchal societal norms
that they live through it so they’re just kinda preaching or saying what they’ve known.
That's why they say that
but if their mindset was kinda conditioned differently
then they might not have so, urm, yes, they’re part of …
But if you’re giving an excuse to the men, I mean, to the women
then that applies to men as well then because that’s how they’ve been taught to think
so I disagree with you.
This is what I mean, but men have it rooted this from way back then.
So I think as a society or as a whole population
as Nepali people from all around the world,
we really need to question our individual mindset as well
and our society's mindset because I don’t know if you guys get it, you know,
like parents are always saying, “don't do that, what are people gonna day?”
Who cares? Come on now!
Like, so be it.
When this was all exposed and shared,
were there any men that shared and gave support to you guys?
Yeah.
I had a lot.
I’m very grateful to them.
Everyone was just like can’t believe you actually went through this
like everyone was just shocked as if you had to put up with this.
‘Cause not everyone was vocal about this until recently.
Yeah.
So it’s really nice to hear everyone is actually, like,
‘wow, can’t believe you actually go through that.’
They don’t think about, or they see our parents, ‘oh, she’s just a regular girl like us,’ do you know what I mean.
They don’t realise we get this regular harassment.
We have to actually put up with it even though we shouldn’t have to.
Yeah.
I didn’t see many men really raise their voices.
I was gonna say…
But that’s the thing though.
A lot of people have their own way expressing, you know,
just like some people, not all men are going to repost our story or,
you know, repost our posts like all girls do.
'Cause I know a lot of girls reposted my little post that I put out but men they do reply to me.
A lot of people replied to me and they were like ‘I’m sorry this happened to you’,
they didn’t necessarily have to put it on a post
and that’s what a lot of people don’t see.
They think that men don’t do anything but that’s not true.
Shouldn’t they raise awareness though?
That’s my question.
That’s what I was gonna say.
But I think they just handle it differently
'cause us girls we like to…
Obviously, this is about, you know, women, so obviously,
women, they like to do post about it, raise awareness about it
but I think men it’s just different for them.
But I think, to me, personally, I think that’s the problem
because when you said it’s about women,
I don’t think it’s about women.
I think what Nirvana touched on,
it’s about freedom of expression and that should go for a woman and a male.
And, urm, yes, some men might not feel comfortable,
you know, posting on their Instagram, maybe that’s not the type of individual they are
but if, like, lemme give you an example,
when the whole thing in Australia, the forest fire or when there’s a war or something, you know,
and there was that bombing, everybody changed their Facebook profile picture to, you know,
there was that colours, certain colours...
In that one, I think if I remember correctly,
there was an even distribution from a male and female
changing their profile to certain colours.
And in incidence like this, I get a little bit disappointed
why there is not more men trying to raise awareness ‘cause I think they’re sorry,
I’m not saying they don’t feel bad,
they do feel bad and it’s great that they have spoken to you.
I got a few DMs when I posted from people
‘Wow, this is so bad’,
but help us, you know.
Become an ally and raise it.
Some have.
Some of my friends did.
Some guys literally said this is disgusting, which is great
but I think raising awareness is very individual’s,
it should be every individual’s duty.
Personally, I have, I got the same kind of support from close guy friends
but I think does it take that long to share a story, is it that difficult?
And you know, I’ve also had a friend’s friend, who’s a guy,
‘I wouldn’t share it if the police aren’t really bothered about it.’
You know, they don’t realise how serious it is for us.
Even if it's girls or boys, I think there was more shares, you know, awareness from girls.
Like, the guys, I feel like they don’t realise how,
they might think we’re overreacting, making a big deal
so that's why they might not see it as for them as for us.
But like when I made the post that you know the page was put down like yesterday,
suddenly, everybody seems to be liking it, congratulating it, you know.
Now everyone’s on board because something actually came out of it.
But when we were actually going through it, like,
we didn’t see as much support from the guys as I wanted to, to be honest.
I think the response to this and how to handle it has also been quite decisive
in what I saw in my involvement.
So there was a lot of victims that didn’t wanna make it public knowledge
because they thought if we keep it private, we’re gonna be able to find  the moderators,
go through with this kinda with the legal side of it, contact police, you know,
and try to keep it under wraps as possible until we find the culprit.
So that was kinda what I was going along with
but I didn’t feel like it was getting any where
and a lot of the people also disagree with the fact that we made it such a public issue
because they’re like now this pages are just gonna go under cover,
they’re still gonna exist but they’re gonna be more careful about it.
And I honestly don’t know what the right thing was in that situation.
I mean, we know where we are now
but I think it was very divisive about what the proper actions to take were.
I think it's fair to put it on […]
because now it puts guilty and shame on to their actions.
Do you know what I mean?
We had to put up with that for no reason
and I think they deserved to feel shameful feeling that way
because plenty of guys think that's wrong.
There's loads of guys who go why the hell would you do that to these simple, like,
these innocent photos or the way they look good, I don't understand.
They should feel shame. We shouldn't feel bad so I'm happy with it on blast.
We gone through the nice way, we reported it, we've, you know, asked the admin as well to put it down
but nothing gets actioned and I myself called the police
and you know what, they got back to me in to 2/3 days.
And I spoke to her and she again was like
'I recommend you to stay private and wouldn’t post anything that you wouldn't want to be online.'
It's just like freedom of expression is being tarnished here
and like that's what I mean because everyone individually done it in their own way,
nothing has happened and now we're coming together,
people now think we're, you know, overreacting or whatnot, and making a big deal
but you know if we feel uncomfortable
and our safety is at risk then so be it.
We have to come together and make it uncomfortable for people to finally get it through their head.
You kind of have got results, right?
The page is banned and it's closed
but I feel like we still need to continue raising awareness, you know,
‘cause like you said, Nirvana, they can go undercover, there could be other pages.
So I mean as individuals how do you think we can continue supporting this
or continue raising awareness about, you know, cyberporn?
I don't know what it would come under, like cyber harassment.
I think calling this behaviour out has been quite effective.
I mean, yeah, they have gone undercover but I have also sensed this, like, the level of fear, you know.
When I shared stuff on my stories, there’s been someone …
sending  screenshots of what I have said on my stories to these moderators like
‘OMG, Nirvana has put this on her story.’
So there is, and I think Amber has also seen this as well, there has been like fear.
I think we need to keep calling it out
and all of these messages I have got in the wake of this,
I shared every single one of them on my story.
And seeing, like, the outpouring of the women messaging me being just as angry as well as some men,
it really shows that people are furious about what's happening.
And I think we just need to keep sharing all of it,
everything that happens because that's how we kinda build this movement, right?
Yeah, and I think when I posted something they posted on the Discord group chat,
they were again victim blaming.
They were like, ‘oh, look at her crying about it,’ you know.
No, because you are in the wrong, I am calling you out.
I’m suddenly crying about it, complaining about it
and they even really questioned am I even getting online harassed?
Yes, I am.
What?
Online harassment, they were just questioning it
and I'm just like just because you're in the wrong, you're justifying your actions are fine…
They wouldn't like it if men said that about their mum or sisters or something.
Yeah exactly.
It’s just really frustrating but that's why we need to keep continuing to speak up about it.
And I think I'm the oldest one here
and there's been a lot of younger girls who messaged me and actually spoke up about it as well.
They have told me ‘oh, because of you speaking out, I have had the courage to speak up well,’
so it's just, we need to keep empowering each other as well and keep at it.
It's just really frustrating and but that's what we need to keep continuing to speaking up about it.
And I think I'm the oldest one here
and there's been a lot of younger girls who messaged me and actually spoke up about it as well.
They have told me ‘oh, because of you speaking out I have had the courage to speak up well,'
so it's just, we need to keep empowering each other as well and keep at it.
Ever since this popped up, the second page started talking about how, you know,
guys get, you know, objectified as well and then started to bring it up.
It’s just like okay that's fine but that's a problem as well
so why are you speaking up now once we are speaking about us women being objectified.
Where was this attention before all this if it was such an issue for you?
It’s so tactical. They are all delusional, I swear, it’s crazy.
I think it's just, as Amber was saying, it’s just a retaliation, you know.
When we're making some sort of progress in the feminist movement in any way
there are always people, they cut us down straightaway
and be like it happens to us too, we are victims too.
But it's like, you know, a wider problem.
Like this is just one example of what happens in our society every single day in so many ways.
Did you guys feel like you got support from this incident?
Were you able to reach out to anybody, family, friends or legally?
How were you able to process it through and move forward personally?
I am a pretty impulsive person so as soon as I realised this guy was keeping tabs on me,
I blasted him out and a lot of people were supportive and I do appreciate it.
They said to keep continuing on because I did feel like I was going on
a bit of a tangent for the whole week of all this happening.
But people were still supportive throughout it.
I wanna thank them and like I mentioned just before as well like
there were younger girls who were following me or who didn't follow me
but other younger girls shared it amongst each other who reached out to me
and I've seen them share their stories which was really nice
because they wouldn't have done it if we just kept quiet.
So I think that's quite positive and I hope we continue on to do that
and start calling people out when it's not right.
Yeah, I think just knowing there is a community of women that are so passionate about this
and feel the exact same way that I do, that we do, has been really empowering.
Yeah I've got so many messages from women on Instagram
especially when I started getting attacked in the wake of this,
being like this is so fucked up and we are with you
and keep doing it, keep fighting the good fight kinda thing.
So that's made a huge difference, you know.
I think like sometime people think that support needs to be just in real life
but especially during lockdown, you know, […]
you can provide and give so much support through online mediums
and even to strangers because we’re all tied together by this joint passions and this cause.
So that’s really good.
I think at the moment though I am really overwhelmed by everything that’s been happening in the last week
so tryna just make a conscious effort to spend less time on Instagram
because all these people are now defending these pages, you know, and they’re like, I dunno,
just dealing with all those comments just get very exhausting.
So I’m trying to step back from it.
It is definitely draining I have to say.
It is draining.
We wanna end it with perhaps sending out a message to these perpetrators,
what would you say to them if you has any message for them?
Get a life.
It’s just like, you know what, we’re not gonna stop
and if you keep on making these pages, we’re still gonna be here.
We’re still gonna be raising awareness for this and we’re gonna bring you guys down faster.
This took us one week.
We’re gonna do it a day next time.
Yes!
I think this might be a bit more positive
but like, I do wanna say, even though there was a lot of negative aspects towards the end,
I don’t want them to take it too negatively.
I would rather they take it as, like, us sort of giving our side,
educating them that we’re not like whatever they’re thinking us to be.
So yeah, obviously, they do have that mindset.
We’re just trynna open, trynna open up to their mindset a bit to different level, you know,
so I just hope they take it as an educational video rather than an attacking one.
Yeah, I kinda agree with Pooja in that sense.
I think one of the positive things that has come in the wake of this is that
I know either on maybe the Nepali Babes one before it got taken down, there was actually conversation by men,
like users of this site, that were talking about, you know, the fact that, like,
what’s harmful and what’s not, and there were, like, conversations around consent happening.
You know, they were like of course these women are going to be upset
if you taking their photos without their consent
so there was conversation happening within their community which I think is a really positive stuff
because I’m hoping these others users are reading these and being like ‘oh, okay.'
So I think education and dialogue are definitely the way to make change.
I know it’s really hard and also not something we need to take all the responsibility on ourselves
because often it’s met with such attack and viciousness.
So I think it’s also about self-care for us as victims and as women in this movement,
but also that they need to, yeah, become aware in a gentle way somehow that what they’re doing is not okay.
They have a chance to change their mindset.
I mean, it’s a wonderful time to see actual reality of what they were saying
and be like, 'you know what I was wrong and I’m so sorry I did that.'
That’s all we want.
You know, we don’t wanna do more.
Just a change of mindset, a bit of refresh.
It’s not too late is what I’m gonna say.
I just wanted to say thank you so much Nirvana, Pooja, Amber and Soniya for coming on
and being such strong women and talking about this issue.
Let’s just keep raising the awareness!
Thank you.
Thanks for having us.
Thank you for having us.
My message to the perpetrators is that
you are commenting and degrading these women by one photo.
Do you even know them? Do you even know who they are?
Well, after this video, I think you can clearly tell, these are educated, strong, confident females
so I think it’s a you problem and you need to check yourself,
your character, your mindset and really, your mentality.
Please get help.
Thank you.
I absolutely second that.
I hope that you learn to respect women
and that by you commenting all these degrading things
about women doesn’t make them a lesser of a person.
It only shows how the wrongful character that you clearly have
and again, you clearly have some issues that you need to plough through.
Yeah, go get some help.
You really need it.
