In recent times, women have started speaking up against violence perpetrated on them. The best example of it can be seen in Sheroes Hangout in Agra, where five acid attack survivors run this cafe pointing to the fact that they are not affraid to come out in the open and highlight the need of sharing these stories. In India, we've all heard horrific stories about women who have been victims of such attacks, often because they refused a man to get into a romantic or sexual relationship with their assailant. But this is not confined to India; women have and continue to face brutality for this reason across the globe. US-based author and blogger Deanna Zandt has been archiving such stories around violence against women when they deny any form of advances from the opposite sex. Called "When women refuse", the Tumblr page — that was launched in May 2014 — shares news stories and personal experiences of women who have suffered at the hands of men who cannot take rejection. The stories are shocking. One talks about how a girl was put in a freezer till she agreed to talk to the guy; another on how a girl was raped by her fiancé; and yet another on how a guy slashed his girlfriend's nose; and even story of a woman whose head was smashed with bowling balls and glass bottles. While some of them have given their names in the stories, others remain anonymous for safety and to avoid social censure. Zandt started the page after the University of California killings, where six students were allegedly murdered by a man who cited the reason to be hating women who rejected him. Inspired by writer Kate Harding's Facebook page, where she posted links of similar stories in the news, Zandt joined in. "After the horrific tragedy of the shootings at UCSB on May 23, the Internet responded with the hashtag #YesAllWomen, to start a conversation around the fact that while not all men commit acts of violence, all women are afraid, and rightfully so, of gender-based violence. Many people participating in these conversations seemed to point to the UCSB shootings as an isolated incident, the work of a mad man who had nothing to do with reality," writed Zandt on her page, but the stories show that it was certainly not an isolated incident. Zandt believes the Internet is playing a great role in bringing up the issue of gender-based violence perpetrated by people whom one knows. "We’re in a different place than we were five years ago. We’re creating a space for these discussions,” she told Think Progress last year.
