Rebirth of Perspective
Through this feature, we see Devika Panicker, a sexual violence advocate who has only become stronger after every setback.
Story by: Kashmira Khiantani
Pictures by: Devika Panicker
Devika Panicker, 27, is an advocate for sexual violence awareness. As a financial services consultant, she volunteers as a spokesperson in collaboration with AWARE. She’s also an actor on Mediacorp’s Vasantham channel.
At a mere age of seven, Devika was sexually assaulted by a family friend. In a phase of life where one might not even know the difference between right or wrong, she experienced what would change her life forever.
“I didn’t know where or who to turn to. I felt like I was the only person going through it. In Singapore, it is very safe and you don’t really read a lot of news about rape and sexual assault so I felt very isolated, as though nobody understood my pain,” explains Devika.
The turning point came when she chanced upon a self-help book where one of the chapters had documented Oprah Winfrey’s experience. Devika read that Oprah was a survivor of sexual abuse.
“At that time, I did not know what a big personality Oprah was. But knowing that there was another person out there who understood what this was and triumphed despite it, gave me a first ever glimpse of hope for myself,” expresses Devika.
In her late teens, she started thinking about sharing her story in the hopes that it would encourage others to share theirs as well.
Devika recounts, “Maybe it’s not that I am isolated in this, maybe it’s just because nobody is talking about it. But the whole idea seemed so daunting at that time, like who is going to listen to me?”
Devika recognises that she had to reach a place of influence in order to make a difference and get people to listen to her. Hence, she pursued a diploma in media studies and started doing advocacy work.
“As I shared my story with more people, they started sharing their own experiences of sexual violence with me,” Devika shares, as it reaffirmed her suspicion that people had gone through a similar trauma but were just not talking about it
Sensing the need for awareness in the community, Devika publicly came forward and shared her story in 2015, in the hopes of changing perspectives and encouraging more people to voice out. Since then, she started volunteering with AWARE and has spoken on commendable platforms such as TEDxYouth@Singapore.
Devika Panicker at TEDxYouth@Singapore.
“Knowledge is power, and I did not want one more person out there to be unaware and be exploited as a result of their lack of awareness. This pushed me to speak out,” explains Devika.
However, her journey was not always a smooth one. She recalls that in the initial stages of advocacy, she gained a lot of support. Nevertheless, it got tougher once she won the Ms V Supreme beauty pageant in 2019, that aired on the prominent local Indian channel, Vasantham.
Devika Panicker being crowned Ms V Supreme in 2019.
“The idea of someone as vocal as me being crowned the winner was something that made a lot of people very uncomfortable,” Devika says, adding that our conservative society still is not as receptive to what she stands for.
Nonetheless, she fully understands that she is not entitled to everyone agreeing with her and the best she can do, is try to spread awareness.
Devika hopes to see more people realise what a difference they can make in society and start a ripple effect of change.
“There are so many ways that you can contribute to change just by choosing to be a good person. What is the right thing to do in a situation, choose that. A lot of people learn behaviour by observing behaviour,” states Devika.
