A South Korean YouTuber has gone viral after a social experiment in India left viewers stunned and reignited discussions about women’s safety in the country.
Content creator Sumin, known for turning his travels into real-life social experiments, disguised himself as a woman and documented how strangers reacted to him while walking through public spaces in India and Bangladesh.
To carry out the experiment, Sumin wore women’s clothing, applied makeup and even used a fake pregnancy bump before heading into crowded streets. The aim was to observe how people would interact with someone they believed to be a woman.
One of the clips that recently resurfaced online was filmed during India’s Holi festival, an annual celebration famous for colourful powder, music and street festivities. However, the festive atmosphere quickly appeared to become uncomfortable as large groups of men crowded around the YouTuber.
Footage showed several individuals getting extremely close to Sumin, while one man was seen aggressively applying coloured powder to him. Although the original video did not show Sumin dressed as a pregnant woman during the Holi celebrations, the resurfaced compilation on social media combined scenes from multiple experiments conducted in both India and Bangladesh.
The viral footage triggered strong reactions online, with many viewers expressing concern over the behaviour captured on camera. Some users described the interactions as disturbing, while others shared personal stories of harassment they had experienced while travelling in the region.
The incident has once again highlighted ongoing concerns surrounding women’s safety in India. Discussions online have focused on issues such as street harassment, stalking and unwanted physical contact, which continue to be challenges faced by many women in public spaces.
Official figures released by India’s National Crime Records Bureau show that hundreds of thousands of crimes against women are reported each year, underscoring the broader concerns raised by the viral social experiment.
As the video continues to circulate across social media platforms, it has fuelled renewed debate about public safety, gender-based harassment and the everyday experiences faced by women in some parts of the world.
