A downside to traveling anywhere is the potential to face street harassment and unwanted sexual invitations.
To discover just how prevalent this is, a team of researchers led by the European Institute of Studies on Prevention (Irefrea) surveyed 6,502 British and German people ages 16-35 in different airports across southern Europe (Crete, Cyprus, Italy, Portugal and Spain). The people they surveyed had just visited tourist hotspots in these countries in summer 2009 and were returning home.
“The results of the study show that 8.6% of people suffered sexual harassment during their holidays and 1.5% suffered sex against their will. ‘2.4 times as many women as heterosexual men claimed to have suffered from sexual harassment. However, gay and bisexual men showed similar levels to women and high levels of sex against their will,’ the expert notes.”
One of the researchers said. “The first preventive measure is to be aware that these problems exist, since we tend to always think positively about holidays. There are measures that depend on tourist destinations, which are often promoted as places with a high level of sexual permissiveness and advertise cheap alcohol. The venues themselves can also avoid these situations by adopting good management in accordance with already established standards.”
Silver Price says
What was your first experience with street harassment? There were numerous experiences that helped prime me to know my place in public as a young girl, but the first most memorable experience was when I was 14 walking home from high school. It was about a mile walk, and about halfway home I walked down a long stretch of a semi-major street (as major as you really get in a small suburban area). A pickup truck full of men slowed down and drove at a walking pace next to me, shouting out to me “hey beautiful”, “hey talk to me”, and various similar comments trying to get me to respond. Some added kissing sounds to the humiliation. This went on for a few minutes until I turned into a residential neighborhood via sidewalk where they couldn’t follow me. It was embarrassing, stressful, and scary.