Yasmin Curzi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, SSH Blog Correspondent

In 2006, the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro approved a law which enacted segregated areas on public transport for women, commonly known as “pink carriages.”. According to the memorandum of the law, the measure would serve as a remedy in order to avoid severe sexual harassment cases during rush hours on the city’s metro. It enunciates that this measure serves as an immediate remedy, “because the scenario of recurrent gender violence in public transportation is a problem difficult to overthrow.” Also it has few costs for the State or the concession-holder, so the implementation can be faster than other possible measures.

In effect, women who suffered from abuses would feel welcoming in this “special” spaces – a symptom of the institutional mistreatment directed to them. There are some narratives that corroborates with this approach, but the discussion about the real effectiveness of the law is far to be settled. In this article I’ll try to point some of the controversial topics concerning this public policy.

1. Enforcement: Supervision of women-only carriage is made by the metro guards, only on a few platforms – usually the ones located in richer neighborhoods. The result is that men often disobey the law, specially when the subway is crowded. Also, most of the guards are men and frequently present misogynistic behaviors toward women who suffered abuse in the subways. In most of the cases, they are insensitive about women’s issues and unprepared to deal with these occurrences. Often it results in a double-violation: women are slut-shammed, offended or neglected when try to make a complaint. And the guards themselves also harasses women, usually by leering or starin

2. The law’s definition of “rush hours”: “Rush hour” is settled by the law as being “workdays 6h a.m. to 9h a.m. and 5h p.m. to 8h p.m.”, but the use of the subways increased severely in the last decade. Therefore, “rush hours” are dynamics nowadays. A college student reported to me that she suffered harassment and abuse on a Saturday afternoon. The subway was crowded and a white blond guy started to stare at her breasts, stopped in front of her and masturbated himself. Then, she ran scared and chose not to make a complain. Stories of women that decided not to report harassment and other violations are recurrent, because, not only are institutions often hostiles toward those victims, but also society normalizes these behaviors.

3. LGBT concerns: One problem of the law is that it essentializes women as an homogenous group, excluding lesbian, bissexual and transexual women. For these groups, the space doesn’t bring the same feeling of welcomeness that it does toward cisgender and heterossexual women. A lesbian woman reported to me that, when she is in the companion of another girl, before going to college at 7h a.m. (considered as a rush hour by this law), the staring of other women made her feel like she is a “circus attraction”. The women’s car is, therefore, designed for one specific group of women, nurturing the normalization of conducts in a heteronormative society.

4. It is a merely makeshift: The law memorandum itself affirms that this measure is a quick response to reduce violence towards women. However, it’s possible to assume that public power chose the easiest path. By segregating spaces by gender, the State gets rid of its duty to address the real causes of sexism with more profound and long-term measures, such as education campaigns, in order to change the perception of women’s body as a public property.

5. It corroborates victim-blaming: Another issue of the law is that it implies a perception that if a woman isn’t in the women’s car in a “rush hour”, she is responsible for the harassment suffered. Victim-blaming is recurrent in other abuses/harassment situations and usually materializes in thoughts like “what was the victim’s wearing” and “what was she doing in the street late of the night”. Segregated spaces also spreads the idea that if a woman wasn’t in the women’s car, then she “wasn’t taking the necessary precautions in order to avoid risk situations”.

The discussion about this law is in dispute even inside the feminist’s movement. There isn’t a consensus about its real effectiveness and what other measures the State could implement in order to deal immediately with sexist violence in the public transportation. However, it’s pacified that short-term measures aren’t able to solve these issues in a profound way, thus, State should also institute awareness campaigns and public policies that treat sexism in its structural roots and not only by focusing in its surface results.

Yasmin is a Research Assistant at the Center for Research on Law and Economics at FGV-Rio. She has a BA in Social Sciences from FGV-Rio and a Master Degree in Social Sciences from PUC-Rio, where she wrote her thesis on street harassment and feminists’ struggles for recognition.

Astrid Nikijuluw, Serpong, Banten, Indonesia SSH Blog Correspondent

(English version below)

Catcalling di negara saya merupakan hal yang ‘biasa’ terjadi sehari-hari.  Saking biasanya sampai terkadang menjadi hal yang ‘dimaklumi’.  Terlepas dari apa yang dirasakan para korban yang kebanyakan adalah wanita.   Dulu saya suka berpikir bahwa hal itu terjadi karena hal-hal yang disebabkan oleh kita sendiri seperti misalnya cara berpakaian.  Namun ternyata tidak peduli gaya berpakaian kita, catcalling tetap saja berlaku.

Buat saya pribadi, perlakuan seperti catcalling atau street harassment adalah perlakuan yang sangat mengintimidasi.  Dari merasa terintimidasi akan berkembang menjadi rasa takut.  Padahal semua orang berhak untuk merasa aman apabila berjalan di jalan-jalan umum dan juga tempat-tempat umum lainnya.  Sayangnya hal ini belum terjadi.  Masih banyak para wanita yang merasa risih atau takut apabila harus berjalan melewati kerumunan para lelaki.  Yang akhirnya membuat mereka mengurungkan niatnya ataupun mengambil jalan lain yang lebih jauh namun dianggap lebih aman.

Ada cerita tentang seorang anak perempuan yang selalu diminta oleh ibunya ke pasar untuk membelikan keperluan kakak perempuannya.  Sang ibu merasa tidak aman kalau sang kakak ke pasar sendirian karena banyaknya perlakuan yang tidak menyenangkan dari para lelaki di seputar pasar tersebut.  Anak perempuan ini memang memiliki postur seperti lelaki dengan rambutnya yang dipotong pendek dan gaya berpakaian ala lelaki dengan kaos longgar dan celana pendek atau celana panjang jeans.  Sedangkan kakaknya adalah sosok feminine dengan rambut panjang dan wajah manis yang bisa sangat mungkin untuk di goda.  Setelah dewasa dia pun mengakui bahwa alasan dia bergaya seperti lelaki itu adalah untuk menghindari perlakuan street harassment. Sedangkan sang kakak justru merasa bahwa dia tidak perlu harus ‘dilindungi’, dia bisa melakukannya sendiri.  Rasanya seperti sesuatu yang bagus bukan?  Tetapi sayangnya tidak.  Sang kakak merasa begitu karena menurut dia hal seperti street harassment adalah hal umum atau wajar terjadi apabila pergi ke tempat-tempat umum seperti pasar tradisional. Sehingga timbul pemikiran “cuekin aja”.   Padahal mereka berdua sama-sama tidak setuju dan menentang perlakuan tersebut.

Berdasarkan cerita diatas, saya merasa bahwa mereka berdua sama-sama mengalami psychological effect dari perlakuan street harassment tersebut.  Hanya dengan reaksi yang berbeda.  Apapun itu, adalah satu hal yang jelas bahwa perlakuan seperti ini tidak dapat diterima.  Efek yang ditimbulkan kepada para korban mungkin tidak terlalu ketara dan hal inilah yang membuat catcalling masih merajalela dari sejak jaman dahulu sampai generasi milenial saat ini.  Apakah untuk menghindari perlakuan ini kita harus bergaya seperti lelaki?  Mensugesti diri bahwa ini biasa sehingga “cuekin aja”? Atau mengambil jalan lain yang lebih aman walaupun jauh?

Sayangnya hal seperti street harassment ini masih kurang mendapat perhatian masyarakat.  Isunya belum seramai dibicarakan seperti LGBT, KDRT (Kekerasan Dalam Rumah Tangga) dan kasus sexual harassment lainnya.  Padahal hal ini lebih sering terjadi dan bisa dibilang kejadian sehari-hari.  Saya ingat ada satu ungkapan yang berbunyi kira-kira seperti ini “dosa apabila sudah sering dilakukan akan terasa bukan lagi dosa”.  Saya rasa ungkapan ini sangat tepat menggambarkan perlakuan street harassment.  Terlalu sering dilakukan sehingga seolah-olah sudah diterima menjadi bagian dari kejadian sehari-hari.  Padahal tidak.  Perlakuan ini sangat mengganggu dan menimbulkan efek psikologis bagi korban.  Pertanyaannya adalah sampai kapan kita akan membiarkan hal ini berlangsung? Pemikiran sederhana yang masih sulit untuk dijawab saat ini.

Astrid received her Bachelors of Business at Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Australia. She finished her Master’s Degree at Gadjah Mada University Yogyakarta where she majored in Human Resource Development. Follow her on Twitter at @AstridNiki or on Facebook.

In my country, catcalling is considered a ‘usual’ daily thing, so usual, in fact, that it is seen as ‘ok’ to do even though the victims, usually women, do not like it.  I used to think that this thing happened because of the way we dressed. But in fact, no matter how you try to dress yourself, catcalling can still happen to you.

To me, catcalling, or street harassment, is intimidating and that intimidation can even turn into fear.  Even though every single individual should have the right to feel safe while walking on the street and public places, unfortunately this kind of thing has not yet happened. Many women still feel uncomfortable or scared if they have to walk past some crowd of men. This fear may cause them to not walk past them or prompt them to take another way which is further, but is considered safer for them.

There is a story about a young girl who was always asked by her mother to go to the traditional market and to accompany her sister. The mother felt it was too unsafe for the sister to go to the market by herself because of the inappropriate behavior from some men who hang-out in the market. This young girl had a very masculine appearance, such as having short hair and wearing loose t-shirts and jeans, but her sister presented in a feminine way, like with long straight hair. Later when this young girl had become an adult, she admitted that the reason she dressed like a boy was to avoid street harassment, while her sister felt that she did not need any ‘protection’, and she could do it on her own. In her opinion, street harassment is a common thing that happens, especially in public places such as traditional markets. This leads to a thought of “I don’t give a damn”, while in fact both of them are disagree and against this kind of behavior.

Based on the story above, I feel that both of them are having a psychological response to street harassment, just different ones. Whatever it is, it is still very clear that these kinds of actions are not acceptable. In order to avoid such disturbing behavior, do we have to change our style like a man? Or just accept it and say, “I don’t give a damn? Or go out of our way to take safer though further routes?

Unfortunately, there is a lack of attention in our society to street harassment. The issue does not receive as much attention as LGBT rights, domestic violence, and other types of sexual harassment even though it often happens in our everyday life. I remember a phrase that says, “a sin if constantly repeated is not considered as a sin anymore”.  I think this phrase fits the street harassment behavior. Too often it is repeated as if it is ‘accepted’ as a ‘usual’ everyday behavior. Frankly no! This behavior can have a negative psychological effect on the victim.  The question is, for how long will we allow this street harassment to occur? This is a simple thought yet currently it still is difficult to answer.