Congratulations to Aćim Vasić on persevering for six years to get funding for the film “Prey,” or “La Proie.” Check out the finished product!
“Prey” (“La Proie”) from Aćim Vasić on Vimeo.
Video: La Proie / Prey
Indonesia: Psychological Effects of Street Harassment
Astrid Nikijuluw, Serpong, Banten, Indonesia SSH Blog Correspondent
Street harassment or other kinds of harassment can cause psychological harm. Unfortunately not many people realize that simple things such as ‘whistling’ or ‘catcalling’ can be the beginning stages of further harassment.
In this article, I interview Indonesian Psychologist Reynitta Poerwito Muthalib about her views on the topic.
She works as a Clinical Psychologist in the Eka Hospital and does free online counseling. She occasionally appears on the Indonesia Morning Show from Net TV. She also actively shares her knowledge through seminars and school visits. She has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and a master’s degree in Psychology with a focus on Clinical Psychology from the University of Indonesia.
Astrid Nikijuluw (AN): How do you define the street harassment according to your terms?
Reynitta Poerwito Muthalib (RPM): For me, street harassment, just like other harassment, has the straight line of what people do (verbal or non verbal) that makes other people feel threatened/uncomfortable/afraid/disgraced, both implicitly and explicitly. This happens, unfortunately, to a wide range of ages of people, from the very young to the old.
AN: What street harassment experience irritates you the most?
RPM: When I was about 13 or 14 years old, I went to a traditional market by myself. While I was passing a crowd of men, they whistled at me. I ignored them and tried to walk as fast as possible. Suddenly, one of those men came to me and walked by my side and made fun of me. I was so afraid and at that point I could not think of anything else but to just get away from that place as soon as possible. Yes, I was very young but the memory still vividly haunted me sometimes. That kind of behavior is not acceptable at all.
AN: How did you cope after that happened to you?
RPM: The first thing I did was to increase my self-awareness. Because that market was part of my everyday route of going to school, I chose to take a longer route to try to avoid it occurring again by half circling the market instead of taking a direct route which went past the area where I had my incident. Sometimes I felt anger about this and just wanted to fight back but I felt it was no use. It was so frustrating to feel helpless about it.
AN: Can you explain, based on your expertise, the psychological effect of street harassment?
RPM: I would say there are three major factors:
1. First is the personality of the victim. If the victim tends to face a distressing situation more often or has a better self-managing strategy for stress then the effect would not as bigger as it is on others who are vulnerable. Both sides can feel the thread, the disgrace, the scare, but to those who are –what people usually say- stronger would not be as affected as the others who are not as strong.
2. Second is the type of harassment itself. The deeper the harassment then the greater level of effect on the victim. For example, if the harassment is whistling or cat calling, the victim might just ignore it and walk away or maybe in some cases, fight back. But on the other hand, if the harassment reaches the levels of threatening words, such as, “I’ll be watching you”, then the psychological effect for the victim is deeper.
3. Third is the victim’s history. If the victims had other harassment experiences before, then they may be more traumatized compared with others who have not yet experienced other types of harassment before street harassment. For example a young girl who used to be bullied at school or have abusive parents at home might be more affected just by hearing a whistle on the street than someone who was just a happy young girl.
In my experience, street harassment and other forms of harassment such as bullying and abusive treatment can impact victims several ways. They may feel depression, have high levels of anxiety and experience low self esteem.
AN: How, in your opinion, can we prevent street harassment?
RPM: The first thing to bear in mind is that how you dress is not directly proportional to street harassment. Do not put blame on the dress you wear because you should be free to wear anything you want.
The first phrase that comes to my mind answering your question is the phrase that our president uses in every situation: “MENTAL REVOLUTION”. I use this phrase because harassers are threatening the victim’s private rights and acting on low-morality. They do not consider other people’s feeling and tend to act oppressive to the victim. Their conscience is not honed enough to bring empathy toward others.
People are born with enough conscience to feel compassion and love for each other. The lack of those factors brings us back to parenting. It starts at home and how parents raise their kids to accept differences are crucial. We in Indonesia live under patriarchal rule, therefore the understanding of how to appreciate women while still being a good patriarch is very important.
Therefore the mental revolution should start from the very beginning since it is easier to design moral obligation for children than those who are already teenagers or older. Technology awareness nowadays also is a challenge for parents because it is accessible for children. Accompany your child in watching movies so they will not get the wrong moral lesson.
The last one for me is the appropriate law. I still find the law is not enough to protect the victim. And not just for street harassment, but also for other types of harassment such as sexual harassment in schools or workplaces and bullying. Hopefully our government will put more attention to this matter in the future and make a breakthrough for protecting its citizen.
AN: Last question, any message for those who experience street harassment?
RPM: Don’t let them destroy your self esteem.
Today, 17th August 2017, my country Indonesia is celebrating its independence day. On this special day we always shout ‘FREEDOM’. Well, for me freedom means to also feel free walking along the street. To be free from feeling afraid in public places. To be free to wear anything you want without getting scared of being harassed. Freedom is for every citizen, every human being, and every individual.
Happy 72th Independence Day to my fellow Indonesians.
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.
New Research, Campaign & Photo Project
Research conducted by experts at the University of Melbourne in Australia demonstrates how common sexual harassment is in the lives of women and documents the possible impact this can have on how women think about themselves. The full results were published in the British Journal of Social Psychology.
Two key findings are:
1. Women reported being the target of a sexually objectifying event once every two days.
2. Both being personally targeted or witnessing others being objectified was associated with a “substantial increase” in “self-objectification”, proving that instances of sexual harassment can have a negative impact on the way women think about themselves.
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In the Netherlands, Stop Straatintimidatie launched a new campaign against street harassment. Campaign founder Gaya Branderhorst shared, “The message to the public is clear: everyone should be able to walk the streets without harassment,” and “street harassment will be fined in Amsterdam and Rotterdam from 2018 onwards, and other cities are planning to follow soon.” Great!
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In the UK, photojournalist Eliza Hatch created a new photo series called Cheer Up Luv to raise awareness about street harassment. An article for the Guardian states, “Hatch found her female friends had all experienced harassment regularly, while her male friends were shocked by how frequently it occurred. Her photographs often feature women in environments in which they have been harassed, alongside their accounts. ‘I really wanted to capture the woman in her surroundings,’ says Hatch. ‘Instead of it being somewhere where she felt vulnerable, I wanted to make it a stage for her to speak out from. And I wanted you to actually look into her eyes as you’re hearing her story.'”
See more at: instagram.com/cheerupluv
Nepal: How safe are public spaces for gender non-conforming people?
Pritha Khanal, Kathmandu, Nepal, SSH Blog Correspondent
“I don’t want to rank levels of harassment because the thing about harassment is that even after the act you are traumatized by it. And trauma doesn’t have hierarchies — sometimes I can be more hurt by a word than I can be a fist.” – Alok Vaid Menon
Gender is a social construct and it hasn’t been very inclusive. In many societies, it only has categorized roles for heterosexual males and females. The population of LGBTQ thus is largely excluded by this inherently patriarchal system. The third gendered community is flatly denied by large amounts of population, and hatred for them is twice as much. People, including some ruling governments, policy-makers, politicians and icons, believe “God” only created two sexes and any others are showing themselves up, seeking attention or going against the natural law.
Gender non-conforming people are often known as queer or femme or trans-sexual and they are slowly coming out of closet through various forms of art and literature. One of these great and rising artists is Alok Vaid Menon who uses the pronoun they/them and is originally from India and is now residing in the United States. They represent and promote not only LGBTQ rights, but they also protest against a patriarchal system of gender division and roles, white supremacy and cis supremacies.
Having followed them on Instagram for quite some time now, I noticed that they face harassment ten times worse than me and other cis gender women I know.
Last month on 22nd May, Alok Vaid Menon set the stage on fire among Nepalese poetry lovers in Nepal Tourism Board, Kathmandu. In the event organized by QC bookshop, the popular queer artist and writer Menon enlightened the audience with the problems the transgender community have been facing on a daily basis. The issues which were so surprising to us were expected and every day for them and include: hatred, domination, bullying, being called at, being misunderstood and judged and HARASSED. (Excessively and severely harassed.) They shared the story of being beaten up inside an Australian metro once and how not a single person intervened to help.
Dressed in floral gown and high heels, carrying their body hairs as a pride and shining in the neon lip paints, Menon sings loudly, “I don’t call harassment as harassment; I call it torture. Torture of Patriarchy.”
Alok Vaid Menon agreed to do a short interview with me after I attended the program. The interview is focused mainly upon street harassment and their say on it.
1. As a member of the transgender community, how do you define harassment?
I don’t believe in harassment I believe in torture — by which I mean, I understand harassment to be an intentional use of intimidation, pain, fear, and violence in order to break down marginalized peoples.
2. What are the most common forms of harassment you come across on the street?
Being stared at. People literally just stop what they’re doing and stare at me, take photos of me, point at me.
3. What is the worst case of harassment you’ve ever experienced?
I don’t want to rank levels of harassment because the thing about harassment is that even after the act you are traumatized by it. And trauma doesn’t have hierarchies — sometimes I can be more hurt by a word than I can be a fist. So what I would say is that the most severe and intense forms of harassment that I experience are in the Western world (specifically the US and Australia).
4. How do you usually react during these moments?
I enter survival mode. I look down and try to take up as little space as possible. I start thinking about my options and how to get away safely.
5. How does it impact you psychologically?
I am traumatized by the level of harassment that I experience. It has had an extremely negative impact on my mental and physical health. It’s made me incredibly anxious and I have to constantly find ways to cope with it.
6. What according to you is the solution of these problems? Do you believe change is possible with more awareness and proper education to people or is it effective when victims react back?
The solution is ending patriarchy and the gender binary that upholds it. I notice that a lot of strategies when it comes to ending harassment are oriented around making women and trans people modify our behavior and appearances, and never around actually challenging societies which enable and encourage harassment against us. I don’t think education is necessarily the right approach because this is about power not prejudice. What we need is to name systems of violence like patriarchy, caste, and race — and strategize how to address them at their roots rather than their systems.
7. What do you want to say to society specifically in regards to street harassment and to the victims regardless of gender to rise against it?
It’s not your fault.
Pritha is doing her Master’s degree in Anthropology and her thesis is on the menstruation practice issues among rural teenagers in Nepal. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. She works in a non-governmental organization focused on women empowerment. Follow her blog www.prithakhanal.com and my Facebook account: @pritha.khanal.
UK: Bristol Zero Tolerance
Annabel Laughton, Gloucestershire, UK, SSH Blog Correspondent
For the last in my series of blog posts speaking to activists in Bristol and the UK, I spoke to Charlotte Gage, Partnerships Officer at Bristol Zero Tolerance (BZT). This is an initiative that was set up by Bristol Women’s Commission in 2015, and its vision is to “make Bristol zero tolerance to all forms of gender-based violence, abuse, harassment and exploitation”.
BZT does not run frontline services but is working towards becoming an umbrella for all relevant services in the city, aiding coordination and collaboration. Gage works extensively with business, offering training and awareness-raising to create a safe culture and change attitudes and behaviour. BZT can also advocate for particular policy positions on gender-based abuse, something frontline organisations often don’t have time for. Local police and the local council, for example, have drawn up action plans in conjunction with BZT, who can then hold them to account.
So what’s happening specifically with street harassment? Gage recently started a street harassment campaign. “Local women were talking about it, so I felt it was important”, she says. The campaign is in its infancy as yet, being launched in International Anti-Street Harassment Week this April. At present Gage is focusing on gathering data to get a better picture of street harassment in the city. She has a researcher collecting data via local networks and specific communities. BZT also have a filmmaker recording women’s stories of street harassment.
Where the campaign goes after that will depend on the outcomes, but de-normalising street harassment and empowering people to speak out, either as victims or bystanders, is key. Gage explained she has had discussions with the local Police and Crime Commissioner and local organisation SARI (Stand Against Racism and Inequality) about the best way to enable this. “The police always say that if it’s not reported there is no data, and therefore there’s no problem”, she says, but exactly how street harassment is recorded is not straightforward. Gender is a “protected characteristic” under the UK Equality Act 2010, but street harassment isn’t automatically recorded as a hate crime, as, for example, attacks on someone because of their race or a disability would be. Victims have to specifically request that the offence is logged by police as “other – gender”, and even that won’t tell the whole story, because gender could mean male or female, masking the fact we know the vast majority of street harassment is targeted at women.
Gage is considering if BZT might lobby Avon and Somerset police to follow Nottinghamshire police’s lead and add a hate crime category of misogyny (the #NotACompliment campaign calls for this to be rolled out by police forces nationally), but is also wary of completely relying on a criminal response. “Not everyone wants to report to police. We want to give women different options”. One of these options might be a toolkit for people experiencing harassment, and bystanders.
BZT is clearly doing incredible work, but it’s not easy. Apart from Gage, BZT has just one other paid member of staff, Gage’s assistant, and they are both part-time. The initiative is funded by Public Health as it is prevention work, but like many publicly funded services in the UK, money is running out. It’s obvious that her drive and commitment are essential to the ongoing survival and success of this important work. As we finish our chat, Gage is clear that the issue of street harassment, which nearly all women experience, is a good way into a broader understanding of violence and abuse against women. “We need to get the message out there – street harassment is part of a culture which normalises and condones gender-based violence”.
Annabel is involved in campaigns for human rights, mental health, environmental issues and social justice. She has an honours degree in Classical Studies, a diploma in counselling, and works in Higher Education.