Kriti Khatri, Nepal, SSH Blog Correspondent

The issue of street harassment is global irrespective of the society. Everywhere, girls are well acquainted with the street activities like eve teasing, whistling, kissing sounds, physical gestures and to worst,  verbal assault, sexual abuses, attempted rape and even murder. While the worst cases like rape and murder make big news, other activities remains not talked about.

Activities like eve teasing, whistling, catcalls or simple touching are never considered a big crime. These are daily things that happen, girls accept it as daily experience and at most they will try to change their route to avoid it. And our society takes it as a natural thing between girls and boys as if men have birth right to tease girls because they are men. The issue of street harassment is taken as a simple matter of “boys and girls things”. But is it just a matter of a boy and girl thing?

It would be, if it was limited to healthy flirting, which intimates people in a good way. But when any behavioral conducts in street becomes intolerable and uncomfortable to the bearer, it is harassment.  There are examples of such “boys and girls things” in street impacting a girl’s life forever. Such harassment puts the victims on lifelong consequences.

Most girls who are victimized of continuous street harassment lack self confidence and self esteem which hampers their social development. In fact, while a girl gets victimized of sexual abuses in street, she develops negative perception about adolescence and her sexuality. Many girls dislike their body just because they get to hear abusive comments in the street. For girls with obesity or other physical misshape, street harassment is prime reason to feel less confident and anxiety.

In most traditional society, street harassment is the reason why girls don’t carry themselves alone in the street.  Girls take any male partner either family member or friend when they need to go somewhere. Now with such habits, will girls ever get to be independent?

The impact of street harassment is known to everyone. But our society always holds its quietude in this matter. We only raise voice when some major incidents like rape occur. But had the rapist been stopped when he started catcalling girls, or punished for street harassment cases earlier, the incidents like rape might not have happen. No one foresee street harassment as the starting of such harasser becoming a rapist or a murder in future. Never have we discussed the issue of street harassment as crime.

Acknowledging how the issue of street harassment is discarded from social justice perspective, young girls in Nepal have initiated a social campaign against street harassment. The issue of street harassment is as much common to Nepalese street as it is elsewhere. Nepali streets are still consider safer in a perspective that not many women have reportedly faced severe street harassment incidents. But it is considered so because not many cases have been reported in legal documenting. The daily or so to say “naturally” taken cases like eve teasing, catcalls and sexual gesture is common in most streets of the capital city and to other metro towns of Nepal.

The organization called Astitwa foundation, founded by young girls has been addressing the issue and have pulled local authorities into the project. Astitwa foundation has approached Nepal police and Metro Police unit to take significant action against street harasser. The organization is in its early phase of the campaign in which sticker with public awareness messages against street harassment are being posted to public vehicles and public places. After Astitwa’s effort Nepal police also has shown keen interest in developing strategy to control such activities in street which hampers girls/women daily life and independency. The organization has also been able to provide justice to some severe cases of street harassment and Nepal police has take action against the doer.

Like Astitwa, many other organization are also raising their voices against street harassment globally. It can be an individual attempt or organizational, the need here is to conjointly work to stop street harassment activities. It is high time that our society and civil institution consider street harassment as an offend-able crime.

Societal silence towards street harassment is what exacerbates the situations. Whatever legal provisions are made to address the issue of street harassment, more meaningful will be the social concept and understanding of the issue being non forgivable act. Our society needs to discourage such activities by strictly acting against such inhumane act in public. Our society needs to accept street harassment as a hindrance to gender equality and women independence. We need to address it as a serious issue against women freedom and equality. For which, we need to break the silence and act upon it as a social crime.

Kriti Khatri is student of MSc chemistry. She is engaged in different social organization in Nepal and currently she is working on anti-street harassment issues with the Astitwa Foundation. Find more of her writing on her blog.

Rocío Andrés, Scotland, SSH Blog Correspondent

It´s almost one year since Hollaback! Edinburgh conducted a survey asking young people (12-25 years-old), mostly females (85%), about their experiences of street harassment. The study aimed to answer questions like where the street harassment usually took place, what type of experience was or how they felt after the incident. The results were wandering around in my head for a few months.

On average, 60 to 85% of the respondents had been harassed by being shouted at, whistled at, told remarks about their appearance, made unconfortable by harassers being too close, told obscene gestures, touched with no consent or had their way blocked.

The consequences of such experiences had been great. For example, more than 50% of them avoided going out at certain times, more than 70% avoided specific places and 80% avoided eye contact.

In other words, street harassers transform habits and behaviours.

As a woman, you know you must dodge shortcuts or parks at night. You should not obviously be listening to your iPod and should systematically look over your shoulders every two minutes to see that no one is following you. You should cross the street if you happen to see a group of overly drunk and/or overly loud guys. And if you can’t avoid being near them, you will never look at their eyes. You just set them on the horizon or perhaps lower your head to watch your almost military pace.

They also said those experiences had made them feel sad, disgusted, scared, nervous, unsafe, embarrassed objectified, disrespected, angry and horrible.

Last Christmas a campaign promoted by Colin Keir, the Edinburgh Western MSP, indicated that things have not probably changed much this year.

Basically in response to the unsafe situation for women, TAXI and some private firms agreed on establishing a system in which women travelling alone would have preference. Even some firms were already offering a single woman policy. Of course, this is a very much appreciated gesture. You want to get home safe, not to be harassed, not to feel fragile and not to be alert, which is the same as to be anxious.

In any case, the bad guys are still around. And also, sometimes you just want to walk the streets late, so what?

All this brings me back to a recent study carried out by the University of Michigan´s Institute for Social Research on how people in Muslim countries prefer women to dress in public.

In it, you can see that people are very happy with women who are fully covering their hair, although not necessarily their face. And that leads me to Egypt, where street harassment occurs on a daily basis whether you obey the conservative norm of hijab/niqab (head covering/full face and body veil) or not and which last November was also considered the worst country in the Arab world for women.

Thus, what I think. You can veil your women, you can reserve seats exclusively for them in the bus, entire subway cars, you can tell them not to walk in the Meadows when it´s dark, you can give them a cab, keep them in a box if you want and still, street harassment happens. What´s more, even considering sexual assaults, the very truth is that, as Jacq Kelly, the chair of anti-street harassment campaign group Hollaback! Edinburgh, pointed out, any measure to protect women is welcome, however most women are assulted by someone they know.

In brief, short-term solutions often help to relieve the reality but often as well without combating the authentic issue. This is the case. Out there, women are yet vulnerable, susceptible of sexual harassment and maybe potentially more open to self-blaming – I wish I had taken that taxi…

Inevitably, the urgent need involves prevention through information-(re)education and solely by promoting public awareness campaigns and by implementing in-depth educational programmes which kill traditions, stereotypes and cultural norms, gender-based violence and, extensively, inequality will be eradicated. See some examples here.

Rocío Andrés holds a Bachelor´s degree in Audiovisual Communication, History of Art (both Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain) and a Master´s in Education (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain, 2010). She has six years experience as a TV and advertising producer.

En Español

EDIMBURGO: POLÍTICA DE “MUJER SOLA”

Va a hacer un año desde que Hollaback! Edinburgh condujera un estudio en el que se preguntaba a jóvenes (12-25 años), mayormente mujeres (85%), sobre sus experiencias de acoso sexual en la calle.

El estudio intentaba responder a preguntas como dónde el acoso tenía lugar normalmente, qué tipo de experiencia fue o cómo se sintieron después del incidente.

Los resultados se pasearon por mi cabeza durante algunos meses.

Básicamente, los ticks decían que, entre un porcentaje del 60 al 85%, las encuestadas habían sufrido acoso mediante gritos, silbidos, comentarios sobre su apariencia, gestos obscenos, cuando alguien estaba demasiado cerca, siendo tocadas sin consentimiento o porque se les había bloqueado el camino.

Las consecuencias de tales experiencias fueron también reflejadas. Por ejemplo, más del 50% evitaba salir a ciertas horas, más del 70% evitaba lugares específicos y el 80% evitaba el contacto visual.

En otras palabras, los acosadores “de calle” transforman hábitos y comportamientos.

Como mujer, sabes que debes esquivar atajos o parques por la noche. Obviamente, no deberías estar escuchando tu iPod y deberías, sistemáticamente, darte la vuelta cada dos minutos para comprobar que nadie te está siguiendo. Deberás cruzar la calle si ves a un grupo de tíos demasiado borrachos y/o haciendo demasiado ruido. Y si no puedes evitarlo, nunca les mirarás a los ojos. Miras al horizonte o, quizás, bajas la cabeza para observar tu paso, casi militar.

Dijeron también que esas experiencias les había hecho sentirse horrible, tristes, asqueadas, asustadas, nerviosas, inseguras, avergonzadas, cosificadas, irrespetadas y enfadadas.

Las navidades pasadas, una campaña promovida por Colin Keir, miembro del Parlamento Escocés, indicaba que, probablemente, las cosas no han cambiado demasiado este año.

Básicamente, TAXI y algunas compañías privadas acordaron establecer un sistema por el cual las mujeres que viajaban solas tuvieran preferencia. Incluso algunas compañías ya estaban ofreciendo esta política de “mujer sola”.

Por supuesto, se aprecia el gesto. Tú quieres llegar a casa a salvo, no ser acosada, no sentirte frágil y no estar alerta, que es lo mismo que estar nerviosa.

En cualquier caso, los tíos malos aún andan por ahí. Y, además, a veces sólo quieres caminar por la calle tarde, ¿y qué?.

Todo esto me remonta a un reciente estudio llevado a cabo por el Instituto de Investigación Social de la Universidad de Michigan sobre cómo la gente en los países musulmanes prefieren que las mujeres se vistan en público.

En él, puedes ver que la gente se siente muy feliz con mujeres que se cubren completamente el pelo, aunque no necesariamente la cara. Y esto me lleva a Egipto, donde el acoso sexual en la calle ocurre a diario tanto si obedeces las normas conservativas de hijab/niqab (cabeza cubierta/cara y cuerpo completamente velados) como si no y el cuál, el pasado Noviembre, ha sido considerado el peor país del mundo árabe para la mujer. 

Así pues, lo que pienso. Puedes ponerle velo a tus mujeres, puedes reservar asientos exclusivamente para ellas en el autobús, vagones enteros de metro, puedes decirles que no se paseen por las Meadows cuando está oscuro, puedes darles un taxi, guardarlas en una caja si quieres y, aún, el acoso en la calle sigue sucediendo. Lo que es más, incluso considerando agresiones sexuales, lo cierto es que, tal y como Jacq Kelly (jefa de campaña anti-acoso sexual en la calle del grupo Hollaback! Edinburgh) apuntaba, cualquier medida para proteger a las mujeres es bienvenida, sin embargo, la mayoría de ellas son asaltadas por alguien que conocen.

En resumen, soluciones a corto plazo a menudo ayudan a aliviar la realidad, pero, a menudo también, sin combatir el auténtico problema. Este es el caso. Ahí fuera, las mujeres son aún vulnerables, susceptibles de acoso sexual y puede que, incluso, potencialmente más abiertas a auto-culparse – ojalá hubiera cogido ese taxi…

Inevitablemente, la necesidad urgente implica prevención a través de información-(re)educación y únicamente promoviendo campañas de concienciación pública e implementando programas educativos en profundidad que maten tradiciones, estereotipos y normas culturales, la violencia de género y, más ampliamente, la desigualdad serán erradicadas. Puedes ver algunos ejemplos aquí