Provoked, Suggested, Harassed

Eve teasing is a sad occurrence that happens pretty much all across India. We often turn a blind eye to eve teasing as it happens, usually even in a public place. A lot of people are also under the false impression that eve teasing is in fact provoked or suggested by the EVE or woman in question but it is usually a sexually aggressive delinquent who can usually go to great lengths to ‘eve tease’ a woman. Suggestive remarks of the sexual kind, intentionally brushing against women in crowded public places to outright groping and molestation in buses, these are but a few instances of what these sexually frustrated individuals can perpetrate.

In many cases of eve teasing women are unable to speak out in fear of public humiliation and delinquents know this and take advantage of this fact. It is also because of the nature of the term itself and the way in which it was first recognized (even though wrongfully so) that women are often afraid to speak out against such hideous people as the term eve teasing suggests that the woman is also party to some kind of suggestive behavior which is not true in more than 90% of cases of eve teasing.

While bold women have come forward and spoken out against eve teasing on many an occasion and there are also laws in place to put eve teasers in their place, people still manage to get away with eve teasing. One of the reasons behind this is the fact that it is very difficult to pinpoint and identify as the men usually involved with the incident will completely deny any involvement when questioned. This becomes a long chain of events as a regular eve teaser will get courage to do more. So what can we really do against such people? How can we make the streets safer for women?

Well for one thing, men need to stand up for women who are being teased. Most people choose to keep quiet even when we see that a woman is under considerable distress. Usually these delinquents will simply bolt at the sign of the slightest sign of detection. We all need to publicly expose any such incidents so that the others who are in line will also get deterred. The power of the public in public places is unrivaled and women too need to understand that as they shed their fear of embarrassment and expose perpetrators. No person in their right mind would go to great lengths to eve tease, the ones who do need to be taught a lesson. We all need to take up a stand and its not just the women who suffer when such things happen in our society. Think about it, it could very well be your sister or your daughter or your mother who could be facing this harassment elsewhere.

Fear is also a something that we need to shed, women are afraid that’s understandable, but why aren't the men coming forward. Are we all so afraid to get involved to help somebody out or have we lost out on all forms of courage as we stand by and choose to ignore such things happening sometimes right in front of our eyes? Are we made of such thin moral fiber that it’s stretched to a breaking point when the slightest conflict arises? Have we all become such cowards that we can’t even defend honor? For me as a human being it’s an insult if such acts happen in my presence and I look away, it’s an insult to everything that a person stands for and it’s an insult to all the good we are taught about and we often preach.