Eve Teasing

The structure of Indian society has always been male dominated. But in the modern era, women tried to break the centuries of shackles by venturing into male dominated areas. Last century witnessed number of initiatives and path breaking steps taken by the females. Today, Indian women stand head to head with Indian males when it comes to performance and equality. However, with wave of women empowerment came new set of problems. When the women started to venture on their own without male escorts, they made themselves vulnerable to public glares. The concept of eve teasing emerged during the 60s and 70s. Its basically an Indian term and you will not find it in dictionary. Eve teasing is a menace that has grown to alarming proportions. Not many cities in India are considered safe for women. Though, we are one of the fastest growing countries in world but we have yet to ensure the safety of working women and students. Eve teasing is a huge issue in many metropolitan cities of India. It depicts incidents of public sexual harassment, street harassment or molestation of women by men. Eve teasing also involves sexually suggestive remarks, groping, making lewd gestures and perverted teasing. These disturbing incidents usually take place in public transport, streets, offices and public places. There has been contrasting school of thoughts about incidents of eve teasing. Some traditionalists blame it on females saying they provoke the culprits by wearing suggestive dresses. They recommend oldfashioned dresses for women. However, going by the records; it is hard to prove that conservatively dressed women have not gone through eve teasing. School girls, college going students, working women etc regularly go through humiliating comments by the unruly men. Eve teasing can leave a permanent psychological scar on women. One study shows that 35 percent of the eve teasers are anti-socials, 32 percent are students and 33 percent of eve teasers belong to middle age. Large numbers of females in metropolitan cities are carrying deterrents to protect themselves. Many others are taking self-defence classes. Though the judiciary and government are taking stringent actions against eve teasers but statistics do not show any real improvement.

Bangladesh empowers mobile courts to stop 'Eve teasing'

By Anbarasan Ethirajan BBC News, Dhaka

Students protested at recent suicides and killings involving women who had been harassed Continue reading the main story

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Bangladesh 'Eve teasing' protest 'Eve teasing' takes a terrible toll

Mobile courts in Bangladesh have been empowered to prosecute people accused of sexually harassing women, or "Eve teasing", officials have said. Anyone convicted of sexual harassment or stalking of women will face a year in jail or a fine of about $70 or both. The government's move follows increasing incidents of sexual harassment and stalking of women. Until now mobile courts dealt with less serious crimes, such as traffic violations and hoarding. "For the first time a social crime has been brought under the jurisdiction of mobile courts," Abdus Sobhan Sikder, the Bangladesh home secretary, told the BBC. "The idea behind the move is for a speedy trial in cases of sexual harassment and stalking." Young women often face verbal abuse and taunts in Bangladesh, and sometimes stalked by colleagues at school or other young men. Some young women, unable to bear the repeated insults, have even gone so far as to commit suicide. Usually, it takes weeks before these cases can be heard in a normal criminal court and the conviction rate is said to be very low.

Now the government hopes mobile courts can dispose of the cases quickly - and that the punishments they hand out will act as a deterrent to others. "Mobile courts all across the country will be trying these cases. District officials can form mobile courts whenever they think it is necessary," Mr Sikder said.
Killings

The High Court last week asked the government to take measures to stop sexual harassment and stalking of women after a number of suicides and killings related to the issue in recent weeks. Activists say more than 24 people, most of them young girls, have died because of bullying and harassment since the beginning of this year. In recent weeks, some of those who spoke out against sexual harassment have been murdered, causing public outrage. A 50-year-old woman died after a motorcycle was driven over her when she protested against the bullying of her daughter last week. A college teacher who spoke against bullying was also murdered. The killings led to a series of protests across the country. Campaigners have been urging the government to enact tougher laws to punish those responsible for sexual harassment and bullying.

Eve teasing: Combat the scoundrel

In protest of eve-teasingMd. Anwarul

Kabir

SURVEYING the newspapers over the last few months we must have to be shocked realising the unprecedented rate of suicide cases among the young girls due to eve teasing. As reported in the newspapers in the recent past Nurina, Elora, Simi, Trisha, Tonni, Swapna, Tithi, Rumi committed suicide to escape the cruelty of stalkers' repression. Over the last four months, as reported in The Daily Star, fourteen girls, due to repression of stalkers, opted for ultimate destiny of their lives finding no other alternatives. Apart from suicide, one statistics has revealed that during January-July 2008 period only, about 13,000 women became victims of eve teasing of different forms across the country. This figure counted only the reported cases. Many occurrences remain unreported as the majority of the victims of eve teasing prefer to ignore this out of fear or not to be 'disgraced' or part of a social 'gossip'. The situation has become so alarming that, in general, it can be argued that at present no girl has been spared from being a victim of eve teasing in one form or another. Eminent sociologist Pratikha Baxi of India has stated, Eve teasing is a euphemistic expression that lives in post-colonial India and refers largely to sexual harassment of women in public spaces, thereby constituting women as 'eves', temptresses who provoke men into states of sexual titillation. This popular perception of sexual harassment posits the phenomenon as a joke where women are both a tease and deserve to be teased. Considered a growing problem throughout the subcontinent, eve teasing ranges in severity from sexually-coloured remarks to outright groping.

Eve teasing begins as an attempt to irritate a girl or catch her attention A lewd stare, a sly whistle, a well-timed clap, an unwarranted bump, a seemingly causal touch, a lingering look at a vulnerable time, the humming of suggestive song, passing downright uncouth comments, cheap gestures, display of indecent snaps or videos, giving unwelcome call or missed call, sending indecent texts ., all these are typical examples of eve teasing. Although the term 'eve teasing' originates from India, in recent times, this vice has spread over all the sub-continental countries. Perhaps, India's scenario in this context is the worst and so it has initiated a number of steps to combat this social menace. Eve teasing was not that acute problem in Bangladesh till 1980s. However, from 1980s, when girls and women, especially at rural areas started going out for education and employment at a large scale, eve teasing with its sharp jaws has started to pollute our social fabric. Eve teasing might seem harmless 'fun' to some, but gets the nerve of the victims. The severe impact of eve teasing is taking away the lives of young girls as Bangladesh has witnessed recently. Based on empirical study (2008) the Hunger Project has identified some impacts of eve teasing in the society of rural Bangladesh. These are: a) Curtailed education: Sexual harassment increases girls' drop-out rate from school. Parents concerned about their daughter's honour or safety sometimes keep their daughters home and/or marry them off at an early age. b) Early marriage: Girls who are teased or harassed are also pushed into marriage, before they are physically or mentally prepared. d) Hindered development: Eve teasing contributes to maintaining the low status of women. It also hinders women in participating in the formal employment sector. As nearly half of the population of the country are women, for the economic development of the country their participation in employment is a must. Considering the above, as conscious citizens, we should initiate some effective measures to encounter this gender biased social menace. But prior to this, we need to unmask the causes of eve teasing. Who get involved in eve teasing and why? One statistics suggests, 32% of the eve teasers are students, 35% are anti-socials while 33% are middle-aged men. So, the spectrum of eve teasers are very wide starting from teenagers to middle-aged men, either illiterate or educated. Psychologists and social scientists suggest eve teasing to be a result of the frustration suffered by a majority of youth. Disappointed by the unbecoming attitude of teachers and indifferent parents, they yearn for an outlet to vent their aggression and depression. Moreover, those who do not inherit good values involve in acts of sexual harassment. In a male dominant society like ours, the concept of 'masculinity' is usually equated with patriarchy. So, eve teasing can be viewed as a rite of passage for boys on their way to becoming men. Considering that sex is not the only motive, it would be reasonable to conclude the psychodynamics of eve teasing are closely associated with the issue of masculinity and the masculine agenda. Gender segregation from the childhood and the domination of the male members in a family over the female members contribute much to reinforcing the patriarchal model of masculinity in the society.

To the society, in general, being male signifies 'powerful', while the female is always a 'second sex' or weaker one. Electronic media, especially some movies (both Hindi and Bengali) may be blamed for propagating eve teasing. Many movies depict scenes of teasing, showing this behaviour as a way to win a woman's heart. Others show this as a behaviour for men indulged in some fun, at a woman's expense of course. Sometimes, women are blamed for 'alluring' eve teasers by their 'seductive' dresses or make-ups. But the reality is, the majority girls who become the prey of eve teasers are from rural areas and they are more conservative in wearing dresses compared with their counterparts in the urban areas. Even in Pakistan rural women in strict 'purdah' are not escaped from the harassment of the eve teasers. In a recently held discussion on eve teasing, alleged war criminal and the apex leader of Jamaat Motiur Rahman Nizami has blamed women as they go out at night time. What an audacity! Limiting the movement of womenfolk goes against the essence of our constitution as it has ensured both the genders indiscriminately to move freely. In our country, yet now there is no strict law that can effectively curb eve teasing. Article 76 of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance 1976 of the Penal Code of 1860 affirms that any acts, conducts or verbal abuses that are used to disgrace women are punishable by law. However, these provisions seem minor compared with the crimes they commit. Recently, the government is planning to introduce a strict law against eve teasing. No doubt, this is a timely step to move forward. However, if we consider the case of India, we may assert that law alone cannot eliminate this social vice. Considering eve teasing as a serious crime, some states in India have introduced stringent laws. However, this did not work well as there was no step adopted there to launch any social movement against this. So, if we want to reduce this crime, we must launch a social movement against this in addition to introducing punitive legal measures. First of all we need to reduce the gender segregation in the society so that children of both genders can know each other well. In a family, children of both sexes should be given equal emphasise. We also need to formulate a mass awareness programme in this context. Media, NGOs and other social organisations may play pivotal role in this respect. Besides, the government should also initiate special projects focussing school/college students with a view to increasing awareness about and against eve teasing. However, all the steps will be futile unless the male segment of the society change its patriarchal mindset.

Eve teasing

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gyn` gvQyg wejvn

The Eve-teasing Problem Posted: 21st of February, 2008 - 17:24 In light of the recent rape and murder of Ananda-lila, an Australian girl who was staying in Vrindavan, people have asked for my comments on the culture of sexual harassment regrettably prevalent in India, sometimes labeled "eve-teasing", a rather archaic and tidy expression for an ugly social wrong. I must admit my shortcomings in commenting on the issue. I haven't interviewed women here, I haven't read thorough studies on the topic either. Regardless, as I've lived here for a while and have become quite familiar with the culture and practical realities, let me toss in my two cents worth. Some observations and a bucketful of common sense will go a long way. Let me open by frankly stating that in my opinion, a great many Indian men behave like brainless swine. I find their behavior appalling, falling well below standards of decency one would expect from animals, even. Having said that, I wish to extend my apology to the wonderful swine of India for using the simile; they do a fine job in cleaning the sewers. There certainly are cultured gentlemen out there. Yet, there is also a very unfortunate undercurrent of extreme sexism and chauvinism, evident in the way the opposite sex is objectified, and even treated as a commodity, pervading much of Indian culture. Not being an anthropologist, I cannot offer a comprehensive gloss on the roots of the problem, though it evidently is an agglomeration of factors from diverse cultures. The old Vedic tradition and the dharma-shastras speak of the subordinate and dependent position of woman in no uncertain terms. Kama-sutra and other works of the genre reflect the great deal of sexual freedom men in ancient India enjoyed. The Islamic rule that swept across medieval India left its deep cultural impact as well. An atmosphere of Victorian morality following the British rule served to stir soup further. And now, the mindless imitation of what are considered "Western" values, which really only means the cream of materialism scooped off the hypothetical American idyll, is in vogue. Pray tell, can anything good come out of this discrepant blend? For what I've heard from Western women living here, sexual harassment in bare daylight is indeed very much of a reality even in this small village of Radhakund, a place of pilgrimage you'd hope would be imbued with an atmosphere of sanctity and peace. It's not uncommon at all to have men looking at you with drooling eyes, pinching or touching your butt or breasts in the crowd, or scarier even, following you and you never know if it's for harmless, lusty curiosity or for worse. My former wife had a modest experience; nothing too extreme has ever happened, and one hopes she'll manage to stay out of harm's way in the years to come, too. Men learned to back off from their "accidental" touching quite fast as she got in the habit of "brushing" a touching hand off with a characteristic sharpness that followed our kung-fu practice and some subsequent attitude

training I helped her with. There was a fair learning curve from projecting an image of "Hi, I'm a sissy" to "Hello, will bite off your head", but it was well worth the trouble. It wan't that there was no potential for things to get more serious, though a local friend overheard a certain young guy looking after her and commenting to a friend, "We need to grab her one day, and, you know...". Another man came and blocked the entrance of a public toilet she was visiting. The "I-stare-straight-through-you-with-fire-eyes" technique coupled with a modest and determined push effectively opened the route. Ladies need to learn to kick some ass. Really. Enough for their own protection, anyway. I remember a certain fellow lady once taking a rickshaw from Govardhan to Radhakund, alone. Somewhere along the way, the driver turned off to a lonely alley and began what was evidently going to turn nasty. Her tae-kwon-do lessons hadn't gone wasted the man was bundled up in no time at all. Had I been her, I'd have just taken the cycle and gone, but she had the driver finish the drive at the end of the lesson. It certainly wasn't an experience he was going to brag of to his friends! Indian men can often be quite feeble in their physique, timid and uneducated in their combat skills. Facing groups is, of course, a tougher issue. That's not the solution however! It's an emergency measure you need to be set for. Otherwise, consider carrying with you one of those shrieking loud alarm sounding key fobs to scare away the abuser in a dangerous situation. And learn to scream, to scream out real loud. What other good measures are there to take in minimizing the potential problems? There are some. Bear in mind that the following has nothing to do with equality of sexes or other lofty values that have little bearing in the current situation. Just the nuts and bolts of what helps you avert unnecessary trouble. Dress modestly. Dressing modestly means wearing a shirt that covers your shoulders and a skirt down to your ankles. Leaving your entire forearms exposed is a bad idea. Wearing a top or a shirt that reveals the shape of your breasts too clearly is a bad idea. Wearing pants with no loose upper cloth to hang well beyond your butt is a bad idea. Anything too tight or revealing is a bad idea. Keeping your hair loose is a bad idea. Wearing excessive makeup is a bad idea. Really, anything that a woman might do to adorn herself to make herself attractive to the opposite sex, a trend that dominates much of the Western fashion, is a bad idea. Should women then aim at looking ugly like a scarecrow, sacrificing their dear feminine charm? There is no doubt a golden median there. But the median here is located a great deal south from what you may be used to in the West! Behave in a reserved manner. Any talk beyond the bare practical necessity, especially when accompanied with giggling and expressive gestures, makes you the center of attention for most young men in the area, whether you're talking to a local or to your friend. It isn't their fault, really they receive little education on thinking with the brain instead of the genitals when it comes to sexual matters. There's no social factor that'd force them to do any better, their behavior is acceptable. Then, the responsibility of avoiding an undesirable dynamic is squarely the woman's. It isn't right, but the reality is what it is.

A single woman shouldn't be walking alone in the dark, especially in solitary or unfamiliar places. If you have a husband or a boyfriend, train them to tag along. No harm having a free bodyguard, huh? Aside providing extra security for the moment, it aids the locals in understanding she isn't alone or free meat. There's a substantial risk of repercussions. The good bodyguard should keep in mind, however, to keep physical encounters with locals to an absolute minimum, for villagers rarely have a sense of justice in cases like this. It's a "he beat up one of us, we all go beat him to pulp" law where right and wrong are determined with a simplistic us versus them formula. Domestic violence, which appears to be a commonly accepted part of the unwritten social values, is another related topic, and a rather broad one at that. I've seen points of view range from a beaten woman stating how it's actually for her good to a friendly baba observing in a case of domestic violence that incidentally involved a Western couple that "Here we first beat up men, and then the women". However, people shouldn't be beaten up at all, whether men or women, black or white. The standard of holistic non-violence is the only acceptable mode of civilized behavior, and old contradicting paradigms must die away, buried in the dark ages of history for good. Yet a pair of tough elbows can come in handy in the period of transition where a need for self-defense can become a sudden reality. Keep your self on your guard, be mindful of potentials.

Eve teasing is a euphemism used in India and sometimes Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal[1] for public sexual harassment, street harassment or molestation of women by men, with Eve being a reference to the biblical Eve.[2] Considered a problem related to delinquency in youth[3] it is a form of sexual aggression that ranges in severity from sexually suggestive remarks, brushing in public places, catcalls, to outright groping.[4][5][6] Sometimes it is referred to with a coy suggestion of innocent fun, making it appear innocuous with no resulting liability on the part of the perpetrator.[7] Many feminists and voluntary organizations have suggested that the expression be replaced by a more appropriate term. According to them, considering the semantic roots of the term in Indian English, eve-teasing refers to the temptress nature of Eve, placing responsibility on the woman as a tease, as though the aggressive response of the males was normal rather than criminal.[8][9] Eve-teasing has been a notoriously difficult crime to prove, as perpetrators often devise ingenious ways to attack women, even though many feminist writers term it as "little rapes",[10] and usually occur in public places, streets, and public transport.[11] Some guidebooks to the region warn female tourists that eve teasing may be avoided by wearing conservative clothing, though eve teasing is reported both by Indian women and by conservatively-dressed foreign women.

Contents
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1 History 2 Depiction in popular culture 3 Legal redress 4 Public response 5 See also 6 Further reading 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History
Though the problem received public and media attention in 1960s,[12][13] it was in the following decades, when more and more women started going out to colleges and work independently, which means they are often no longer accompanied by a male escort as had been a norm in traditional society, that the problem grew to an alarming proportion.[14] Soon the Indian government had to take remedial measures, both judicial and law enforcement, to curb the menace and efforts were made to sensitize the police about the issue, and police started rounding up eve teasers. The deployment of plain-clothed female police officers for the purpose has been particularly effective,[15] other measures seen in various states were setting up of Women's

Helpline in various cities, Women Police stations, and special anti-eve-teasing cells by the police.[16] Also seen during this period was a marked rise in number women coming forward to report incidence of eve-teasing like cases of sexual harassment due to changing public opinion against eve-teasers. In addition, the severity of eve-teasing incidences grew as well, in some cases leading to acid throwing, which in turn led to states like Tamil Nadu making eve-teasing a nonbailable offense. The number of women's organization and those working for women's rights also saw a rise, especially as this period also saw a rise in reports of bride burning. The increase in violent incidents towards women meant previously lackadaisical attitudes towards women's rights had to be abandoned by law makers. In the coming years, such organizations played a key role in lobbying for the eventual passing of legislation designed to protect women from violent eve-teasing, including 'The Delhi Prohibition of Eve-teasing Bill 1984'.[14] The death of a female student, Sarika Shah, in Chennai in 1998, caused by Eve-teasing, brought some tough laws to counter the problem in South India.[17] After this case, there has been about half-a-dozen reports of suicide that have been attributed to pressures caused by eve teasing.[14] In 2007, an eve-teasing resulted in the death of Pearl Gupta, a college student in Delhi. In February 2009, female students from M.S. University (MSU) Vadodara assaulted four young men near the family and community sciences faculty, after they passed lewd comments on a girl student staying in SD Hall hostel.[18] Many other cases go unreported for fear of reprisals and exposure to public shame. In some cases police let the offenders go, after public humiliation through the murga punishment.[19][20] In 2008, a Delhi court ordered a 19-year-old youth, after he was caught eve-teasing, to distribute 500 handbills, detailing the consequences of indecent conduct, to youngsters outside schools and colleges.[21]

[edit] Depiction in popular culture

Traditionally, Indian cinema has depicted eve teasing as a part of flirtatious beginnings of a courtship, along with the usual accompaniment of song and dance routines, which invariably results in the heroine submitting to the hero's advances towards the end of the song, and young men tend to emulate the example, depicted so flawlessly on screen and which gave rise to the Roadside Romeo which even made it a film version in Roadside Romeo (2007)(Staring Saif Ali Khan).[11] It also has been popularly depicted that when a girl is teased by eve teasers, the hero will come beat them up, such as in the Telugu films "Madhumasam" and "Magadheera" and also the Hindi Movie "Wanted". Now-a-days this issue is also shown in Indian Television Soaps.

[edit] Legal redress

Though Indian law doesn't use the term 'eve-teasing', victims usually take recourse to Section 298 (A) and (B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which sentences a man found guilty of making a girl or woman the target of obscene gestures, remarks, songs or recitation for a maximum tenure of three months. Section 292 of the IPC clearly spells out that showing pornographic or obscene

pictures, books or slips to a woman or girl draws a fine of Rs.2000 with two years of rigorous imprisonment for first offenders. In case of repeated offence, when and if proved, the offender will be slapped with a fine of Rs.5000 with five years imprisonment. Under Section 509 of the IPC, obscene gestures, indecent body language and acidic comments directed at any woman or girl carries a penalty of rigorous imprisonment for one year or a fine or both.[22][23] The 'National Commission for Women' (NCW) has also proposed No 9. Eve Teasing (New Legislation) 1988.[8]

[edit] Public response

The Blank Noise Project's intervention on Majestic bus stand, against Eve Teasing. Fearless Karnataka or Nirbhaya Karnataka is a coalition of many individuals and groups including Alternative Law Forum, Blank Noise, Maraa, Samvada and Vimochana. After rise of eve teasing cases in 2000s, it organized several public awareness campaigns, including 'Take Back the Night, followed by another public art project titled, The Blank Noise Project, starting in Bangalore in 2003.[24] A similar program to fight eve-teasing was also hosted in Mumbai in 2008.[25] In Delhi, one of India's most dangerous cities for women,[26] the Department of Women and Child Development established a steering committee in 2009 to prepare the city for the Commonwealth Games to be held in 2010.[27] In Mumbai, Ladies Special trains have been introduced to allow women working and studying in the city to travel without the fear of Eve-teasing, for the length of the journey at least. With the number of women needing to travel doubling since 1995, there is a very strong demand for these kinds of services.[28]. Today "Ladies Special" Compartments are present in all local trains of the big cities. In other trains, ladies are advised to travel in AC Coaches as these would be free of the economically poor and socially backward eve-teasers