Did you know that street harassment is punishable by law? According to the penal code a perpetrator can be sentenced up to 5 years of jail time. But what sort of street harassment warrants an arrest? Rushda Mohinudeen, head of the youth activists’ organisation Reach Out, sheds light on the ostensibly obscure lines saying “street harassment can be defined as any comment or action between strangers in public places that are unwelcome, threatening, and disrespectful and is motivated by one’s gender.
“It could range from leers, whistles, kissing noises, and non-sexually explicit evaluative comments, to more insulting and threatening behaviour like vulgar gestures, sexually charged comments, flashing, and stalking, to illegal actions like assault, and even murder.”
Going by the list of offenses, it isn’t hard to see that street harassment is rampant in Sri Lanka. ‘Reach Out’, in their latest campaign— ‘Man Up’, set out to create awareness and try to reduce (and hopefully, eventually eradicate) street harassment. While conducting their extensive research by organising multiple focus groups as well as speaking to psychologists and several related NGO’s, Reach Out discovered that the general consensus is that Sri Lankans don’t realise the severity of street harassment. While rape and assault have immediate psychological effects, street harassment has subtle but equally potent effects on the psyche of victims.
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“Street harassment can be considered a human rights issue as it limits the ability for a woman to be in public places as often and or comfortably as most men can,” shares Rushda. “Due to this very deep-rooted issue most women are told and even choose to restrict their lives. What’s unsettling is that society allows it and most men live in ignorance about it.”
Apart from consulting victims, psychologists and NGO’s, Reach Out took to the street and gathered research in a more dynamic way. “Reach Out, together with Beyond Borders (a youth led NGO), carried out various disruptive theatre performances at public places where we enacted scenes of harassment spontaneously in order to identify the public reaction. We even spoke to people on the streets and school children.”
Armed with an impressive sum of research, the team delved into identifying the problem and planning out the best way to tackle it. On the subject of identifying the problem, Rushda says “there are many causes for street harassment; the most frequent being that the offenders are sexually frustrated. And that the value system among families is clearly diminishing, also the system that clearly stands against the issue doesn’t execute as promised and most importantly, society as a whole trivializes street harassment”.
With such formidable obstacles in their way, Reach Out’s approach is to instill moral
values in the younger generation. “The whole problem in contradiction to the fight against harassment is the attitude and mindset that, harassment cannot be stopped. This needs to change. Harassment can be stopped, we just need to work hard and join against it”.
In the meantime, while street harassment continues to dictate the how women travel and go about their day to day activities, Rushda describes the best way to handle the situation. “If ever faced with street harassment, it is advised that the harasser is confronted and asked to stop, or you could seek immediate help from bystanders and the authorities. However, one must be cautious”.
Reach Out, with the help of Beyond Borders, conducted forum theatre skits in schools in Colombo, creating awareness about the issue and advising students about the best way to react. Both youth led organisations will continue the fight against street harassment through a long term online initiative and public awareness. To find out more or to show your support you can check out their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/reachoutnow and follow them on Twitter (@reachoutlk). |
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