Dealing With Eve Teasing

In a frightening report, in India, every 21 minutes a woman is molested and every 51 minutes a woman is sexually harassed. That tells us about the gravity of the situation. Eve teasing is a social menace that a woman has to contend with every day. There have been endless debates on why eve teasing is so rampant in India. What is so wrong with Indian men? Some blame it on influence of western culture whereas some others point their fingers on intriguing psychological reasons like fun and frustration of sex.

Eve teasing is rampant throughout the country. It does not matter whether a woman is fair or dark, school going or office going, she has to face eve teasing incidents almost on a regular basis. One prominent cause of this appalling behaviour is provocative images being splashed across the media. To some extent, this reason holds merit. In last two decades, we have come across frequent raunchy advertisements and music videos. Movies are also depicting women in insulting avatars. It is a normal trend in Bollywood movies to show eve teasing as a way to woo woman’s heart. Eve teasing is also depicted as a mode of fun for the leading characters at the cost of women’s dignity.

It is not that fun, love or sex is the only reason that prompts men to indulge in such frivolous behaviour. Blame has to be shared by the patriarchal mindset of Indian male. Our society instils belief in men that they are more powerful and superior to women. On the contrary, women are raised with the mindset that they are the weaker sex and vulnerable. It’s not about men who should learn to respect a women’s dignity. Instead, women are made to learn to safeguard their modesty. The irony could not have been more striking.

On a positive note, there are plenty of NGOs in India who are working for the cause of women empowerment. They are teaching women on how to deal with difficult people and how to fight back against the harassment at workplace. Workplace gender discrimination is not a new thing but some prominent organizations are leading the way to rectify the situation. Dealing with eve teasing has been made further easy by some charity organizations who help women with harassment problems. We still have to go a long way to completely rectify the situation.