Around a year back, while coming back home late one evening, I was groped by a man who immediately disappeared when I turned around in fright.
Too scared to say anything I ran home.
Another time I was followed home by another man. I quickly ducked into Shoppers Stop and called my dad to come and pick me up.
A third time I noticed a man openly gawking, turning back every two minutes to see where I was, gaping lewdly at my body.
I disappeared into a hospital, waiting for him to go before I dared to step out.
I’ve been groped in buses, whistled at while riding, been called everything from ‘baby,’ ’sweety,’ ‘lover,’ and ‘jaaneman.’
I kept silent.
Today I learnt how wrong, stupid, and dumb I was to submit to my fear.
While I stood with other women like me, while I stood at signals, looking men in the eye, daring them to look back at me, something strange happened.
Every man I looked at would NOT look at me. Every man whose eyes I met tryed to intimidate me, tried to supress me.
I din’t back down.
And he would lower his eyes and go on his way.
It’s only when we keep quiet, it’s only when we show our fear that men continue: eve-teasing, street-harassment, their usual shenanigans. But when you look back at them, when you stare right back at them, they don’t take it as an invitation, they don’t think we’re reciprocating.
They get the message. They get the vibes.
Back off!
All it takes is a little courage.
This audio clip says it all really.
I’d also suggest reporting any suspicious activity like this to the local authorities so they can patrol the area as well.
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Comment by Yahoouj — February 22, 2010 @ 6:13 pm