An Insight Into The Current Scenario Of Sexual Harassment
Any form of non-consensual sexual behaviour accounts for sexual abuse or harassment. Unfortunately, it has been a common fate for many people across the globe. A large number of people are unable to identify if they are being abused. Some find themselves unable to report the abuse. There are several factors that influence the increase of sexual abuse or harassment. It seems like an issue that is difficult to eradicate in the present. This article aims to highlight the statistics of a small sample set enabling us to comprehend the situation better.
A Survey Was Conducted
Recently, we conducted a survey to evaluate the situation better. The survey comprised people across the age group of 13-39 years. 50% of the sample were teenagers. A major proportion of subjects were from India. While there were others from the UK, Italy, South Africa and China. About 87.5% females filled the survey. Through this, we could deduce that more individuals who identified as female correlated to the issue. About 11% of the subjects responded as “maybe” to the question – “Have you ever been sexually abused?”. This reflects on the grave need for sex education in India and also the need the shatter taboo around the topic. 75% of the subjects did not report the incident. This indicates a lapse in the justice system or a mere lack of awareness, both of which are lethal to society. Only 11% of the subjects were able to seek external assistance. Whereas approximately 57% of the people did not or were not able to access external assistance. It is also important to mention that about 21.5% of the respondents received insufficient assistance.
The top 3 forms of abuse found in our survey were forceful touching, derogatory comments, and flashing. About 64.5% of the respondents had experienced forceful touching. Rape also accounted for an abuse experience/witness of about 12.5% of the subject, which is outrageous. On the bright side, about 60% of the subjects feel safe in their domestic environments and workplaces. Yet, this should provide us with an insight into what places are more prone to incidents of sexual harassment and what are the imperative measures to ensure safety for the remaining 40% in their professional and personal spaces.
A whopping 59% of the respondents do not find the justice system’s rulings on such incidents just, which is another factor that our governing bodies must ponder upon to ensure that the citizens are treated properly, and they understand those decisions are backed by reason and proof. Another important factor is that nearly 56% of the subjects selected that their suspects were not punished at all and about 14% were punished temporarily.
How Can We Make Things Better?
To put it in a nutshell, sexual abuse and harassment is an avid misfortune in India and there is a long way to go to before this issue is entirely eradicated. Possible solutions which can be recommended purely on the data mentioned are more stringent laws along with better security in public places. Other important steps are enabling more diverse sex education spaces for young individuals and grown ups. Many people have failed to seek external aid which further points towards the officials and governing bodies. It is imperative to spread awareness on such issues thereby making people conscious about their rights and responsibilities while also making them comfortable about situations.
Another major factor is the stigma in our country. Where people hesitate to discuss these matters. Hence, it is a social responsibility of every self-aware individual to contribute towards change. Spiking the number of reporting incidents and bringing an increase in the number of people seeking formal aid can also be done by ensuring safer report rooms, confidentiality for those who demand it, and an approachable attitude towards the victims.
Edited by: Sourika Jana
Cover credits: Will Mullery/CNN, teahub.io
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