Tales Of Teens

Street Harassment - Part 2

Street Harassment

Hello everyone, I am back with Street Harassment Part 2

Well we have seen the Yashna case in our previous update, Let's see another case now.

Usually a girl who was in her high school used to travel in public transport on her journey back to school.

She was a brave teen who had the courage to travel all alone with her school bag. Everything was going on well. One day as usual she got into the bus and she took the travel ticket.

She sat in her seat and looked around to reach her destination, the conductor [ who issues travel tickets in public transport] came to her seat and stood there. She sat there while looking at the surroundings from the window.

Out of sudden she felt a hand on her, she looked at the person who placed hand on her and it was the conductor. She tried to remove the hand but that person didn't budge, he tried to reach more and more to her.

Without caring about anything, she just shouted at him, " Hello! Excuse me! What do you think you are doing?"

He looked away and tried to escape, while the other passengers asked her what had happened. She narrated the incident to all of them without feeling shameful. They bashed him and a complaint was filed on him.

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Most of us see the girls being most affected in the street harassments but there is a share for boys too. Though there are many cases where a boy was harassed too, we don't acknowledge them much. Today let's also look at a case where the boy was street harassed.

Madhu[ imaginary name], was going back from his tuitions and he always had a habit of going from the park lane where nobody used to be and it gave him peace.

As usual Madhu was going there and he noticed someone weird, he went through the path and suddenly he felt someone was following him and she passed some weird comments on him. He felt uncomfortable and went away from there.

That person used to follow him everywhere and it affected Madhu the most. He said it to his parents and also his tuition sir, they secretly followed him and caught hold of the person who was PUNISHED later on.

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It's easy to say they are punished but the harassment thing isn't stopping. Everyone of us must take a step ahead and say NO to street harassment. Many things happen in front of our eyes, but still we don't do anything. Stop what is happening in front of your eyes at least. Be the change you want to see in this world.

Harassment effects on teens are the below:

Fear

Being labeled a snitch

Being ostracized by friends

Retaliation of the abuser

Hopelessness that nothing will be done

Fear of parents and law enforcement getting involved

They go through the worst, especially when you say that what they are going through is just a joke. Listen to someone when they say they are getting harassed be it in any way. Try to support them, if you don't want to support them don't do it but don't say it's a prank or joke!

If you see street harassment happening, there are a few ways you can potentially help if you feel safe enough to do so.

When in doubt, assume you should help. If you are not sure whether a situation is harassment or not, assume that it is and ask the person being harassed if they need help. You can say something like "Are you OK?" or "Are they bothering you?"

Step in. If you can, practice bystander intervention by calling out the harasser on what they just did and why it was not acceptable. You can say something like, "You just touched that man when he didn't want you to. That's not OK. Stop harassing people."

Check in with the person being harassed. If you see harassment occur, consider asking the person who was harassed if they are OK and if they need any help.

Report. You can report that you witnessed harassment to public transportation officials, law enforcement, or the harasser's employer.

You can also help to end street harassment and increase awareness around the issue in a couple different ways.

Never blame the victim. If someone tells you about street harassment they have experienced, the best thing you can do is to listen without judgement and tell them that they did not deserve what happened. You should never reduce their experiences by saying things like "this happened to you because you're so beautiful," or "maybe you shouldn't have worn that dress today."

Share your experiences. If you feel comfortable doing so, talk with people in your life about street harassment when it occurs. This can not only let others know that they are not alone in these experiences, but can help to raise awareness of the frequency of street harassment and its harmful effects among those who haven't experienced it.

Call out your friends. If you witness your friend harassing someone on the street by cat-calling them, whistling, making a sexual comment, repeatedly asking for their information, etc., tell your friend to stop. Take time to explain to them why what they did was harassment and that it is wrong.

- Teen Fix