This week, a tweet circulated the internet portraying two women, one in a crop top and the other in a burka, with the caption objectifying the lady in the crop top. The accompanying text in the tweet was questioning the public as to whose price they would ask if they saw these two women walking the road, inferring that one was a sex worker.
Slut-shaming seems to be part of our ingrained culture and has settled into the minds of many as acceptable to the point that the line between shaming and harassment has become blurred.
The Morning Brunch spoke to some women on their thoughts about catcalling in Sri Lanka and how we can prevent it.
Education is key
PR consultant Jessica Fernando stated that as someone who is passionate about women’s rights, she firmly believes harassment and slut-shaming women boils down to our education system.
“We have primarily a very segregated education system. We’ve been brought up being constantly taught that boys will be boys and girls need to act and dress a certain way in order to be accepted and be successful in life.”
These thoughts will resonate within us as adults, so unless one is a critical thinker and tend to question these beliefs that have been drilled to us, there will be no change. “Even if we were to be critical thinkers, there have been many moments that I would have thought very judgemental. I would think to myself, ‘did I get catcalled or harassed because I wore this?’”
She noted that it is all rooted in our internalised misogyny, and education is the forefront of change.
Adding to her previous statement, she also emphasised that this education needs to be taught from childhood, as it is difficult – and sometimes impossible – to change the mindset of an adult. She urged anyone who has a tendency to slut-shame, whether a man or a woman, to put themselves in the woman’s shoes and see how they would feel about it, personally.
“Women should also think if they are wearing what they want to wear for comfort’s sake, or if they just want attention,” she said, adding that even if it is a desire for attention, then it is the woman’s right to want attention without needing to be slut-shamed for it.
It’s not your fault
Hearing crude comments while innocently walking down the streets can have a long-term psychological impact on women. General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) senior lecturer Tina Solomons said: “If catcalling and harassment happens repeatedly, people can develop long-term trauma. Not all women progress into having trauma, but there is always a significant psychological impact on each one’s minds.”
This kind of harassment can also cause issues like anxiety and low self-esteem, which should not be the case as women should have the right to be able to walk in public without having to fear being subjected to harassment, despite whatever clothes she has on.
She added that sometimes, although catcalling may sound innocent, there is no such thing as “minor harassment”; if you feel uncomfortable, then it is all harassment.
There does not seem to be a change in the system, and catcalling is seemingly getting worse by the day. Commenting on how women can prevent themselves from agonising over these comments, Solomons said: “In order to handle these situations, women need to generate positive thoughts to ward off the negative. It is important that they don’t take these passing comments to heart and believe them to be true.”
She strongly emphasised that it is never the woman’s fault, and understands that they are being harassed, so they can prevent themselves from blaming themselves.
Long-term effects on economy
Talkshow host and women’s rights advocate Shanuki de Alwis stated that she doesn’t see the State taking any initiative to reduce this kind of discrimination and equality in Sri Lanka.
Sexual harasemnt can be verbal, non-verbal, and physical, and catcalling does fall into the realms of sexual harassment and initimidation. De Alwis noted that the fact that we have laws that infer that these people should be held accountable and that the government has done nothing by way of public service announcements or any initiative to sensitise or educate people and children on these issues lead to the point that we continue to dwell in a very regressive country.
“I’ve seen many disturbing posts on social media, and I continue to see articles on the media stating that it’s time we stop this nonsense, but we don’t,” she shared, adding that now it’s high time for the State to move in and do something about this because Sri Lanka is increasingly gaining a worse reputation.
De Alwis also observed that slut-shaming and harassment can also affect our economy in the long run. “We’re trying to improve our tourism right now; we’re spending to get tourists to come to Sri Lanka because we depend on forign income, but Sri Lanka has a reputation with women around the world which is not in the least positive due to this chauvinistic attitude and misogyny that has been cultivated in the minds of many men.”
She further highlighted that this issue is going to affect us economically as well, if we don’t get our act together soon.
Filing complaints should be made easier
Attorney-at-Law Ermiza Tegal informed us that according to Section 345 of the Penal Code (Amendment) Act No. 22 of 1995, whoever sexually harasses another person by the use of words or actions causes sexual annoyance or harassment to such other person commits the offence of sexual harassment and shall on conviction be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term, which may extend to five years, or with fine or both and may also be ordered to pay compensation of an amount determined by court.
However, in order for action to be taken, one must report the crime with the location and all the details required.
“The prevention part of this issue comes from education; there’s a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of socially making it unacceptable to behave in a manner like this,” she noted, adding that she also believes it is a matter of making it easy for women who face harassment or anyone to report these crimes to police stations.
“I know a couple of instances where these things have happened, where the women had to catch hold of their perpetrator and take them to the police station in order to get them apprehended.”
It should not be up to the woman to apprehend their perpetrator. The law enforcement needs to start taking such complaints seriously so that the number of cases will reduce significantly, as the fear of being arrested will indeed prevent harassment of any form.
Each woman is brought up differently; some people are comfortable with reporting these crimes to the Police, but there are many who don’t feel that way. Having public discourse around this topic while making it unacceptable, calling it out, bystanders should also help in these situations. “As a society, we have a responsibility to address it and spread that we don’t find this behaviour acceptable at all,” she concluded.
