QUEZON City, Philippines (February 18) – Modern campaigns against sexual harassment are found in everyone’s Facebook timelines and other social media pages. From cat-calls to the intentional acts of touching and groping in the bus or train, everything is documented via video, a vine or photo, along with the full info of the “you-cannot-hide-what-you’re-doing” crimes captioned in complete detail.
Once, I encountered a post from my female friend. She ranted about women who dress provocatively just to look beautiful and be admired, and concluded that it’s the main reason why many of them get harassed and worse, raped. I personally know her, she’s conservative. She made her point. I respect her opinion, but I believe it’s wrong.
No matter what a woman’s outfit is; covered like a cocoon or revealed almost to the bone,it’s the harasser’s fault, not the woman’s. How come a victim suffer the blame to an act where she was the one aggrieved?The world has an almost infinite population of rude and the ill-mannered, making day and night hauntingly dangerous for women.I’m not only saying this to the former, but to guys as well. It’s just that, guys are prone on doing the dirty deed, right?
There are many types of sexual harassment. These are the following:
- Verbal Comments (lurid remarks, requests and demands with sexual undertones, cat-calls)
- Non-verbal actions with sexual underpinnings
- Obscene media contact
- Physical touching
To the acts mentioned above, verbal harassment is the most commonly heard and experienced by the ladies. If a lad thinks that remarks like “Ate, pwedeng pa-kiss?” and “Uyyy, sexy!”are flattering and would give him some “pogi” points, he’s wrong. Inappropriate and bewildering, these cat-calls are degrading in nature. Subdue this kind of act, before you get your time behind bars. Act like a gentleman, admire urbanely. As for the girls, it wouldn’t hurt if you report the scumbags to the police or barangay. To slap or confront these kind of guys is not enough to teach them a lesson. It would help in squashing the taboo, and wake the initiative to defend your right as a citizen, and a woman.
(written by Rex C. Salvador I, edited by Jay Paul Carlos, additional research by Lovely Ann Cruz)
