From: usubrama@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Uma M Subramanian)
Subject: Re: More About India/ Whither Patriotism
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 20:35:54 GMT

In article <1992Oct13.114428@IASTATE.EDU> aluru@IASTATE.EDU (Srinivas Aluru) wr
ites:
>Many women netters have posted that they face no harassment in the US
>and a lot in India. While harassment in India is known to occur, I think
>we need the opinion of American women on harassment here. I haven't seen many
>Amrecan men/women interested in Indian women/men. Most don't bother
>much about people of a different race and this could be a reason why the
>Indian women over here are experiencing no unwanted attention on the roads.
>
>-aluru

(Note: I got comments/questions along these lines on email from a few
readers perhaps including you. I apolgize for not giving any feedback.
Not enough time to respond ...)

Just to add to what Susan and Aruna have already said:

I *do* have ample feedback from American women (and women of other
nationalities, both Caucasian and non-Caucasian), in addition to
first-hand observations on how women (white American and others) are
treated in public places.

First, I don't think I (or the other women posters who said US is
better than India) denied the existence of sexism or harassment in the
US. I didn't say Indian woen face *no* unwanted attntion on the roads
either. What I *did* say was that there is no comparison between the two
countries either in the degree or the commonness of the problem of
sexual harassment.

Second, while your observation that people usually don't show much
interest in members of other races might be true of the all-American
undergrad. (And the assumed "superiority" of hte white race is another
factor that contributes to this.)  But in my opinion, it's not all that 
uncommon for Americans (white  or otherwise) to be interested 
in people of other races.

Having said that, let me say that I've had white American women (and
others) for roommates, very close friends, colleagues and I've had
a chance to observe first hand the reactions of men towards these
women in various situations -- in cafes/bars/restaurants, on the road,
in the gym, in professional situations; and of course, with many of my
friends, I've discussed the issue of sexual harassment. And I often
attend discussions (both organized and informal) on women's issues.
Not once have I heard of public sexual assaults/harassment as something
that a woman has to face in her *everyday* life. Yes, some men
whistle at a woman jogging on the road. And yes, there are occasions
when we talk about not feeling comfortable with some collegue/fellow
student/student. And yes, there are campus rapes, date rapes, domestic
violence and harassment at the workplace. But I am yet to hear reports
of a fellow passenger in a bus pressing his hard-on on a woman, or
a stranger grabbing a woman in the staircase or a bus, or a woman
being surrounded by a group of men and sexually handled on a busy
afternoon on a college campus (a campus in Madras -- despite
Premkumar's pronouncing Madras campuses as asylums -- I don't know for
who, though.). This is the extent of public sexual assaults most women on 
SCI are talking about, in case any objective reader is interested in knowing.

I for one, would never deny sexiam or sexual harassment in teh US --
I don't think any culture has achieved that level of liberation. What
I do find frustrating is the reaction of disbelief when almost all
the women on the net endorse the severity of the probelm in India
and say that the US is far better for women.

Uma Subramanian