From: t60bss9@mp.cs.niu.edu (Bijoy Sagar)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.tamil
Subject: Sexual harassment, social reasons. ( Was Re: eve-teasing..)
Date: 8 Jan 1993 18:45:52 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu



	I have been following the debate on sexual harassment in India
closely. I must confess that I am against sexual harassment and will
never indulge in that behavior personally. Now for my 2 cents worth.

	What constitutes sexual harassment depends on the culture of
referance. And the typical portrait of a sexual harasser also varies from
culture to culture. In that respect, we have to remind us that we
cannot mix two value systems while comparing an anomolous behavior like
sexual harassment.

	Unfortunately, Indian society on the whole is very sexually
segregated. I am not passing any judgement on any value system here
but simply stating the facts. The make up of the Indian society is
highly heirarchial and ordinary men and women have no outlet for creatively
controlling healthy libido. This is one of the reasons for the high rate of
sexual harassment in India.

	Secondly, Indian society thrives on mystifying the opposite sex.
People grow up and sometimes live all their lives without ever understanding
the opposite sex. This dehumanization of the opposite sex that makes 
effective communication difficult. And at least some amount of
sexual harassment is simply mis-communication. A woman who is always
in a defensive posture and is unwilling to treat the man sitting next to
her creats a great physical tension around her. She could very well
mistake an innocent/absent-minded or unavoidable physical touch as
sexual harassment. 

	My campuss was totally devoid of any sexual harassment because we 
had our lines of communication open. Since dating and relationships
were not frowned upon, we had a very healthy respect for the opposite sex.
The kind of paranoia that I see in some Indian women about the males
and the kind of sexism/chauvinism that I see in some Indian men were
totally absent.

	I for one is scared to be friendly to a rural Indian woman.
( or even to those frm conservative quarters). Because while I grew
up in an environment where friendships were not gender-based, these
people can never quit being defensive. So every friendly jesture
( a phone call, a hand shake) will be concieved as a pass. 

	Italian society which is equally chauvinistic, shows the similar 
behavior. I guess, eve-teasing will disappear when the sexual tension
and seggregation in Indian society disappear.

	Once again, I do not intend to pass judgement on your culture
or your way of life. I hope I was being objective. I also do
not want to sound as an apolegist to harassers. My point was that
every ill of the society is a result of the whole fabric of the
society malfunctioning at some point. And it is better to delve into the 
issue a tad bitter deeper than simply blaming the individuals alone.


Regards,

Bijoy Sagar.


******************************************************************
| BIJOY SAGAR,               *|* ALL DISCLAIMERS APPLY.          |
| Dept. of Geology, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL60115|
| Internet : t60bss9@mp.cs.niu.edu OR bijoy@geol.niu.edu         |
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Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian