A Blank Noise opinion poll on what constitutes street sexual violence

There is a growing consciousness among people that it is not just women who are victims of sexual harassment on the street, the more common term for which is ‘eve teasing’. Nowadays, in an attempt to make the club of the eve teased more inclusive, some have taken to using the term ‘adam teasing’ — although this phrase is not yet officially or legally used. However, the implications of both these phrases cannot really be the same. Eve teasing is a more loaded expression. It sees a woman as someone who is provocative enough to have called the ‘teasing’ upon herself. In other words, a temptress, like Eve. One could stretch this far to say that Eve’s male counterpart was indeed an innocent victim — of female ambitions. And so, by that logic, a victim of adam teasing will never be considered responsible for provoking his offender the way women are often thought to have deserved street sexual harassment, supposedly because of their behaviour.

Women’s groups over the years have expressed their discontent with the widespread use of such terms. They believe that an expression like ‘eve teasing’ is a ploy to not take the crime of street sexual harassment seriously — the word ‘teasing’ makes sure that actions that would otherwise be considered criminal are passed off as light-hearted play between strangers in public places. This is seen as an attempt to normalize situations women have to face on the streets. Blank Noise, a community project that campaigns against street sexual violence through public participation, uses the term ‘eve teasing’ as a part of its campaigns precisely because it is easier for women to relate to the term and thus admit that they have been sexually violated. This enables them to come forward and participate in the dialogue that Blank Noise seeks to build around the subject.

Even Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code, when cited in newspaper reports, is commonly referred to as the law against eve teasing. The law also distinguishes between eve teasing, which is, broadly, any form of sexual harassment faced in public spaces, and molestation, in terms of the punishment awarded in respective cases. The latter, as defined in the IPC Section 354, is an “assault” or the use of “criminal force” to “outrage the modesty” of a woman. In effect, the law assumes that women possess this thing called “modesty”, an expression never made clear in the legal clause, but it could vaguely be imagined to mean a certain kind of behaviour from women that falls within expected ‘limits’ of decency. Some activists have called for a repeal of the sections 509 and 354 of the IPC on grounds that law seeks to prescribe a specific behavioural code for women. Those women found guilty of not possessing modesty would automatically not be able to make a case for themselves when harassed. They would remain outside the ambit of, and be unable to seek recourse to, the law to redress their problem.

The third kind of sexual crime, apart from eve teasing and molestation, that the law recognizes is rape. But the criminal law (amendment) bill, 2010, also known as the sexual assault bill, proposes to replace the word “rape” with “sexual assault”. One of the justifications for this is that it will make the reach of the law wider. Any woman who has been penetrated through the vagina, anus, urethra or mouth will be considered sexually assaulted. But some hope that this will also bring men and the third gender under legal protection.

Given the legal set-up and society that see the victims of these crimes as specific kinds of females (the decent variety), it is unlikely that men could use this new amendment in their favour. Since the concept of having an inherent quality of modesty does not hold true for men, it is difficult to consider any assault on their personhood a crime unless it is violent in nature. So, like women, men can never protest, let alone seek legal support, if they feel violated on being winked at or felt up in a crowded bus.

However, if rape were henceforth to be considered sexual assault, then what would the so-called lesser sexual violations be called? As it is, a hierarchy exists among the categories of eve teasing, molestation and rape — the more the offence is physical in nature, the greater is its criminal import. A similar hierarchy is also in place with regard to the body parts that are targeted — groping of breasts is a lighter offence than penetration of the vagina. The already casual approach to street sexual harassment that exists is likely to be aggravated with the passing of the sexual assault bill. For the law, sexual harassment is any action that insults women’s modesty. The sense of this outrage would most definitely differ from woman to woman. Feeling violated or harassed has a lot to do with our relationship with our bodies and with our perception of how we think others view it. The area is a grey one, and may elude definition in the courtroom. And, if the sexual assault bill is passed, it would be easy not only to evade the law but also to invoke it, and implicate someone wrongly.