In an age where
rape has become a common story in India, online sexual harassment has been going on since a long time.
People are either unresponsive towards the situation, ashamed, ignore it or
simply are unaware of it as a form of sexual harassment.
“What Cecille did was a brave; (SEE BOX FOR CECILLE’S STORY) we
all should do this when we face any forms of sexual harassment. I should have
complained a long time ago. Once, I had got an unknown WhatsApp video call from
a foreign number. The profile picture showed a guy. He kept calling and I kept
cutting. I was soon irritated and answered to yell at him, but the disgusting
person had kept the camera towards his private part. I immediately cut the call
and blocked the number; it made me feel sick. I didn’t even know where that
person had got my number from. I was young at that time, so I didn’t tell
anyone,” shares a girl from Old Goa.
Like this, there have been a lot of cases of sexual harassment
through online platforms, much of which is ignored or sometimes taken lightly.
According to advocate and human rights activist Albertina
Almeida, the quicker the complaint is made the better it is. “Also, one mustn’t
be ashamed to place a complaint. These harassers work on a principal of ‘people
are going to be quiet’. The quieter we remain, the more advantage they take.
They will go on harassing many women out there,” she explains. She also says
that once a complaint is placed, authorities should take immediate action so
that it sends a message to violators that it is not a joke.
“Many a time, young,
naive teens tend to respond to these kinds of messages; they are caught and
tangled in these issues. Soon enough they get to know that the guy is a jerk
and is asking them for nudes. But, it doesn’t end there; when the girl declines
and blocks the person, he makes nude posts of her with doctored images,” says
Jane Pereira, Delhivery associate.
Like many women,
actor and psychiatrist Dr Meenacshi Martins has also faced many such incidents.
“Long ago, I remember a man from Vasco sending pictures of breasts to me; I
scolded him to which he replied saying ‘what, don’t you have a breast?’ Later I
blocked him, took screenshots, found his wife on Facebook and sent it to her,”
she reveals. Dr Meenacshi says that sometimes when complaints don’t work or
take time to work, one must learn to handle matters and stand up for
themselves.
Similarly, Menosha
Costa, a young student, agrees that any woman facing sexual harassment should
not fear to raise her voice, even if it is online harassment. “I remember a
friend of mine being harassed by a man whom she knew. She informed her parents
and this helped her get out of the situation,” says Menosha.
She bluntly says,
“With the way things are, I hope people don’t start saying that women should
not use social media like how they say women should not roam out after dark.”
Importantly,
women can and are using the same social media to spread awareness and bring the
online offenders to book.
