Shaping Respectful Future.
Blog post written by Nazia Tabasum A
Every human being deserves respect and safety. And in today’s generation, especially for a woman, feeling safe is mostly questionable. In this blog post, I want to share an incident which I recently witnessed, hoping that it will create an awareness about voicing out against sexual harassment.
I was traveling home from my friend’s place and on the way, our bus got stuck in traffic. An auto stopped nearby us and from my window seat, I witnessed a school boy who was trying to misbehave with a teenage girl seated next to him.
That girl, who looked older than him, was hesitant, moved back and forth and was clearly uncomfortable because of that boy’s behavior.
There were other passengers seated in that auto, and despite noticing this incident, they remained quiet and pretended as if nothing happened.
I was hesitant too and felt guilty to see that girl enduring the harassment in silence. As the traffic got cleared, our bus started to move, and that auto crossed within a fraction of a second. Seeing a boy’s inappropriate behavior at that young age was quite disgusting.
In reality, most of us witnessing this kind of situation are hesitant to take further actions and wait for someone else to intervene and stop the harassment. This is because of the fear of negative aftermaths that may occur because of voicing out against these incidents.
In other words, this can be described as the ‘Bystander Effect‘. This theory is all about an individual not taking the necessary action, instead, waiting for others to take the responsibilities.
This incident was a wake-up call for me, reminding me that harassment, no matter if it happens to myself or to another, attention and prompt action are necessary.
Keeping aside the fears, diligent steps must be taken to educate the public about preventing harassment, voicing out misbehavior acts, and standing up for victims. These actions will definitely create a positive impact on our society.
On the other hand, awareness about this should be mainly emphasized by the parents and educational institutions to the younger generation, as their role is vital in shaping a safer society.