‘Eve Teasing’- a Social Curse

eveningnn comb-out in Bangladesh -Causes and Remedies submission Our Society is suffering from many social evils at the moment. One of the worst evils is the Eve Teasing. Now Eve teasing is one of the main threats for Bangladesh because it is destroying the social balance. Eve teasing is a euphemism used for everyday cozy harassment, street harassment or molestation of women by men, with Eve being a reference to the scriptural Eve. It usually involves new men annoying girls or women by making sexual innuendos in public or in work places.School and College gates or the street is the main target of the wayward young men to disturb girls and women. Eve teasing begins as an attempt to irritate a girl or catch her attention. A lewd stargon, a sly whistle, a well-timed clap, an unwarranted bump, a obviously causal touch, a lingering look at a vulnerable time, the humming of suggestive song, acquittance downright uncouth comments, cheap gestures, display of indecent snaps or videos, giving unwelcome call or missed call, sending indecent texts . all these are typical examples of eve teasing. Impacts of Eve Teasing Eve teasing might recognizem harmless fun to some, but gets the nerve of the victims. The severe impact of eve teasing is taking away the lives of young girls as Bangladesh has witnessed recently. Based on empirical study (2008) the thirst Project has identified some impacts of eve teasing in the society of rural Bangladesh. These are a) Curtailed teaching method Sexual harassment increases girls drop-out rate from school.Parents concerned about their daughters honour or safety sometimes keep open their daughters home and/or marry them off at an early age. b) Early marriage Girls who are bedevil or harassed are also pushed into marriage, before they are physically or mentally prepared. c) Hindered developing Eve teasing contributes to maintaining the low status of women. It also hinders women in participating in the formal utilisation sector. d ) Suicide cases Teasing the young tender-hearted girls is increasing sharply day by day. The outcome is the serial self-annihilation of many innocent girls.Ain-O-Shalish Kendra (ASK), a human rights organization has revealed that 14 girls and women, due to repression of stalkers, opted for ultimate destiny of their lives finding no some other alternatives, over the past four months. Moreover, girls and their guardians are being attacked and sometimes murdered, because they protested against it. Causes In a male dominant society like ours, eve teasing can be viewed as a rite of passage for boys on their way to becoming men. To the society, in general, being male signifies powerful, while the female person is always a second sex or weaker one.Our education has no moral stint, our religious exercises have constrain ritualistic. Electronic media, especially some movies (both Hindi and Bengali) may be blamed for propagating eve teasing. Many movies line scenes of teasing, showing th is behaviour as a way to win a womans heart. One statistics suggests, 32% of the eve teasers are students, 35% are anti-socials while 33% are middle-aged men. So, the spectrum of eve teasers is very bulky starting from teenagers to middle-aged men, either illiterate or educated. In our country, yet now there is no strict law that can effectively curb eve teasing.Article 76 of the Dhaka Metropolitan jurisprudence Ordinance 1976 of the Penal Code of 1860 affirms that any acts, conducts or verbal abuses that are used to disgrace women are penaliseable by law. However, these provisions seem minor compared with the crimes they commit. Sometimes, women are blamed for alluring eve teasers by their seductive dresses or make-ups. But the reality is, the majority girls who become the prey of eve teasers are from rural areas and they are more than conservative in wearing dresses compared with their counterparts in the urban areas. Remedies First of all we need to reduce the sexuality segr egation in the society.The boys should respect the opposite sex, as morality demands it, adding that they should not be unaware to the incident that they have families too. We also need to formulate a mass awareness programme in this context. Media, NGOs and other social organizations may play pivotal role in this respect. Policemen must be deployed and conscious and should punish such vagabonds where necessary. Mobile courts are now empowered to prosecute the crime of Eve teasing. assurance brings a year in jail, a fine of $70, or both. Recently, the government is planning to introduce a strict law against eve teasing.No doubt, this is a timely step to move forward Conclusion What we see happening today cannot be remedied by the application of law alone. What is needed most is the proactive and impetuous role of the society to retrieve social and moral values which have eroded over the years. teaching method Ministry in Bangladesh has designated 13 June, 2010 as Eve Teasing Pro tection Day. To reduce this crime, we must launch a social movement against this in addition to introducing punitive legal measures. However, all the steps will be futile unless the male segment of the society change its patriarchal mindset.