A STUDY ON ADAM TEASIN

“A murderer kills the body but the rapist kills the soul”. 

-Justice Krishna Iyer

In this paper, we will look into the struggles men faced by women in society. This paper speaks about the ignored and neglected topic by the society. Adam-teasing is parallel to eve-teasing where men are being harassed by women. This topic is being not discussed by many. People think women can cause no harm to men as men have strong physiques in nature or the social stigma of women can only be harassed by men and men can’t be harassed by women. But there are many scenarios witnessed by us where man can be harassed too. Many cases are not being spoken as men are hesitant of their surroundings to open up about their struggles. And there was no legislation made in India to address this difficulty faced by men. However many countries enacted gender-neutral legislation to address the difficulties of women as well as men.  

KEYWORDS: Adam- teasing, men too, patriarchal society, social stigma, gender bias

INTRODUCTION:

“Men can be victims too….”

The first word when we heard if we hear about sexual harassment or any other abuse our first thought would be ‘Why men are like this’. But we forgot to recognize the harassment faced by men because of women. People assumed that men couldn’t be harassed and abused. But there are many cases where men are being harassed, abused and ignored by society as he considered to be strong. But it’s not only about who is strong but also about who has the power to do it. We can find cases of female superiors harassing male subordinates and they can’t act as it can backfire them. There was also a stigma that men can’t be a prey. In this paper, we will see about the difficulties faced by men in the society.   

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The information used in this study was obtained from secondary sources, including magazines, annual reports, and various published reports. The research presented in this paper is descriptive. It was conducted after a thorough analysis of the cultural phenomenon of Adam-teasing and its prevalence in society.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

The word Adam-teasing itself is not commonly used in India. We can’t find many things about Adam-teasing. As India is a patriarchal society and social stigma that men can’t tell they are harassed by women. They are hesitant to open up and are being ignored by the government to enact suitable legislation for men. Many legislation were made for women in India but not there a single legislation we can come across for men. 

Article 14 of the Indian constitution gives the fundamental right of equality before law which states “The state shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.” But does the law treat them equally? There were legislations to protect women for example Indian Penal Code of 1890, and the Protection of Women from sexual harassment (POSH) Act of 2013 but there is no POSH act for men, then who will protect men? In many countries, the sexual harassment of men is being recognized and gender-neutral laws have been established. 

Nearly 77 countries which includes Australia, Denmark, The United Kingdom, Switzerland, The United States etc. accepted gender-neutral laws for harassment and abuse. Other than these we can analyze from many studies and surveys that women as well as men are being harassed in public places, online and in workplaces. But there is no legislation to regulate that. Harassment has no sexual preference. It doesn’t go for any specific gender men or women whatever your gender is you can harassed and abused by the perpetrators. The perpetrators can be men or women. 

DIFFICULTIES FACED BY MEN:

ADAM-TEASING:

Adam-teasing means the teasing of males by females. It involved pawing, molestation, sexual harassment and the like. Adam-teasing is parallel to Eve-teasing. 

The EEOC has defined sexual harassment in its guidelines as

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, and other verbal or physical Conduct of a sexual nature when:

• Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment, or
• Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as a basis For employment decisions affecting such individual, or
• Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an Individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment

SURVEY:

According to The hidden side of domestic violence, 2013 – by Nupur Bhutani

According to this survey,

• nearly 93% of men faced verbal abuse, 
• 76% of men faced economic abuse,
• 75% of men faced physical abuse, and 
• 48% of men faced sexual abuse by their spouse and in-laws.

 But this was not addressed as no one believes men can be harassed and may be subject to domestic violence in India.

Untender initiated ‘Project Jagruk’, an initiative aimed at raising awareness and sensitizing people about the POSH Act 2013. The project was carried out in various police stations across South Delhi, where police personnel expressed their desire for the act to be applicable to men as well. Additionally, many male victims of sexual harassment had approached them with complaints. But this act only applies to women. So there is a need to make Acts for men also.

Pew surveyed online harassment among web users. In that survey respondents were asked about 6 forms of harassment.According to that, respondents witnessed the harassment of others-

• Offensive names were witnessed by 60% of internet users, while 27% of them personally experienced it.
• Efforts to intentionally humiliate someone were observed by 53% of people, while 22% of users reported experiencing it.
• Around 25% of the participants reported witnessing someone being physically threatened, while 8% of them had experienced it themselves.
• 24% of the users stated that they had seen someone being harassed for an extended period of time, and 7% of them had been victims of harassment.
• 19% of the respondents claimed to have witnessed someone being sexually harassed, with 6% of them being subjected to such harassment. 
• Additionally,18% of the participants stated that they had seen someone being stalked, and 8% of them had been stalked.

Four in ten internet users are victims of online harassment including both men and women.

 An Economic Times – Synovate surveywas conducted through:

• Poll results were gathered from 527 executives working in various industries including telecom, FMCG, Durables, banking, ITeS and others.
• Executives are categorized into three age groups: 25-35 years, 35-45 years, and over 45 years of age.
• Seven cities were included in the poll and an equal number of men and women were surveyed in each city.

According to the survey,

• At their workplace, 32% reported being harassed by their male colleagues.
• In Hyderabad, 29% of employees claimed that they were sexually harassed by their female bosses and 48% of employees accused their male bosses.
• In Delhi, nearly 43% of both male and female are harassed by their colleagues.
• In Banglore, 51% said they have been harassed. 
• In Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Pune, the said sexual harassment of respondents was 3%, 11% and 5%, respectively.
• Delhi has the highest percentage of workplace harassment. They were approached by their boss (male or female) for sexual favours offering promotions, salary hikes, etc.

An online Survey conducted by a nonprofit called street stopharassment found that,

• Throughout their lifetime, a majority of women (81%) and a significant minority of men (43%) have encountered some form of sexual harassment.
• The harassment may take place in the form of verbal sexual harassment, cyber sexual harassment, unwelcome sexual touching, stalking, sexual assault etc,

EFFECTS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT ON MEN:

1. Physical effects:

• Victims also suffer physically because of the harassment. They can’t even tell that to anyone as this may mislead another harassment or taunt.

2. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD):

• According to research, sexual harassment can lead to trauma which likely leads to PTSD in women or men. Men are also subjected to psychological problems

3. Sexual health:

• The sexual health of the victims of sexual assault or harassment will be challenging. Some have fear, anxiety and guilt towards their partners. They can’t lead a normal life after experiencing assault or harassment.

REASONS WHY MEN ARE NOT REPORTING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN INDIA:

The below diagram will show the figures taken by Nupur Butani in 2013 on the hidden side of domestic violence, where we can see that 

• Nearly 4% of men don’t report their difficulties because of the fear that no one will believe them or take them seriously.
• Nearly 27% of men didn’t report because of embarrassment
• 5% of males didn’t report because of the feeling that they are less of a man for allowing themselves to be abused
• 4% of them didn’t report because of the fear of losing their friends or relatives
• 15% didn’t report because of other reasons.

The reasons why men do not report are, 

1. Fearing no one believes

• The first and foremost reason is the trust. As India is a patriarchal society we assume that men can be harassers only and can’t be harassed. But this assumption was wrong and many male victims tried to voice out but they were hesitant about will people believe them.

2. Embarrassment:

•  Men are described as physically strong. So if he acknowledged he was being harassed people would embarrass him saying that he lost manliness. And everyone is embarrassed to tell people about their nightmare. 

3. Though no one would respect them:

•  If male victims open up there isa chance of people taunting, teasing and trying to disrespect them. Because of the social stigma men have to protect others. Men have to play dominant if not they will be disrespected.

4. Fear of losing a job:

• The main reason for male victims ignoring or not voicing out about workplace harassment is fear of being fired and transferred and being on the bad side of superiors. The superior executive harasses the subordinate executive. If the subordinates do not accept that they will be in a tough spot in the workplace.

LEGISLATIONS IN INDIA CONCERNING SEXUAL HARASSMENT:

The Indian constitution’s Article 14 guarantees equality before law, stating that every person within the territory of India is entitled to equal protection of the laws and should not be denied equality before the law. This means that everyone is equal before the law, regardless of any factors.

The Indian constitution’s Article 15 prohibits discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. This means that the state cannot discriminate against any of its citizens on the above-mentioned grounds. However, even though men face difficulties, the society continues to stereotype them and ignore their problems.

Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 defined Assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty where if anyone tries to destroy the modesty of women through assault or criminal force they will be punished. 

• Section 376 of The Indian Penal Code, 1860 defines rape
• Section 509 of The Indian Penal Code, 1860 says it is punishable if anyone tries to insult a woman by their words, gesture or act.

Added to them there are many Acts which are enacted to protect and safeguard women. Some are;  

1. The Protection of women from sexual harassment (POSH) Act, 2013 which is only for women. The question may arise that, is there no workplace sexual harassment happening to men. If so who will protect them? 
2. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005covers domestic violence that happens to women. But in recent times we witnessed much domestic violence happening to men. Who will punish them if there is no legislationbeing established?

HARASSMENT LEGISLATION IN THE US:

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is responsible for regulating and addressing complaints of workplace harassment. This law is gender-neutral. Programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, and national origin under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) forbids an employer to discriminate against an individual on the grounds of their race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity), or national origin. Title VII also prohibits an employer from taking an adverse action or retaliating against an individual (employee) from Expressing their concerns about being treated unfairly due to discrimination, either through official or unofficial channels; Submitted a claim of discrimination to an organization such as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; or Assisted in an employment discrimination inquiry or legal action as a witness.

Employers are prohibited from harassing employees based on their race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity), or national origin under Title VII. The U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission states “both the victim and the harasser can be either a woman or a man, and victim and harasser can be the same sex”.

IGNORED STORIES:

In a case where a 41 years old man named Rakesh Sheth was found dead in Gujarat his suicide note stated that he was started harassed by his wife and in-laws within 6 months of marriage and in the suicide note, he stated that his wife would like it if he die and his in-law only worship wealth. Due to the harassment of his wife and in-laws, he took his own life.

In the case, Suhil Kumar Sharma v. Union of India In this case the wife made a false allegation to harass her husband and in-laws so the court gave guidelines to avoid misuse of the provisions which were made to protect and safeguard men from harassment of his wife and her family members for their demands.

SUGGESTION:

The foremost suggestions is that  there should be a Legislation which addresses the harassment and abuse of male victims. The government should legislate gender-neutral law. The legislation enacted by the government should not be gender biased. The government should form a committee to address the problems of male victims. These committees objectives should look into the difficulties and troubles faced by men.

To form Associationto investigate the misuse of rights by women. Women were given rights to safeguard and protect themselves but nowadays, female use these as a tool to bully and scare men. This should be rectified.Men have dignity too. So he should treated equally. All are equal before law and they should also give rights to protect themselves.

CONLUSION:

Crime has no gender and victims also have no gender. There were no stereotyped crimes in the society. However, people are  stereotyped and believe in social stigma in society. Because of that men were considered as the harassers, and not the ones being harassed and the prevailing fear to voice out the problems by men. Men and women should treated equally not only in words but also in legislation. Ignoring the need for gender-neutral law is an undeniable mistake for men they should be given opportunities to address their problems. The law commission in its report on Volume- I of Law Commission of India 156^th report on the Indian penal code August,1997, Trainee District Judge- Shivashanker Rao suggested that Adam teasing should also be punished which is teasing of male individuals by female individuals in gender-exclusive environments such as women-only Colleges. It was being ignored and still, there is no legislation for Adam-teasing. Concluding the paper by analysing the need for gender-neutral laws. 

Name: Monisha SCollege Name: Tamil Nadu DrAmbedkar law University, chennai