Learning Outcomes:
- To gain a deeper insight into why women refrain from voicing their grievances related to sexual harassment and abuse
- To understand what are the systemic and psychological impediments that stop women from speaking out against sexual abuse
- Using this layered understanding to create a more enabling and empathetic environment for women to vocalise their suffering
"Why didn't she speak up earlier?"
The #MeToo movement was a landmark in the feminist uprising in the contemporary period. Women from every margin of society, be it the corporate or the film world, spoke up about sexual harassment committed by those in power. While a network of female solidarity helped women voice out their grievances, there was no dearth of those who invented novel opportunities to perpetuate victim blaming. Some common reactions to the grievances vocalised by the women include:
- “Well, why didn’t she say anything earlier?”
- “Why didn’t she say something at the time?”
- “Why didn’t she just tell him to stop?”
Many think that women speaking up “late” are merely levelling false allegations for attention or material benefits. However, considering the fact that existing legal processes in the country are weighed heavily against the survivor, the possibility is negligible. This is especially so when the survivor has put her name to the allegation and is running a huge risk to her career and personal life. The answer to the questions posed above is complicated. While there are a number of factors like psychological fear and shame; systemic apathy; socio-economic factors; and power networks that withhold women from speaking out, more often than not, it’s a complex nexus of all these elements that thwart any protest or accusation on grounds of sexual harassment.
Psychological Impediments
Sexual assault is a deeply traumatic incident with multiple layers. At the core of it lies shame because abuse, by its very nature, is dehumanising and humiliating for all victims. Gershen Kaufman, a clinical psychologist specialising in shame, has also aptly stated how shame is a natural reaction to being violated or abused. This sense of shame often causes victims to blame themselves for the sexual misconduct. It is especially common in young and naïve victims. Moreover, recounting such disturbing events is enormously distressing, even in private. Doing so in public trials and in front of apathical police would feel especially humiliating for the victims.
Denial and downplaying abuse are other possibilities. Having heard so much about abuse and harassment through the media, almost in a fableised manner, when it is actually faced by one, it is difficult to comprehend how and why it happened. Women are trapped into believing that what they went through wasn’t essentially abusive, hence downplaying the trauma. Patriarchy can also be considered as a plausible cause, as the history of abuse faced by women is also coupled with a culture of deafening silence.
However, the most significant psychological impediment remains fear. This can be the fear of repercussions, that victims might lose their jobs and means of livelihood, or fall from favour. It can be the fear of not being believed or being ridiculed, particularly by those who they trust. And most importantly, the fear that if there is no conviction or accountability, the abuse might turn up a notch, making it difficult for the victims to survive.
Complex Power Structures
Abuse of power is at the core of any harassment, especially, when it comes to sexual harassment. There are multiple intersections of both these elements, like family, powerful position holders, patriarchy. Most importantly, this perspective also explains why sexual harassment is an allegation usually levelled against men by women. It’s because, while abuse is gender-neutral in nature, the power balance of our society and workplaces is placed overwhelmingly in favour of men. As a result, more often than not, it is women who bear the brunt of abuse and harassment,
People in positions of power, like CEOs, ministers, office holders, etc have an enormous amount of social, political and economic capital. This ensures that they have ample safeguards to protect themselves against any sexual harassment allegation, even if it is proved. This is especially discouraging for women, who are already fighting their psychological demons and braving a number of formal and informal setbacks to voice out their grievances. The recent protest by female wrestlers is one such example. Even when internationally renowned women with plenty of social and economic capital, level allegations of sexual harassment against a powerful person, they are ridiculed and their claims are not taken seriously. Perhaps, even more importantly, no action is taken and the accused is protected.
Family is another complex power structure, especially dominant in communitarian societies like India. A large number of women face sexual harassment from their own family elders. However voicing out the same would be considered almost blasphemous and highly scandalous, as it would mean risking “family reputation”. Hence when women are assured that their protestations won’t be taken seriously (even by their loved ones) or lead to any accountability or conviction, and would instead harm their own interests, they choose to remain silent.
Socio-economic factors
Since most sexual abuse is undertaken by those in power, and committed in professional spaces, complaining against it severely endangers the socio-economic security of the victim. One may be ousted from their job, threatening their livelihood. This is especially seen among middle-class women who have to negotiate between their economic independence and sexual dignity in sexual harassment cases. This is why, oftentimes, we see harassed and aggrieved women continue to maintain close contact or associations with their harassers. It is also important to note that in a patriarchal social order, women are systematically trained to self-doubt; put up with unsolicited behaviour and endure abuse. The assumption that they would be able to say ‘no’ to the first sexual proposition is discriminatory and erroneous, for a huge culture of silent suffering precedes them.
Systemic Apathy
Since the society we live in is patriarchal, the systems arising from it (both legal and professional) are also alarmingly apathetic towards women and their grievances. Police and judiciary in almost all countries is insensitive and crude in their behaviour towards sexual assault survivors. Women are faced with hostile executives who refuse to believe them or register their complaints. Tannushree Datta, the actress who became the harbinger of the #MeToo movement in the Indian entertainment industry, highlighted how her sexual harassment complaint against her co-star Nana Patekar wasn’t registered by the police officers. Similar hindrances are faced by other women in the entertainment industry, as they are stereotyped as “sexually promiscuous” or “available”
A Forbes study has shown how, in a professional setting, sexual harassment is inflicted on powerless women by a nexus of powerful position holders. The HR management is also hostile or apathical towards the concerns of women workers (especially when it comes to sexual harassment) because they work for the corporate and not the aggrieved employees. The mandatory Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) is also not functional in many corporate organisations, and if they are, then many times, the harassers are in a position to influence the investigation of the committee.
ct themselves against any sexual harassment allegation, even if it is proved. This is especially discouraging for women, who are already fighting their psychological demons and braving a number of formal and informal setbacks to voice out their grievances. The recent protest by female wrestlers is one such example. Even when internationally renowned women with plenty of social and economic capital, level allegations of sexual harassment against a powerful person, they are ridiculed and their claims are not taken seriously. Perhaps, even more importantly, no action is taken and the accused is protected.
A key example of this would be Anita Hill, an African-American law professor, who testified against the then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, of sexual harassment, in front of an all-male panel. Not only was she targeted, to question her credibility and assassinate her character, but she was also not taken seriously. Her witnesses were also not called to testify in her favour. Thus, we see how an entire system works to protect the perpetrators while bringing the claims of the victim into contestation.
THE WAY FORWARD: Solutions and Suggestions
Put simply, a complex intermesh of psychological and social reasons withholds women from speaking out against instances of sexual harassment. However, when women do manage to speak out, it seldom leads to a conviction for the perpetrator, but it definitely leads to a social or economic downgrade for the victim. Even famous women, with ample social and economic capital, are not believed when it comes to sexual harassment cases. In the recent past, a number of famous women have come forward with their complaints regarding harassment, which includes the likes of Amber Heard, Kim Kardashian and Amy Schumer, all of whom were trolled mercilessly online, for coming forward.
It is under this pretext that we must question, are women silent by choice, or are they silenced due to the systemic causes? I am forced to gravitate towards the latter.
We need to build an environment that is conducive and empathetic towards the concerns and complaints of women. This should include both social as well as legal aspects. Legal and professional spaces can be sensitised, to deal with the sexual harassment in a more empathetic and understanding manner. This will ensure that women, who dare to speak up, are not met with systemic hostility. Meanwhile, the existing mechanisms should also be strengthened and properly implemented. A social culture of encouragement can be sired, especially to cancel out the predominant culture of silence. NGOs and civil society organisations can be especially helpful in this task. Victims of sexual harassment should be given the benefit of the doubt, and not immediately trolled and grilled. Therapy should be made easily available and affordable for all victims, so that they may cultivate the courage of speaking up, for themselves. But most importantly, those who are found guilty should be prosecuted and aptly convicted.
References
Blair, Elizabeth. “Women Are Speaking up about Harassment and Abuse, but Why Now?” NPR, October 27, 2017. https://www.npr.org/2017/10/27/560231232/women-are-speaking-up-about-harassment-and-abuse-but-why-now.
Engel, Beverly. “Why so Many Women Don’t Report Sexual Harassment and Assault.” Psych Central, February 23, 2018. https://psychcentral.com/blog/why-so-many-women-dont-report-sexual-harassment-and-assault#1.
Ilo, Ihuoma. “SGBV: Culture of Silence or the Justice System? Why Women Are Reluctant to Speak Up.” HumAngle, December 2, 2021. https://humanglemedia.com/sgbv-culture-of-silence-or-the-justice-system-why-women-are-reluctant-to-speak-up/.
Patel, Mona. “Council Post: Workplace Harassment: Why Women Don’t Speak Up.” Forbes, October 30, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/yec/2018/10/30/workplace-harassment-why-women-dont-speak-up/?sh=36d84d34b378.
Rajendran, Sowmya. “‘Why Didn’t She Speak up Then?’: 8 Questions on the ‘me Too’ Movement Answered.” The News Minute, October 10, 2018. https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/why-didn-t-she-speak-then-8-questions-me-too-movement-answered-89742.
Sengar, Shweta. “To Everyone Who Asks, ‘Why Don’t Women Speak up Sooner about Sexual Harassment?’” Indiatimes, October 9, 2018. https://www-indiatimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.indiatimes.com/amp/news/india/to-everyone-who-asks-why-don-t-women-speak-up-sooner-about-sexual-harassment-354471.html?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16862566408209&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatimes.com%2Fnews%2Findia%2Fto-everyone-who-asks-why-don-t-women-speak-up-sooner-about-sexual-harassment-354471.html.
Charu Pawar is a 20 year old empath, trying to navigate through the patriarchal world with a feminist heart. Find her debating about “smashing-the-patriachy” over a plate of momos in college lawns, dingy tea shops, and practically everywhere else…
