Harassment of Men

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Feminism reinforced a binary view of gender relations in which human beings are divided into two clear-cut groups, women and men.

Judith Butler (Gender Trouble)
The harassment of men has nothing in relation with the Women's movement. However there are many negative opinions that since feminism reinforced the difference between women and men, the oppression of men has increased to equalize the oppression of women in society. It is true that feminism has shown a specific division between men and women in society. However this binary view helped to analyze the oppression of women by men for the first time.

Being the dominating gender through the centuries, men do not realize or admit the harassment happening to them. This article does not hold anything against the ideas of feminism. This is a clear-cut analysis of the harassment of men in society.

When the issue of the harassment of man rises, it is often stated that the ratio of the oppression of man is far less than that of women. A recent study shows that 85% of the girls and 76% of the boys have experienced some kind of sexual harassment at school. The only difference in these oppressions is that women do realize their oppressions and men do not admit or realize their oppressions. If somebody asks a male undergraduate whether a female instructor has harassed him, most of them will say "no". On the other hand if the types of harassment have been made clear to them such as- derogatory comments or off-color remarks about men, negligence to his opinions or suggestions, abstaining him from important meetings or discussions and giving him unnecessary punishments- majority of them will report such incidents.

A study at OISE by Gina Fisher in 1987 showed that men were victims of harassment on job more often than women if the same criteria were used for both the sexes. Even then it is surprising to note that most men are not aware of harassing behavior that women infer as harassment. The reported incidents show the hostile environment created against man at a work place. Consider a circumstance. A young man joins his first job in a junior section. His lady boss, who declares herself as a fierce woman activist often praises his female colleagues and complains about men for oppressing women for generations. Her room, utensils and selected logos are adorned with anti-male statements. To add to this, she and the other female colleagues tell dirty jokes that show men in a derogatory sense. There is no doubt that his female colleagues have harassed the man.

Men also experience sexual abuses like women. More to the point, men do not realize these abuses till it hits on the face. They are not upset by the kinds of comments and incidents that have brought their female counterparts millions of dollars in petition. Men may not realize the sexual hints until they are denied promotions, assigned poor sale territories and termination from the organization. These may be a direct result of their denunciation of sexual favours to an influenced female colleague. Most men are shocked to find an open invitation from their female colleagues, such as- "sleep with me or else...," " If I don't have a problem, why should you fear?" etc. Many men claim that women have forced them into sexual interaction through emotional threats. Men are ashamed to admit the verbal abuses showered on them by women by such as 'gay,' ' impotent' or 'jerk.'

SOWRY (Son-in-law's Own Wealth Released to You) is the new evil in Indian society that alarms men, as DOWRY (Daughter-in-law's Own Wealth Released to You) alarms women. SOWRY harassment is defined as any demand for money, property or lifestyle, which interferes with one's peaceful existence, or lifestyle. SOWRY harassment of the husband and family can be traced back to the birth and spread of NRIs. The wife and her family start forcing the husband to put a considerable amount of money in her bank account. If the demands are not granted she starts blaming him "You are harassing me." The guys usually threatened with loss of livelihood and prestige were forced to make a lifetime settlements with lump sum amounts like Rs 45 Lakhs, Rs 50 Lakhs etc. SOWRY promotes the idea that in marriage only a man is supposed to give . A woman is not supposed to give anything.

It seems likely that male harassment victims like their female counterparts, are most likely to experince psychological aftermaths.Women have learned to raise their voice against harassment, but men have learned to live with the harassment.It is time for men to raise their voice against the harassments against them and unbiased researchers to begin an objective re-examination of the harassment of men and women. If the study proves that both men and women are experiencing harassment, then judicial remedy and public policy can be adjusted, and unrecognized pleas of a harassing class and a victim class can be taken into consideration.