Sexual Violence and Street Harassment: Two Sides of the Same Coin
In line with Sexual Violence Awareness Month, this blog piece explores how sexual violence and street harassment exist on the same spectrum of gender-based violence and reflect existing power structures within our society. Our community liaison officers, Alex and Cheryl, take a closer look at the community attitudes and culture which contribute to the normalisation of street harassment and sexual violence and propose ways we can resist these harmful mindsets by opening up uncomfortable conversations with our community and peers.
Trigger warning: This blog piece discusses sexual violence and may be distressing for some readers
If you’re reading this blog post, chances are you’ve already had the misfortune of hearing about the recent Shore School muck up day ‘challenge’, a kind of scavenger hunt organised by the students of the all-boys private school. With ‘tasks’ such as kissing ‘an Asian chick’ and having sex with a woman ‘3/10 or lower’, these boys’ idea of a fun time represents the worst kind of masculinity, the kind where group identity is built upon the oppression of other social groups, particularly women. It represents the culmination of all the privileges of high socio-economic status, whiteness and maleness, combined with a cocktail of ignorance and insularity, in the most damaging way possible.
Yet, to suggest that this culture - where sexual experience is worn as some sort of badge of honour - is purely a product of these boys’ beliefs, would be irresponsible. Don’t get us wrong, we’re not saying that they shouldn’t be held accountable for their actions; they absolutely should. Rather, we’re saying that this culture is not purely of their making. The practice of reducing women to mere objects is not new, it is well-established as a means for men to strengthen bonds with each other and affirm some version of a dominant masculine identity. It is part of a culture that these boys inherited; that we have all inherited. And, unless we can achieve some drastic change as a society, we will most likely pass it on to the next generation.
So, how do we avoid this? First, we have to understand exactly what the problem is.
What’s the problem?
Coined by Schwalbe et al. in 2000, oppressive othering occurs when a particular social group seeks power and advantage by defining other groups as inferior and turning them into commodities. It most often takes place in the context of highly privileged (and particularly all-male) social groups, as highlighted by the Shore School example. When the Shore School students devised such problematic ‘tasks’, especially those of a sexual nature targeting women, they did so with the belief that the people on the receiving end of these ‘tasks’ do not deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Instead, the students sought to assert power over these people by reducing them to objects for their entertainment.
It is not difficult to see that these behaviours exist within the same spectrum as sexual violence; which can be seen as another form of oppressive othering. Here, perpetrators believe that their sexual desires are more important than the dignity of their victims, often because they hold more power in society as compared to their victims. Sexual violence is an umbrella term which describes sexual acts which are non-consensual and inflict physical and psychological pain. Behaviours which constitute sexual violence include rape, sexual assault, coercion, and sexual harassment, among others. In Australia, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 20 men have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15. Among certain populations, however, these statistics are much higher. For instance, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experience sexual violence at three times the rate of non-Indigenous women (Our Watch). Similarly, over half of the trans and gender-diverse population have experience sexual violence or coercion (the Kirby Institute, UNSW). It has also been recognised that people with disabilities experience higher rates of sexual violence than the general population, with one in four women with a disability experiencing sexual violence (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare). It is no coincidence that the populations which are more vulnerable to sexual violence are also the ones which face systematic oppression (and ‘othering’) in other aspects of their lives.
How are sexual violence and street harassment related?
The reason that INAC, an organisation focused on street harassment, cares so strongly about sexual violence, is because these two issues cannot be separated. Both street harassment and sexual violence function to maintain the same power structures, and affirm the same ‘dominant’ identities (most notably toxic or boxed-in ideals of masculinity). And both stem from the same root.
The fact is, sexual violence doesn’t start with the assault. Even street harassment doesn’t start with a catcall or a ‘compliment’. The way we see it, both of these problems start with a mindset; with the idea that either of these actions are plausible, even justifiable, actions in the first place. Whether it’s a request (read: expectation) for a ‘smile, honey’, to ‘show us your tits’, or for sex; there is an underlying idea that men are entitled to something from women simply because their bodies exist. Because, women’s bodies exist as objects, as ‘other’, in a way that men’s do not. Ultimately, the mindset that says people in short skirts should expect street harassment, and the mindset that says “she was asking for it” of sexual violence, are at different levels of severity on the spectrum of gender-based harm: but it’s the same spectrum.
At this point, it is important to note that this mindset is not only damaging to women. It intersects with expectations that those who are “different” are obligated to let people touch their hair, or provide an explanation to the question ‘what are you?’, and the way that a lesbian couple may be demanded to kiss as if they exist simply to fulfil the twisted fantasies of others. As we’ve mentioned, oppressive othering is part and parcel of systemic power relations, and gender-based inequality is but one of many.
More than this, however, oppressive othering affects society as a whole. It is harmful not just to the survivors of sexual assault or those on the receiving end of street harassment, but also to those who perpetrate such harmful behaviours. It also stems from the larger problem that there is a rigid and boxed-in idea of what masculinity is. And, whether or not they end up perpetrating street harassment and/or sexual violence, these rigid expectations are harmful to all men-- and society as a whole. When dominance over women serves as a way for men to form group identities and bond with each other, it is extremely difficult for men to develop healthy masculine ideals and form meaningful relationships with not just women, but with each other as well.
How do we address street harassment and sexual violence?
Now that we know that sexual violence and other behaviours on the spectrum of gender-based harm stem from the same mindset, the only way we will see an end to sexual violence is if we properly address the mindset from which it stems. As long as catcalling from a car is seen as a fun and normal way to develop friendships, or having sex with designated ‘types’ of women (as if these women are trophies to be won) is seen as a rite of passage, sexual violence will exist and victims will continue to be dismissed when they speak up. Although huge strides have been made in recognising the harms of sexual violence, some deeply harmful mindsets remain entrenched in Australia. For instance, 2 in 5 Australians subscribe to the idea that ‘it is common for sexual assault accusations to be used as a way of getting back at men’. This is largely untrue. In fact, it is estimated that 95% of rape allegations are found to be genuine. However, despite the numerous high-profile and credible sexual assault allegations coming out in light of the #metoo movement, the myth that false rape allegations are common still persists. The fact that 2 in 5 Australians still believe in this myth is a huge deterrent for victims-survivors to speak up about their experience and a powerful force in enabling perpetrators to continue their abuse.
What is needed is for us to change community attitudes and address the spectrum of gender-based violence as a whole; to help people understand that asserting power over other people’s bodies, in any way, is a form of violence and not ok. To highlight the fact that there is no imaginary line that separates ‘harmless’ everyday levels of street harassment from serious issues of sexual violence - that these issues are two sides of the same coin.
Those cases of sexual violence we hear about in the news don’t exist purely ‘out there’: they are echoed in the catcalls we get as we walk down the street, in the cheers of approval from mates egging each other on, and in ‘banter’ that renders women objects and ‘other’ (than human). Gender-based violence touches all of our everyday lives, and sexual violence is a result of the normalisation of ‘low-grade’ gender-based violence that is ‘not that bad’.
The silver lining in all of this is that if gender-based violence stems from the culture of our everyday lives, then we can change it. We can change those conversations between mates and peers where objectification is deemed acceptable and may even be thought of as funny, by challenging the idea that some people are entitled to other people’s bodies just because they hold greater power in society. By having respectful relationships education in schools, and by calling out harassment on the streets. By asking why a joke is funny, and opening up discussion around the cultures of oppression that we know are damaging to men’s mental health, as well as to those around them. Most of all, we need to model healthy relationships and identities that don’t depend on asserting dominance over others.
Sure, it might not be easy. But neither is everyday life, in the current world. So, what have we got to lose?
If the contents of this blog post have caused you distress, please reach out to the following services for support:
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Sexual Assault Crisis Line (1800 806 292)
QLife (1800 184 527)
Lifeline (13 11 14)
Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636)
Kids HelpLine (1800 55 1800)
