Is dress code the answer to eve-teasing?

The reason they stated for taking this step is that they think that western outfits make women more vulnerable to eve teasing. Like many students who protested against this decision, I too found the idea ridiculous.
First of all I’d like to tell those people who are under the above misconception that girls who wear Salwars or Saris too have been victims of eve-teasing. I don’t remember me or my friends ever dressing provocatively but I can state umpteen cases where we faced indecent behaviour from men on the roads.
Vulgarity is in the mind so even the girls wearing right attire can attract wrong attention. I accept the fact that, what women wear does matter. If a woman wears a daring outfit, she will arouse attention even in the most liberal surroundings, forget the traditional ones.
But the restrictions that have been put on women are outrageous. Instead of punishing the wrongdoers the ignorant heads of the institution are trying to impose a dress code on girls stating safety as the highly unacceptable excuse. If this be the case then how do they explain the fact that though women in the west are less conservative when it comes to clothes but still cases of eve-teasing or crime against women are far less there as compared to here?

Why is Eve Teasing so common in Bangladesh?

When I first heard of this incident where a group of boys in Dhaka followed some young girls and then almost ran over one of them in their eagerness to attract their attention i was shocked. The injured girl (just ten years old!) was shown on TV and it was reported that she could be in hospital for several months-it was very disturbing to say the least.
What upsetting is that culprits are now free on bail.....

Studies show that 32 percent of the eve teasers are students, 35 percent are anti-social while the 33 percent are middle-aged men.

An increasingly large number of college going girls and other women taking public transportation in all metropolitan cities in Bangladesh have resorted to carrying pins, pen-knives and even daggers as a deterrent. Other has taken self-defense classes and don’t hesitate to hit.
In Bangladesh, every 51minutes a woman is street harassed; every 21 minutes one women is molested. Eve teasing is something that a woman has to contend with everyday.

Is this what our country is coming to?
I know we have no laws strong enough to either darter eve-teasers or to prevent rash driving...but what about public outrage? There was another incident in Dhaka where a man deliberately played dirty clips on his cell phone while sitting next to a girl in a bus. He kept thrusting the phone close to her face.....finally the girl stopped the bus and took the man to the police. Not a single commuter came forward to help her....in fact even the police were reluctant to register the complaint! They felt that she should have simply slapped the man instead of complaining to the police.
It is no big secret that the police don’t take eve-teasing incidents seriously. Eve-teasing is so common that the police are terrified of the flood of complaints they might receive if they did register the complaints! Shame on them.

Eve Teasing

We all are known about the Rome and Juliet is one of the best known scenes in Shakespeare’s plays. The story based on the two young lovers whose tragic deaths are brought about by feuding between their families and by their own passionate temperaments. But now-a-days in every where we can easily see Romeo, and this Romeo’s are not like Shakespeare’s Romeo. This new generation’s Romeo’s are found in some places like Cinema Halls, Beaches, Buses, Market, shop, office, Road and sadly even in educational institutions, to see teasing girls and woman, and that’s why this types of Romeo’s are known as “ROAD SIDE ROMEO”.


What is Eve Teasing?

Eve teasing is a euphemism used in Bangladesh for public sexual harassment, street harassment or molestation of women by men, with being a reference to the biblical Eve.

Eve Teasing is a rampant social evil. Eve teasing problem identified at least as far bust as 1960 in Bangladesh, is a rather abhorrent tendency of young men to harass women on the street. In Bangladesh, the problem has come under increasing scrutiny. Eve teasing has been a notoriously difficult crime to prove, as perpetrators often devise ingenious ways to attack women, even though many feminist writers term it as “little rapes” and usually occur in public places, street, and public transport.



History

Though the problem received public and media attention in 1960s, it was in the following decades, when more and more women started going out to colleges and work independently, which means they are often no longer accompanied by a male escort as had been a norm in traditional society, that the problem grew to an alarming proportion. Also seen during this period was a marked rise in number women coming forward to report incidence of eve-teasing like cases of street harassment due to changing public opinion against eve-teasers.

Many other cases go unreported for fear of reprisals and exposure to public shame. In some cases police let the offenders go, after public humiliation through the Murga Punishment. The number of the women’s organization and those working for women’s rights also saw rice, especially as this period also saw rice in reports of bride burning. The increase in violent incidents towards women meant previously lackadaisical attitudes towards women’s right had it be abandoned by law makers.