What are you looking at?”: A phenomenological study on the lived street harassment experiences and the perceptions and street behavior of young adults and adult Filipino women in Lipa City, Batangas

Abstract

Despite the many American researches on sexual harassment, one important issue that seldom receives attention from researchers or the media is the street harassment that happens to women walking down sidewalks, taking public transportation, and in other public spaces (Kearl, 2011). Women have experienced this phenomenon seriously and differently and have struggled a lot of times when they are out in the streets (McKay, 2008). RA No. 7877 also known as ‘Anti-sexual Harassment Law’ of the Philippines, defines sexual harassment as “an act or a series of acts involving any unwelcome sexual advance, request or demand for a sexual favor, or other verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature, committed by a government employee or official in a work-related, training or education related environment.” Street harassment is not clearly in the context of the RA No. 7877 since the phenomenon happens in a public sphere, not in an academe or work environment. The overall image that emerges from the literature is the negative behavior of women caused by street harassment: avoidance behavior, decreased feelings of safety, fear of being alone in the streets, and helplessness. This study recovers some of the lived street harassment experiences of women and the perceptions of two groups of women: (1) women who admitted to have experienced street harassment and (2) women who admitted to have not experienced street harassment, through semistructured interviews with 20 young adult and adult women selected using purposive sampling following the criteria: (1) a Filipino citizen (2) aged 18 and above (3) admitted to have/have not experienced street harassment, and (4) able to read and understand English or Tagalog. Two groups of women were used to further understand how street harassment affects street behavior of women. An analysis of these interviews yields women’s own explanations that challenge the four widely held assumptions about street harassment: (1) When faced with street harassment, most women do not respond; (2) Street harassment is individually definable; (3) Victims uses online activist sites as informal potential justice mechanisms and; (4) Women develop decreased feelings of safety and avoidance behavior in the streets. This study is part of a growing body of research on international and local street harassment studies. This study will contribute to women studies and will be an instrument for making stricter laws and policies for the benefit of both men and women.