Lecture # 18 Eve Teasing in Bangladesh Presented by Abul Kalam Azad Senior Lecturer in GED Northern University Bangladesh Email: kalamadd@gmail.com

Objectives To Define Eve Teasing; To Discuss the Root Causes of Eve Teasing; and To Discuss the Remedies of Eve Teasing.

1. Eve Teasing Defined Simply, eve teasing is that act by ‘Adam’ excites and sexually harasses ‘Eve’. According to the description of Old Testament, ‘eve’ is Adam’s wife and the first woman & mother of the human race. So, teasing a woman/ female is called 'eve teasing'. Broadly speaking, eve teasing is a euphemism for sexual harassment or molestation of women in public places. It is an appalling act that imparts humiliation, panic, repulsion and helplessness in the victim.

Mode of Eve Teasing: An offensive watch, a sly whistle, a well-timed clap, an unwarranted knock, a seemingly casual touch, a lasting look at a helpless time, suggestive song with closed lips, slang comments, cheap gestures, the display of an indecent video, passing by in slow moving cars blasting loud music with many eyes….all these are typical examples of eve teasing.

2. Causes of Eve Teasing Q:1Who are teasers? Who come of Broken Family Deviated from social values and norms Who are associated with Evil Peer Groups Who have the lack in religious & moral education Most of the teasers are illiterate Socially Frustrated Drug users Who are failure in love Who don’t know formal behavior Q: 2 Who are the victim of teasing? Who wear/ doesn’t Short/ Tight/ Thin dress including Shirt, Pant, Jeans etc. Who Take/ doesn’t take beautification tips such as bright lipstick, multi-colored makeup, brew pluck, stylish hair cutting etc. Who are quite beautiful / not Who refuse the proposal of love/ not

Q: 3 Where is the Place of Eve Teasing? Eve teasing is a common incident, be it in buses, shopping malls, cinema halls,, near women's colleges, restaurants, auto/bus-terminals, railway booking counters and every other conceivable place; but the one place where it happens with alarming frequency is on the road. So, it may said that in most of the cases eve teasing is caused by illiterate, semi-literate or literate persons having no moral & religious education.

Q: 4 How Does Individual Behave? Unsocial/ uncultured man who may be considered as animal behaves in this way: S R But social & cultured man who have already overcome animal character behave in this way: S C R

Q: 5 How Does Individual Become deviant (e. g Q: 5 How Does Individual Become deviant (e.g., eve teaser)/ immoral/ moral? To answer to the question, there are some significant sociological theories: Looking Glass Self by Charles Horton Cooley; Generalized Other by George Herbert Mead; Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory; Ogburn & Nimkoff’s Cultural Lag Hypotheses Anthony Giddens’s Agency-Structure Theory

I) Looking Glass Self by Cooley Self (consciousness/ imagination of one’s own identity) Glass (mirror): Social Agents e.g., family, peer group, educational institution, mass media etc.

1. We imagine how our actions appear to others 2. We imagine how other people judge these actions 3. We make some sort of self-judgment based on the presumed judgments of others System of Looking Glass

Development of Moral Self Moral Glass (mirror): Moral Social Agents e.g., family, peer group, educational institution, mass media etc.

Development of Immoral Self Immoral Glass: Immoral Social Agents e.g., family, peer group, educational institution, mass media etc. Conclusion: Since eve teasing is an act of immoral self, it is caused by immoral agents.

II) George Herbert Mead’s Theory of Generalized Other Self ‘I’ ‘Me’ Generalized Other (viewpoints, attitudes, and expectations of society as a whole)

Self ‘I’ ‘Me’ Seeks Immediate response Unpredictable Incalculable Inner & Subjective Wishes to have free expression Adoption of the generalized other Conventional Habitual individual Dominates ‘I’

1. Preparatory stage: In this stage, human infants imitate the attitudes & behaviors of others meaninglessly mimicking movement. 2. Play stage: In this stage, children play the roles of others and formulate role expectations such as playing house, cops and robbers and so on. But, lack a more general and organized sense of themselves. 3. Game Stage: This is the mature stage where an individual tries to act in accordance with a set of generalized expectations internalized into him/ her (see the figure below).

Deviant Behavior e.g., eve teasing III) Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory Deviant Behavior e.g., eve teasing Bad Companion (Shongo Dosh)

IV) Ogburn & Nimkoff’s Cultural Lag Hypotheses Deviant Behavior e.g., Eve Teasing Maladjustment between Material & Nonmaterial Culture

Gap Between Adopting Material & Non-material Culture in BD Sign of Adopting Material Culture e.g., Technology like Cell Phone, internet Sign of Adopting Non-material Culture e.g., Attitudes, behavior, beliefs etc.

V) Anthony Giddens’s Structure- Agency By producing & reproducing Structural problems By producing & reproducing By enabling & constraining Causes of Eve of Teasing Problems of Agency

Problems of Agency & Agents Structural problems: Neither Open system nor Closed System but the Admixture of Both, Cultural lag (Adoption of material culture i.e., technology but less advance in adopting nonmaterial culture i.e., attitudes, behavior, beliefs etc.) Lack of Good Governance, Lack of implementation of rule of law, Lack of enough monitoring Cell, Lack of proper penal system, Lack of accessibility of young correction centers, Lack of rigid law, Capitalism uses women as commodity By producing & reproducing By enabling & constraining Causes of Eve Teasing Problems of Agency & Agents Lack of Moral Values & Religious Education by different agents like family, Peer Groups and Mass Media, Frustration, Psychological problem, Negative impact of Cell Phone, Failure in love.

European Society: Open System Q: 6 Why is eve teasing absent in Europe & Arab but present in BD, India & Pakistan? Closed to Open System Change of BD from European Society: Open System Indian Subcontinent: Admixture of both Open & Closed System, No Distinctive Existence Arabian Society: Closed System Open system: means freedom of individual behavior but Closed system: means structural dominance on the individual

Remedies of Eve Teasing Social agents like family, peer groups, educational institutions and mass media must be amended; Religious and moral education should be ensured; Those who are frustrated/ drug addicted should be corrected under probation centre/ adolescent correction centre; Proper socialization should be ensured; Structural problems as mentioned before should be eliminated; Dilemma of social system should be removed but a unique one be continued; and Men should treat the eves as their own mother or sisters.