Abstract:
Although sexual harassments of women in
public transport have been studied over the years which
were considered as an issue related to power, men are
also targets of sexual harassments in public transport
although there are limited studies which have focused
on their experiences. To address this gap the researcher
has attempted to answer the question “How do men get
harassed in Public transportation? And how do men react
in these instances”, through an exploratory study. The
main objectives of this study were to understand the nature
of sexual harassment men face in public transportation
and to identify the reactions of men to sexual harassments
they faced in public transportation. Researcher has used
qualitative method in this study conducting in-depth
semi structured interviews of 15 male respondents of age
between 20 to 25 to explore and explain their experiences
and responses to sexual harassments in public transport.
In this exploratory study the researcher discovered that
the men are also victims of sexual harassment in public
transport although the general perception of sexual
harassment in public transport always refers to women.
Furthermore harassers of sexual harassments on men
were mainly males, as well as some female, gay, bisexual
and transgender individuals. The men appear to have
faced physical, verbal and implied sexual harassments.
Men’s reactions to the sexual harassments were sometimes
assertive and sometimes non-assertive where theyhave
received less assistance of others when they have faced
sexual harassments in public transport.
