An incident over the weekend sparks debate about what constitutes sexual harassment in our culture, and whether there should be laws which curtail such behaviours - specifically towards women.
A video was posted on social media over the weekend, featuring proportionally elected member of the National Assembly (MNA) Flory Larue in what can be described as a heated argument with taxi drivers at the quay near where Cat Cocos docks. According to a source, there were about 20 taxi drivers present, when one decided to whistle at Ms. Larue. She in turn responded by informing them that such behaviour was akin to disrespecting a woman. It is then that things escalated with the men getting into a heated debate with her. One is heard saying that "whistling has been here since the beginning of the Earth and you cannot stop it."
The incident and the video seem to have sparked some interesting conversations.
In certain parts of the world, whistling, rubbing against and even blaring one's horn at female pedestrians from one's car is illegal.
Australia is one such country where this behaviour has been banned, but what about Seychelles?
There are no such laws which refer to catcalls or whistling in such a manner in the laws of Seychelles. This, according to lawyer Alexia Amesbury, could be due to such acts being perceived as cultural rather than offensive.
"Maybe women have had a role to play in this," said Mrs. Amesbury. "For the longest time, sex has been a currency for trade. Women have used sexual favours to get advancement in acquiring property, or getting a job or getting a promotion. Where it has gone wrong is that not every woman finds this acceptable and the men should know that unless a woman has indicated by words, or conduct or some action, that she is interested in this kind of sexual harassment, then the man should back off and respect her wishes. Not every woman is up for grabs," continued Mrs. Amesbury.
Mrs. Amesbury added that "unless we as women stand together and say 'this is not acceptable', it will continue and we've got to get together to say that we need a law to protect our sexual integrity, because there is a lot of this sexual harassment happening - and in Seychelles it is never just a 'comment'."
One male commentator believes that such treatment of women is acceptable. "It is acceptable in our culture. As men, we do not see it as a way of denigrating the woman. Traditionally, this has been the method that we have used to approach women," he said, before saying that he would have no problem with a man doing this to his daughter or wife. However, there are two kinds of whistling: "there are those who whistle in an attempt to impress their friends, but there are also those who do it when they are by themselves to approach a woman." The man contends that it is then up to the woman to give the signal whether the man's behaviour is acceptable to her or not and he then decides whether he can approach or leave it be. However, this did not happen with MNA Larue over the weekend, who instead got lambasted for telling the men that she was not happy with their behaviour.
The commentator does not believe that we will be able to remove this behaviour in our people. At least, "not immediately," otherwise "if a law is passed right now, you'd probably see the majority of men seated at the courthouse tomorrow," he ended.
However, for some women, the issue of sexual harassment is pervasive and there is this mentality of a boy's club, where the men who act out in such ways are protected and the women have to suffer the consequences if they speak out about it. One sportswoman who was willing to speak about the issue to TODAY spoke of various instances where she and her female counterparts have been exposed to sexual harassment. It is either brushed under the rug or, as in one instance, you get insulted and sworn at.
"There is a lot of sexual harassment happening in sports in Seychelles and I am one of the victims," starts the sportswoman, before detailing how at a training camp abroad, her assistant coach entered her room that she shared with some other girls and "climbed on top" of her, and he would only get off when she started pushing him and shouting to alert the other girls. She was advised by one of her female counterparts to inform the head coach. According to her, "the head coach started shouting at me and swearing at me and telling me that I shouldn't have approached him to tell him these things. I took him as my father. Who else was I supposed to tell?" she asks.
She also speaks of cases where coaches have had sexual relations with their trainees, some under aged, which she says resulted in the coach then paying off the family "to take the case out of court!" exclaims the sportswoman, who describes herself as being disgusted with the pervasive mentality in Seychelles.
"A lot of sportswomen have stopped training because of sexual harassment," she says. "A lot of us women, we treat these men, our coaches as our fathers and uncles and so when they touch you, you don't think much of it, but it is when you are exposed to the outside world and you observe the relationship between coaches and their athletes and then you hear of coaches being taken to court for touching their female athletes that you start thinking that there is something wrong," she ends.
Source: Today in Seychelles
