Focus

Men also suffering harassment

By Huang Yuli (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-29 09:41

As the temperature rises in the summer, so too do the hemlines as people peel off their clothes to keep cool. And, when people start wearing less, the incidences of sexual harassment shoot up sharply along with the mercury. While women are the most likely victims of such unwanted attention, many people forget that men too can become targets. Zhang Yuan (not his real name), an office worker in the sales department of his enterprise, said he has twice had to deal with unpleasant incidents involving women on a crowded bus.

Zhang's office in Shangdi, Haidian district, is nestled among countless hi-tech companies and he lives in Huilongguan, one of the most populated communities in Beijing. Buses between the two places are packed with people at peak hours.

"Once, an incident involved a woman in her 40s who stood in front of me," he said. "She kept getting closer to me until she was almost leaning on me. I thought the bus was too crowded until I realized the woman was swaying her hips against me.

"I was disgusted and I tried to lean backwards as much as possible but it was way too crowded so I got off the bus."

He added that the woman looked "hideous".

He said another incident involved a woman standing behind him who kept rubbing her breast against his back.

"It was so crowded that I even didn't have the chance to find out what she looked like," he said.

According to Zhang, his roommate, a computer engineer who worked in Zhongguancun, also had a similar encounter.

"He rushed into the apartment one day after work with his face blushing fiercely and began to criticize a woman. I asked what had happened, because this guy had a mild temper, and he told me he was taken advantage of by a woman on the bus on the way home, who not only made 'moves' on him but grabbed his genitals as he got off the bus," Zhang said.

"I never saw his face that red."

In an online survey from sina.com, 1,896 netizens were asked about their experiences. Some 49.4 percent said that they had been sexual harassed and 24.8 percent said something happened but they were not sure whether it should be classified as sexual harassment.

Of respondents, 38.6 percent said public transport was the place where sexual harassment was most likely to take place.

Compared to the incidents on the bus, Peter (not his real name) had an even more serious incident because it caused him to leave his job.

The harassment came from his boss, who casually touched his hand, back and other parts of his body and who invited him out.

"It was nasty," he said. Peter chose to quit the job as the situation continued and became more serious.

"The man had the power," he said.

While Zhang and his roommate shared their experiences with others, Peter tried to keep his to himself.

"If a woman says she was taken advantage of, others sympathize but if it is a man, people might think you are showing off," he said.

In the same survey, 43.7 percent said "the harassment is acceptable if the woman looks pretty".

Lin, an office worker in Shanghai who had been in US for many years, told METRO he would consider it as the proof he had charm, if the harassment came from female.

According to a report in the Shanghai-based Youth Daily, a senior analyst surnamed Jin at Dell Company was fired following harassment from his female boss.

After he was sexual harassed by the woman for four years and after the company didn't take effective action, the man mass mailed more than 50 colleagues asking for back up.

Dell terminated his labor contract after the mass mailing due to "disruption of working order". Later, Jin sued the company.

His appeal was rejected by the People's Court in Shanghai's Changning district. The judicial explanation was that he should have settled the case through appropriate means and that mass mailing colleagues was extreme.

Yu Jing, partner of Beijing Yingke Law Firm and a well known domestic lawyer with marriage and family affairs, said that women take up more cases in sexual harassment, but men are harassed by a wider group - by both women and men.

"From the enquiries our firm has received, in most cases the harassment is from boss or colleagues, and man-on-man cases showed an upward trend," she said.

She added that compared to women, men are more likely to refuse or protest. There were cases that victims took measures in inappropriate or even violent ways.

To avoid being sexual harassed, Yu said it's important to keep a distance from both women and men in public places, and communicate with your boss or colleagues in open spaces. Besides, it's necessary to avoid sending out suggestive information with erotic photos or sexual words.

China has not got a law protecting men from sexual harassment. The Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women only provides protection to women.

CHINA DAILY