Sexual Objectification Of Women

Review of Related Literature The Canadian Human Rights Commission (2013) defined harassment as a form of discrimination that involves any unwanted physical or verbal behavior that humiliates a person. Harassment occurs when someone threatens, intimidates, makes unwanted or undesirable comments or jokes about a persons’ religion, race, age, disability, sex and any other of the grounds of discrimination as well as making unwanted or undesirable physical contact such as touching, patting, pinching or punching, which can also be considered assault. According to the University of Exeter (2014) It could either be persistent, or a single occurrence. There are different types of Harassment. According to the London School of Economics and

“Sociocultural theory focuses on the social and political aspect as to why sexual harassment happens. Based on this theory, sexual harassment happens as a logical consequence of gender inequality and sexism” (Gutek, 1985; Thomas & Kitzinger, 1997). 
 “The objectification theory posits that external sexual objectification can negatively influence women’s mental health and their internalization of SO via self-objectification. Evidence for the sexual objectification of women can be found practically everywhere, from the media, to women’s interpersonal experiences, to specific environments and subcultures within U.S. culture where the sexualization of women is cultivated and culturally condoned.” (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) Mary Coalition against Sexual Assault (2015) defined Street Harassment as any action or comment between strangers in public places that is disrespectful, unwelcome, threatening and/or harassing and is motivated by gender. It ranges from leers, whistles, honks, kissing noises, and non-sexually explicit evaluative comments, to vulgar gestures, sexually charged comments, flashing, and stalking, to illegal actions like public masturbation, sexual touching, assault and

One of the most common activities is catcalling women. It is one of the most prevalent activities not just in the Philippines but the whole world as well. “It is evident that men and even certain women perceive that catcalling is complimentary as men often make evaluative comments about a woman’s appearance. This can be problematic as this form of street harassment continues to be reinforced while women’s voices are ultimately silenced. Women fail to talk about their experiences, which makes the harm appear to be trivial or even nonexistent. Thus, the ultimate assumption that catcalling involves harmless compliments conceals the pervasive nature of this harm.” (O’Leary, 2016) According to a survey, in Tokyo, Japan, most of the women in their 20’s or 30’s have experienced being groped while they are commuting. In 2009, The Japan Times found out that 64% of women in Tokyo have been harassed wherein 30% of that were teenage girls. (Hairston,