The Invisible Violence: Street Sexual Harassment in Metropolitan Lima and Callao

• In Event: Jurisprudencia, Derehos Humanos y Género I

Abstract

Gender relationships in urban public spaces have been little studied compared to the large amount of information produced on the subject in other areas, like the household or the labor market. The aim of the paper is to present the progress regarding a specific type of sexual violence that happens outside the private sphere: street sexual harassment.

Street sexual harassment can be defined as a set of daily practices, such as phrases, gestures, whistling, kissing noises, fondling, public masturbation, exhibitionism, following (on foot or by car), among others, of an obvious sexual nature (Vallejo y Rivarola, 2013). The study was started in 2012 and includes quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitatively, it shows the results of the National Survey on Family and Gender Roles of the Institute for Public Opinion (IOP) of PUCP, applied to men and women 18 years and older. The survey showed that street sexual harassment practices are especially harmful to young women, who are constantly moving around the city. Street sexual harassment has made these women feel insecure and afraid in the city, leading them to adopt evasive strategies that end up restating the street as a male public space. Moreover, it showed that tolerance varies according to the practices, and many of these are not considered subject to sanction because both men and women -in some way- blame the victims for this type of gender violence. Qualitatively, the study has been enriched by interviews, focus groups and testimonies received from virtual platforms like DATEA and Facebook.

The first results were presented in February 2013 to media and politics, and they had had a major impact in Peruvian authorities, mass media and policymakers. At the moment, there are two draft laws on street harassment in Perú, waiting for discussion in the Peruvian parliament.

Author

• Elizabeth Rocio M Vallejo Rivera, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru