Woman Recalls Boyfriend Being Groped, Reminds 'Men Are Harassed Too'

We come across news of women being harassed on public transport almost every other day. But how many of us have heard of or witnessed men being harassed on public transport? It’s an undeniable fact that men too are subjected to sexual crimes but are conditioned to never disclose them owing to conditioning and social norms.

A woman shared on Reddit about how her boyfriend was recently harassed in the Delhi metro.

Woman Shares Boyfriend Being Groped On Metro

Keeping her identity anonymous, the woman shared that a middle-aged man put his hand over her boyfriend’s thigh. Initially, he thought that it was accidental and shrugged it off.

However, the harasser proceeded with his hand up to the guy’s crotch and asked him a creepy question, which completely stunned him. He asked, “Mai aapki koi madad Kar sakta hu kya?”

The woman explained that at first, her boyfriend dismissed it by saying, “Mai tujhe uthake fek dunga.” However, since this was not the first time it happened to him, he asked his girlfriend what he should do, to which she suggested that he take the harasser to the police and stand up for himself, and he obliged.

She further explained that the harasser slept off near the next stop when her boyfriend woke him up and insisted that they get down at this station. When the harasser resisted, the boyfriend slapped him a few times and told everyone what he did to him. The man kept resisting and got out, and the boyfriend could grab his ID and picture and leave him with a warning.

The woman added that no one except a young boy bothered to know what happened. She said that if it had been her who was harassed, at least the crowd would have responded better. “It’s so much worse for guys out there. I hate it, she wrote.

Read Thread Here

Sexual Harassment Against Men Is Real

Sexual harassment isn’t really taken as seriously as it should be. Experiencing sexual harassment on public transport has been such a normal thing that many women themselves ignore it. Sexual harassment against men is a topic that is barely addressed in society. Men don’t open up because they might be afraid of being mocked, rebuked, disbelieved, or embarrassed because they are expected to be brave, strong, and macho.

According to an anonymous 28-year-old Reddit user, he was harassed during Diwali 2022 at a public bathroom in a bus terminal in Chennai. “I went to attend nature's call at the Koyambedu bus stand when a man in his mid-40s came inside. Many empty urinals are available, but he took the next one to me. I felt really uncomfortable, but I didn't give it much thought. Even though he finished his business, he still stood there and started to stare at my "D." I got really scared. I didn't want to make any eye contact with him, so I stopped peeing, zipped my pants, and walked away. He gave chills to my spine.”

Another Reddit user shared that he was harassed at the age of 16 by an old man sitting next to him on a bus. “The old man started a casual conversation and then proceeded to ask me whether he could ‘hold it’. I was mortified, almost cried, and ran out of the bus at the next stop.” He shared another incident when he went to drop off his father’s friend. “The guy kept on rubbing his palms on my thighs. I slapped him and told him to stop it a couple of times. He didn’t care and groped me. I stopped the bike and told him to walk home.”

Society needs to understand that sexual crimes are not gender-based. They can happen to both women and men. While more women are subjected to sexual crimes than men, the fact that men too get sexually assaulted cannot be trivialised. Acknowledging is the first step to encouraging men to open up about the sexual crimes against them, only then will we be able to formulate measures to prevent and combat them.

Suggested Reading: Dreams Smashed, Passions Squashed: Patriarchy Is Detrimental To Men As Well