Feature Photo: Sexual harassment and assault are global problems you could very easily come across when traveling. Here are some ways to cope with harassment and assault overseas.
Women are still not equal. The most obvious evidence of inequality is sexual harassment and assault.
Sexual harassment and assault are targeted at women due to the view that women’s bodies can be controlled and manipulated. Assault is usually not committed for sexual gratification but rather to exert power. In heteronormative and patriarchal societies, almost all cases see woman as victims and man as perpetrators.
Harassment and assault are common globally. Ask any female traveler about harassment on the road and you’ll hear stories ranging from men on the street grabbing her crotch to how she reported sexual assault to a police officer who asked, “Why didn’t you enjoy it?”
Sharing such stories is not meant to frighten anyone but rather to create awareness. These personal experiences are rarely discussed, but should be. Thousands of women travel the world each year: some are harassed or assaulted, some are not.
Avoiding vulnerable situations and being aware of your surroundings may lessen risks but does not eliminate them.
If you let this scare you into staying home when you want to travel, I believe that’s the opposite of feminism: not seeking the path you want because of your gender.
Photo: anna gutermuth
But what do you do when and if sexual harassment or assault does happen? How do you protect yourself but also be culturally sensitive? How can you seek justice abroad?
Types of Harassment and What To Do
Whether traveling as a woman, with a woman or meeting women along the way, it’s important to know how to take action. It is also vital to understand that standing up for yourself or other women is not an intrusion of Western concepts. No woman feels comfortable with incidents of assault, and no woman deserves to have to deal with it.
Street harassment is the most common form of sexual harassment: catcalls, whistles, “Ooh, sexy lady” comments. Often these are men just trying to get attention. As frustrating as it is (and as much it is against my nature), the best thing is to ignore it. If he gets a rise out of you, he maintains power. Responding is giving those men the attention they want but don’t deserve.
Other common incidents of sexual assault when traveling are touching, grabbing, groping, or rubbing on the street or on modes of transportation. These are easy places to assault someone. At a conference on feminism in Bangladesh, a man argued that these are crowded places and bumping into someone is unavoidable. A woman in a headscarf slammed her hand on the table and growled; “I know the difference between an accidental brush and a hand down my dress.” On your own body, you know the difference too. It’s important to trust yourself and know your physical boundaries.
If someone touches a woman inappropriately on the street or bus, say something immediately. Grab his hand and show other passengers, tell the driver or attendant and move your seat. Make a big deal out of it because it is a big deal. Most likely the man will be embarrassed and other pedestrians or passengers will help you.
In a market in India, I watched a man pinch a woman’s behind. She immediately turned and pointed at him, yelling her head off. Other shopkeepers ran to her aid and chastised the man as she walked off. If you find that the crowd gets bigger but no one is helpful, avoid the situation and get yourself to a safe, calm area. It’s great to make a statement but not if it will put you in a more vulnerable position.
Confrontation has no guarantee of success. When a friend was assaulted on a bus, she asked the man, “Do you have a sister? I’m someone’s sister!” He replied, “But you’re not my sister.” Patriarchal traditions are entrenched in societies for thousands of years so understand that retaliating might not be immediately effective. But silence in incidents of assault changes nothing—it permits assault to continue.
Sexual harassment and assault can also happen in hotels and hostels, from friends, other travelers or staff. If this happens to you, change your room or hotel immediately. If there is someone you trust, whether another traveler or hotel manager, report the incident to have the perpetrator removed or fired. When a manager refused to take action after an incident of sexual assault my friend reported the incident to Lonely Planet, which removed the hostel from their next edition.
If anything worse happens, if you are forced, coerced or drugged into performing sexual activities without consent, the same rules apply:
1. Get yourself to a safe place.
2. Try to preserve evidence of assault: do not bathe, douche, brush teeth, etc. If you cannot seek help immediately, take photos of bruises or wounds and write down all details you can recall.
3. Seek medical and legal assistance: Call a doctor, embassy or local police. Decide whether to file a report. Your country’s consulate can provide help in translation, seeking medical aid, reporting the crime, and providing legal aid and counseling services. Some countries even provide emergency loans for travel home.
4. Contact friends or family at home for emotional support or to make travel arrangements if needed.
5. After the incident, seek counseling or therapy. Sexual assault is a traumatic experience and requires professional help in overcoming.
The following are useful resources for female travelers:
Australia Government Smart Traveller
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Canadian Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Sexual Assault Resource Agency (SARA)
National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC)
By supporting a woman traveler, you are a feminist. If you travel as a woman, you are a feminist. A woman traveler presents herself as a woman who believes that traveling is a right to everyone regardless of gender. Personally, I am a feminist because I want to be able to sit next to a man on a bus and not be anxious that he’ll touch me inappropriately then ask for my email (true story). I am proud to be a woman traveler because I change people’s views of the abilities of women, and I will never let my gender stop me from seeing the world.
Community Connection
Have you experienced sexual harassment on the road? How have you dealt with it? Please share any additional resources or advice for coping with sexual assault abroad.
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21 Comments... join the discussion!
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Thanks Radhika. It’s natural to be so surprised and shocked that you give no response. Never blame yourself for not reacting. I also want to let people know that it is YOU who defines what is the appropriate response for YOUR experience.
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This is a great article and it’s really important that you wrote this. So many women are intimidated by travel because of sexual harassment and assault. I know it scared me but thankfully nothing happened. These are good tips and resources so that we aren’t afraid to travel but know what to do in case something does happen.
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Another amazing article, Amanda. We have both experienced many of the situations you talked about and I think your advice to other female travelers is great. I get asked a lot of questions about what I will do in the Peace Corps if someone assaults me. This article helped me articulate a clear plan of action. Thank you!
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What a blood-boiling topic…I get asked questions all the time about assault on the road as a solo woman traveler, and I always forget that I HAVE been sexually violated many times. Whether it’s repression or the thought that I can overcome the stupidity of those people…I’m missing a crucial opportunity to talk about things just like this. Any time someone asks about that again, I’m referring them to your article. When I was touched on the street in Delhi, I whipped around to see who did it only to see a vast crowd of men walking by. I cursed to those within earshot but was so pissed I couldn’t call out the guy who did it. I think I actually had a “knee-jerk reaction” and kicked out to my side, my body knowing for sure something unacceptable happened. And then when I wondered what would be culturally acceptable, I backed off and tried to avoid causing a scene. Thanks for letting us ladies know it’s never unacceptable to stand up for yourself in these situations.
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To echo the other comments – great article; great advice.
Living in Egypt, I’ve encountered these situations a lot. Not on the receiving end of course (other than constant nudge nudge wink wink comments from other men trying to be blokey), but lots of women on my tours experienced harassment, in some cases quite serious. Same goes for female friends living here.
I think what you say about ignoring comments – no matter how much it may go against your nature – is spot on. The response to being touched is a little more difficult, I think. In general, I agree that making an obvious fuss is the way to go, and that usually other people will come to your support, and hopefully the man will be so shamed that he will not do it again. Hopefully.
But I’ve also seen situations where no-one is willing to come to the woman’s rescue, especially where het-up crowds are involved. Best here is probably just to remove yourself from the area as quick as possible.
I’d add a couple of ways to help avoid the chances of harassment. None of them are foolproof, but they *may* help.
Be very aware of your dress, and how it fits in with the social standards of the country you are visiting.
Similarly, are there any codes of behaviour you need to be aware of, such as lone women not sitting in the front seat of taxis?
On long journeys on public transport, can you cover yourself with a blanket/get inside a sleeping bag or something?
If travelling alone, consider wearing a wedding ring. To be honest, this is unlikely to make much difference, but it might. For example, if someone is coming on to you, you can point out that your huge, very jealous husband is waiting for you round the corner.
Be wary of attending local festivals, especially if they become very crowded, and are male dominated. If possible, go with a man to events like this. Otherwise, maybe try to stay on the periphery.
Finally, as you said, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Sometimes people who wouldn’t normally get involved will respond to a request for help.
This subject comes up all the time here in Egypt. As a male, I will never understand what it is like to travel or live as a female in a patriarchal society, and I have the utmost respect for women who choose to do so. I also absolutely agree that these issues should not force you to stay at home, just because of your gender.
Anyway, that’s my two (male) cents worth.
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Thanks for the support Nick. It’s good to hear men recognizing these problems. My hesitation in wearing a wedding ring is that 1) doesn’t mean it will be respected 2) why should I have to be married to get respect? I want to assert that single women can travel without a man. Same as covering up: women should be respectful to the culture they are visiting, of course–but I want to make clear that hiding breasts does not make men forget about it. And if a woman DOES wear clothes that might be less respectful, that doesn’t give anyone permission to touch her.
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great article. this is something that girls have to face on a more or less regular basis here in Cal.
Vijayshree was standing at the Goldenspoon counter, waiting for her chicken roll. A guy groped her from the back and smartly walked off. she marched after him and smacked him right across the face
that guy was so dumbfounded, he kept staring at her for a couple of seconds 
did you know that when girls get raped or assaulted, the police first question the victim about the garments she was wearing >:/ a girl can’t even dress up the way she wants to cus she has to keep in mind that hormonally overcharged and lecherous men may be eyeing her.
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Thats what I love about you, Ankita, and Vijayshree. You don’t take that kind of crap. the world needs more women like you!
-Emily E.
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Ankita, that’s so frusturating, they ask what she was wearing. As if a burqa will stop men from knowing we have breasts.
Sexual assault is NEVER the victim’s fault, even if you think the assault is because of what she was wearing. The mistake, the fault, is the assaulter, the one who made the conscious decision to force themselves upon someone. Governments and police too often forget that..
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Amanda, thank you for this article and thank you for making it about what to do IF, and not what to do to prevent harassment and assault.
“If you let this scare you into staying home when you want to travel, I believe that’s the opposite of feminism: not seeking the path you want because of your gender.” So important and true.
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Thanks, Linda. People talk about prevention as if it’s the victims fault. “You SHOULD do this and SHOULDN’T do that.. or you will be assaulted.” I think that’s the wrong approach in prevention. We should be teaching and preventing people who will assault: “if you WANT to assault someone, this is what you should do: walk away, sit on a block of ice and put yourself in their shoes.”
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Thanks Amanda, useful information about a predatory environment the majority of women who have traveled alone or with other women face. I have experienced it and witnessed it occurring for 20 years.
There is also another complicating element too, not often discussed, and that is the behavior of a segment of women travelers: sex pilgrims.
How many could there be? I reviewed ROMANCE ON THE ROAD, a somewhat scholarly book on the topic, for Perceptive Travel in 2006 and it put the figure at 600,000 Western women in the past 25 years.
See details: http://www.perceptivetravel.com/issues/0706/books.html
What difference could these women make for the rest of us? The author — herself a 12-year proponent of sex with random men abroad — admits the Shirley Valentine behavior might have a detrimental byproduct:
“At first I was appalled at the smothering level of harassment I encountered in Athens. Then I succumbed to these temptations, with the likelihood that my sex partners became further convinced about the ease of seducing any lone Western female tourists to later cross their paths.”
As I write in my review, on behalf of traveling women hoping to explore the world unmolested — thanks for nothing.
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Yuck.. Oh lord, Anastasia, who IS this woman? I read her bio: ” Of French Canadian descent, she is currently married to a younger man of color she fantasizes looks like a ‘pharaoh’.” She clearly think nothing critical of gender and race..
I have yet to encounter such women personally (and if I do, I will certainly give them a piece of my mind…) so I will hope they remain in small, obscure numbers. But what you say speaks to how easy it is (either as the traveler or local) to stereotype and judge a country, gender or race by isolated experiences. That’s why we need to stick together as women (with supportive male-comrades too!) to stand up and say “NO, this is not okay!”
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I love how you got the heart of it. Though sexual harassment and assault exist in the world and are very real possibilities, it would be counter productive to stay home because of it. Being a traveler may be harder for a woman because of this possibility but its one that you have to live with. The best way to change the world in by not letting this kind of thing keep you confined. By not allowing others to have this power over you.
Love the article, Amanda-di
PS – the picture is super appropriate. That is exactly how I feel sometimes.
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That’s empowerment: changing YOURSELF from victim to survivor.
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Thanks for this great post Amanda. Fortunately I have never been physically harassed in a foreign country, only verbally. My gut reaction now would be to turn around and smack the a-hole, but I think I would have a very different reaction in real-life circumstances…
I’ve never really considered what the best/right thing to do would be and this has really cleared it up: Exposing the harasser to local embarrassment by pointing him out and accusing him of wrongdoing. But I suppose I still stumble on the likelihood of some locals not caring, thinking it’s part of the norm, and ‘what does this Western woman expect’ type of reaction.↵ -
You need to first understand the different cultures in India and the west. In India there is a widespread opinion that western women are promiscious. Compared to Indian society, western society is sexually promiscious. The average Indian is exposed to the west through the popular media, where he sees rampant nudity and casual sex amongst westerners. So when he sees a western girl travelling alone in India, he draws a comparison that most Indian girls would not travel alone in another city, let alone another country. He then draws the conclusion that the western girl must be an easy lay.
Lets be honest here, the average western girl has numerous sexual partners in her life. I’ve lived in the west for 10 years and know exactly how things work here.
Casual relationships are the norm rather than an exception in the west, so if some Indian/Bagladeshi or whatever guy hits on a western girl, he’s just doing what western girls are used to anyway. if you dont like it, just tell him to f— off, there’s no need to assume a high moral ground, cause thats hypocritical.↵ -
I have never had a western man do what Chinese men would. They would know I was looking at them, know that I saw them looking at me. They would continue to gesticulate over how large my breasts are, or more commonly, not make eye contact at all and ogle my chest. Seriously, I gauged responses when I came home. Men in the United States will give you a once over and a smile, a whistle, but almost always they look you in the eye. You are not just a floating foreign bosom to them.
So no, I do not think that it is fair to say the responses are the same. There is a level of freedom these men feel in harassing foreign women. They are not culturally responsible and are free to objectify her in ways they might be called out on with a woman of their own nationality.
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