After reading accounts of female reporters, students and tourists getting harassed day after day, a few friends and I got into discussion as to why that happens. No doubt the fault is in the perpetrator but what other reasons influence this behavior?

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/20/world/american-student-india-sexual-harassment-irpt/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

We listed few points, what do you think?


1. Case of harassment are prevalent amongst the natives as well, it just doesn't get the international media attention.

2. Hollywood has portrayed women of the west as promiscuous, easy catch. Locals might have fantasy about them or believe they infact enjoy such acts upon them.

3. It's just easier for locals to harass, molest them as these tourists return back home and they are off the hook.

If we can pin point the most plausible reasons, maybe we can come up with actual suggestions that can help these travelers, instead of just telling them to cover up and don't walk at nights.

How about accepting your own flaws, instead of blaming others. Ask your self, does female tourist from nepal, india get harassed in America and Europe? Why then?
It is in the DNA of certain culture about the hypocracy of sex. Having a female diety in your religion does not equate equality in real world. Worshiping a dog for a day does not mean you care about dogs. That my friend, is the hidden reason which most educated people of those nations do not want to confess and accept.

ब्रो किन तेती टाढा जानु हुन्छ : साझा बासि हरु कै मानसिकता हेर्नु होस् त ? अनपढ गवार हरु अबस्य पनि होईनन होलान तर मानसिकता भने कसै कसैको  पशु को भन्दा तल्लो स्तरको छ |
कसैले तिन ओटा बादरनी भनि पोस्ट गरि सक्यो |

 India - Capital of Gang Rape

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/23/world/asia/india-mumbai-photographer-gangrape/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

What happened to this American woman is terrible. I can relate to the outrage from my own experience of having lived in different countries as a foreigner. Willful harassment is wrong wherever it happens - Nepal, India, China or America - and I am  glad she is speaking out. I think attitudes towards harassment are slowly changing in India and I hope stories like this will accelerate the pace of that change.  Otherwise, if incidents like these continue unchecked, India's image  will suffer and so will it's ability to attract foreign tourists and investment.

However, I couldn't help notice the outsized coverage this story received in the international media. I think being American has it's privileges and one of them is the attention the media pays you when you run into a bad situation. After all South Asian visitors to America, particularly men (but sometimes women too) are also routinely harassed. Not sexually but in other ways  - starting from the often rude behavior of customs and immigration, to suspicious and hostile attitudes in public places like restaurants and tourist attractions. These incidents can be pretty degrading to the South Asian involved too. It's a pity the Western media doesn't find such incidents deserving of the same focus. Perhaps that's because there is no sexual component involved and other forms of harrasment dont make a story as sellable.

 Vivant...Really? this thread is about sexual harassment. Now you have to bring immigration, race, tourist and restaurant experience, really? Don't you think you're diverting this subject and pulling things irrelevent to prove them otherwise. Come on, grow up.

Yes, I do, Vhotee because this story is part of a larger narrative. Infact, three larger narratives - the first being the sexual harrasment of women in countries like India,  the second the harrasment of foreigners in countries they visit as students or tourists and the third the role of the media in the first and second narratives. My comments simply deal with all three angles. That's all.

Vivant,
What part of "sexual harassement" do you not understand? This is NOT about your "3rd" angle view of restaurant and tourist experience. The article is plain and simple. You can read anything inbetween the lines and make things up, depending upon the drugs you're smoking. 
Should we talk about how spicy food in indian is related with gang rape? Does that make sense? 

 143% spurt in rape by juveniles in past decade, record shows

 

 

NEW DELHI: Arrest of a 16-year-old in the Mumbai gang-rape case has once again brought the issue of involvement of juveniles in serious crimes to the fore. Government data shows crimes by juveniles — specially rape and abduction of women — has seen an exponential rise in the past decade. While rape by juveniles has recorded a 143% spurt, abduction of women has jumped by 380% even though overall rise in juvenile crimes recorded under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been only 50% against figures for 2002. Even theft (64.5%) and murder (86.4%) have recorded smaller jumps compared to rape and abduction by juveniles. 

It has also been observed that the share of teens — aged between 16 and 18 — in juvenile crimes has steadily increased. From 48.7% in 2002, it has gone up to 66.5% in 2012. In 2011, it stood at 63.9%. 

Maharashtra, in particular, has had a poor show as far as controlling juvenile crimes are concerned. With 4,570 cases of juvenile crimes, Maharashtra was second only to Madhya Pradesh (5,446) and together with states like Assam (2,345), Chhattisgarh (2,180), Rajasthan (1,880) and Andhra Pradesh (1,593) accounted for 64.5% of all juvenile crimes. It also ended up with maximum juvenile arrests — at 4,221 — in the 16-18 age group. 

In cases of rape by juveniles too, Maharashtra was among top five states in 2012 with 89 cases, next only to Madhya Pradesh (249), UP (110) and Rajasthan (102). Delhi — notorious for its attitude towards women and infamous for the December 16, 2012 gang rape involving a minor accused — recorded 57 rapes by juveniles last year. 

Given that the alleged accused in the Mumbai gang rape have turned out to be petty thieves, Maharashtra has more reasons to worry as it accounts for maximum thefts by juveniles accounting for 19.8% of all juvenile thefts in the country. 

A Mumbai Police officer explained, "Controlling juvenile crimes is a challenge as it is not merely linked to law and order but also the socio-economic dynamics of the society. Mostjuvenile criminals come from extremely poor backgrounds, start with stealing and then slowly start indulging in bigger crimes, including robbery, murder and rape. So many of them go back to their old ways even after getting caught and spending time in juvenile homes. It's not just the fear of the law that will stop this." 

Data from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) backs the analysis. More than 78% of juvenile criminals came from families earning less than Rs 50,000 a year
.

 It's coz everyone wants to try new stuff when it comes to sex, in this case white woman. Bollywood, Hollywood has played a massive role to arouse hermons and not to mention pornography. Our people think that all western girls like sex with anyone which is mere false.

Vhotee, You can chose to deny harassment in all it's forms and only focus on sexual harassment with a one-track mind but resorting to insults doesn't make your arguments any stronger, it only makes them look dimwitted. And if you can't come up with anything more constructive and logical than childish insults, your points lose all merit and there is no use discussing any of this with you further.

Vivant
If you read carefully to all that I've said on this thread, it will be obvious that I've not resorted to insult in any way. Now you brought up the word "dimwitted", which is an insult. So to be fair, you have started the first insult, I didn't. All I said was you to stay focus on the subject and not get carried away into unnecessary topics, how is that an insult? If you want to debate about "sexual harassment" in different countires and culture and keep this thing going, then please go ahead. If not, let us not keep playing cat and mouse game and waste each other's time with meaningless inputs.
I know you from other discussions and you seem to have descent inputs on various topics, but sorry friend, you disappoint me on this one. As the old nepali saying, "Don't ask for direction of the village where you are NOT heading". Women getting raped and ganged raped, regardless of culture and countries, is a very sinful and brutal thing. It is a serious issue and please do not bring things irrelevnt that are not even remotely related to such horrific tragedies. My insult back to you ---- Ask your mother, sister or your wife about the seriousness of this issue. Yes, I'm insulting you, only because you called me dimwit earlier.
With that said, I'll leave you in peace and no need to respond just for the sake of responding if it is irrelevent. 

I don't know about you but I certainly don't think that the victim was happy with the "privilege" of media attention.

Now Vhotee's first response was about accepting our own flaws. I thought I was acknowledging that point, I never said everything else is to blame. However just saying we are at fault isn't going to solve it. We have to analyze the root cause of the behavior and try to mitigate the risks. Hence this thread.

Is it not strange to know that a foreign female traveling in most other part of the world are relatively safe. But once they goto certain countries, they can't even walk alone, you might take it as a routine behavior, I find it an anamoly. Why? Why are they treated this way? What's the root cause?

I agree with Vhotee that there are some cultures where this kind of act will take place more often. Culture like ours or that of arabic world separates women and men from early age. Boys hang out with boys and girls hang out with girls. Even feelings of attraction and love during adolescence are suppressed because in our culture it is almost seems abnormal to fall in love since the future partner will be arranged and decided by the family.
The result of this can clearly been seen in any gatherings where men tend to stick with men and w omen with women. Since we are brought up in this way, we think we cannot have a normal conversation or conversation of any interest if we converse with opposite sex. This is definitely not the case in western countries. As a result we do not understand the opposite sex as much as westerners do.
Sex on the other hand in our culture is seen as a taboo. Not many or hardly any parents talk to their kids about sex. Sex is not discussed is a normal manner. It is vulgarized. Having lived in the US and now in Europe, I can say from my experience that Americans due to their religious beliefs have different view about sex than Europeans who are more open. In the US, sex is vulgarized; in Europe (Scandinavian countries and France) sex is almost natural. So seeing naked women in ads on TV and posters in France do not invoke the same feeling as seeing a clothed women dancing on American rap songs. It is all about how sex and opposite sex (in this case female) are presented and that is what shapes our view about it.

Hurray,
Bingo! You got it absolutely right.

And Kiddo,
Hollywood influence is something we need to look at differently. Do you think Hollywood is literally making things so they can influence third world countries like a conspiracy? Or they just do what they are used to and are making movies for THEIR own people. Or is it us who are attracted to their junk since it is more realistic and liberating? Nobody is forcing us, we might be simply releasing our natural instinct. Sex is natural in its purity and all living beings do it. Western people liberate their desire (good or bad), we hide it and pretend as if it doesn't exist. I agree, they sometimes exploit it and make it vulgur and tasteless. But again, what happened to Kama Sutra?

Adding to Hurray's input. Those cultures are filled with testosterone filled men, waiting to ooze out their semen anytime on anybody. They are prohibited either by religion, culture or some values. Most of them will have orgasm looking at a naked picture of a women, without jerking off. And having a grandfathered views about western women, will take every opportunity to approach them, hence all the sexual harassment. While they secretly watch porn (a negative product of the West), they assume all women in the west really like oral and anal sex and will sleep with anybody. The porn industry is giving the negative image, it is not Hollywood alone.
Until they ease up on sexual beliefs, sexual harassement of foreighners is not going to stop, which means affecting a huge aspects of their culture. That will touch subjects like women's right, arranged marriage, caste and many other old beliefs and customs that most of these cultures are comfortable with. 

I think India and Nepal are far better compared to Arabic nations. These Arabic people are the worst with regards to women. They come to America and Europe to relieve all their sexual fantasies and go back to make their women cover their face. Having few friends from middle east, I can tell you, they spend most of their time in the US having sex, nothing but sex with anybody who has a vagina, at the same time hating this country. I understand the deragotary term "Camel F##KER"  completly, it is there for a reason. USA is their playground for their sinful desires, to which they are addicted to. Yet they seem to think their value and the culture are the best.