A Gender consultant has called for clarification on definition and dimension of sexual harassment in order to know the scope of sexual harassment in the country as men are also victimized.
Dinah Adiko told Daniel Dadzie on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Friday that, “as long as we are addressing sexual harassment, we cannot say we’ll only address sexual harassment for only a specific group of people.”
She explained that “the only difference and the reason why women are spoken about more is that the stats heavily tilts towards female victims.”
She sustained that once the scope is made clear, the findings will begin to identify who the victims are, who the potential victims are and who the perpetrators are.
“We are going to find men, you are going to find boys,” who have been subject to sexual harassment and abuse.
Highlighting the case of nannies sexually abusing little boys, she concurred that it is a known phenomenon.
Men who are victims of sexual harassment however don’t come forward to report their cases.
She said, “our system of socialization and the way we build and structure masculinity has made it even difficult for men to speak up and speak out and report when the few make it to report, they are mocked.”
Director of Operations at Sakam Savana, Maame Awinador, also a guest on the show said on the issue, “there are so many broken men in society.” But, “where is the conversation for men?”
She added that the church could also help in addressing sexual harassment since we refer back to them when talking about women and indecent dressing.
She said, [for example], when it comes to sex and pornography, there are a lack of platforms and spaces available to have conversations on such subjects. She said that women shouldn’t be the only ones to have them but rather both men and women should.
Their comments come as BBC Africa Eye’s documentary ‘Sex For Grades’ has fueled conversations on what sexual harassment is, who is at fault and how to deal with it.
Source: Ghana |MyJoyOnline.Com| Akofa Searyoh
