JEDDAH, 5 December 2005 — The question that will remain unanswered is why girls don’t report harassment cases to authorities or to their parents? The incident of Al-Nahda Tunnel in Riyadh where four teens assaulted two girls and were grabbing them and fondling them raises a question. But is the question “why didn’t they report the incident to police?” or “why did they choose instead to suffer in silence?”
It was after the Bluetooth clip of the assault circulated on the Internet that police were able to profile the teenagers and arrest them. The incident of Al-Nahda Tunnel is not the only one. There are dozens of Bluetooth clips showing unreported assaults on women.
“I know of many cases in which students were exposed to all types of harassment including sexual harassment from relatives or from strangers,” said teacher Adela Al-Mazyad.
“It doesn’t mean that they accept the harassment but because they’re afraid of the reaction from society if the incident gets out in the open. They’re afraid they’ll be blamed.” The harassment does not always come from teenage boys.
“I came across a case where the driver of the school bus harassed a student,” Al-Mazyad said. “She reported the incident to her father who blamed her for the incident and stopped her from going to school because he didn’t have time to drive her to school. When I knew about it I decided to talk to the father and tried to convince him that she had nothing to do with it and that he should report the incident to police; instead the father told me that he wouldn’t do it simply because it would harm the image of the family. He punished the girl more for talking to me about it.”
Societal customs may even create — or at least perpetuate — the problem.
“If a girl wanted to defend herself and get her rights back, she would be blamed for the problem,” said teacher Ibtisam Al-Khalili. “Girls facing a case like this face two difficult choices. One is to report it and risk being blamed for it, or to let it pass by and do not open the door to any problem because that’s the safest option.”
After the Al-Nahda incident became known, some said the girls deserved it because they were outside alone at such a late hour or because they were out with no male guardian — valid observations provided you assume that no man or boy should ever take any responsibility for his own actions.
“If that’s true, then what about the hundreds of women walking out with no male guardian,” said sociologist Maryam Saeed. “This doesn’t make any sense. If we assume that the girls were bad, then what happened with the boys? And where are their manners? There is no justification for such low behavior. This is typical of what has been happening in our society for a long time. The two girls were walking normally and alone wearing their hijab. The four teenagers attacked them, and yet we still hear voices of some people saying that they’re to blame?”
Until Saudi men and women decide that sexual harassment is never acceptable behavior under any circumstances, Saudi daughters will have to suffer in silence — or accept the blame for being alive.
