Sexual Harassment
Cultural sensitivity can be the doorway through which students studying abroad gain entry into and acceptance within the community. While we all want to be culturally sensitive, to get along, to be respectful, to fit in, to not offend, it is very important, however, to note that being culturally sensitive never requires that you submit to behaviors that invade your personal boundaries or that make you feel unsafe or uncomfortable. Harassing behavior and language vary from one culture to another. Consider how you might be perceived as a foreigner in a different culture. Pay attention to the environment around you. Try to get a sense of how men and women in the culture you are visiting view harassment. Notice how they interact, and how women treat what you may see as harassing behavior. Think about your actions and responses in relation to those of local women.
There are steps one can take to minimize risk while traveling abroad and to maximize a fun and rich cultural experience. It is important for women to:
- Integrate into the community
- Make friends with women of the local community
- Learn from the women about self-protection and practice what you learn
- Dress according to local customs
- Interact with men according to the local customs
- Behave according to the local customs, not necessarily as you would in the United States
- Stay in control; staying sober and alert keeps your senses in place to protect you
- Have a buddy system: having at least one other person with you that you trust can help you in regular circumstances as well as in problematic situation
- Travel with someone and carry some extra money when traveling. This will allow you the flexibility to remove yourself from situations that feel uncomfortable. (ie. upgrade to first class on a train, change your lodgings to a more expensive hotel if you don't feel safe where you are, etc.)
- Pay attention and respond to any inner signal (intuition) that "something isn't right" and remove yourself from the situation.
You are going abroad to experience a different way of life, one that allows you to assimilate into your new environments, to "join" the community, to have a full, rich cultural experience. Enjoy it. This section has been written as an invitation to you to be awake and aware and to acknowledge the realities of potential safety issues around you. Treat yourself well. Adapted from "Sexual Harassment and Prevention in College Students Studying Abroad" by Nancy Newport, RN, LPC as it appears in the SAFETI On-Line Newsletter, Volume 1, Number 2, Spring-Summer 2000.
