Communicating by Catcalling: Power Dynamics and Communicative Motivations in Street Harassment

Invasion of privacy or structural violence? Harassment against women in public transport environments: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Despite being neglected for several decades, and in many countries, public transport environments have transformed into a reflection of social disparities and inequalities. Among these issues, harassment-a pervasive and worldwide gendered dynamic-has been demonstrated to negatively impact women's behavioral trends, daily opportunities, and health impacts, as well as safety and security outcomes.

AIM

This systematic review aimed to examine a set of studies analyzing harassment against women in public transport environments, with a focus on key issues such as its prevalence, impact on transport dynamics, preventive strategies, and policing avenues documented in the scientific literature.

METHOD

A total of 575 indexed articles were filtered using the PRISMA methodology, resulting in a final selection of 28 original articles directly addressing the issue up to December 2023. Search strategies were developed and implemented across WOS, Scopus, NCBI, Google Scholar, and APA databases.

RESULTS

Besides high frequency, widespread underreporting, and adverse effects on women's safety, this review has identified correlations between harassment and travel behavioral adaptations. Furthermore, it reveals a noticeable disparity between the existing measures and those perceived as more effective by potential victims. These findings underscore the pressing need to listen to and promote the inclusion of women in decision-making regarding transport affairs.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this systematic review suggest that, despite a slightly limited body of research, the impact of transport harassment on women's health and welfare is consistently supported in the literature. In addition to being largely explained by existing inequalities rooted in social determinants, transit harassment further exacerbates gender gaps, gaining prospective importance for transport settings.

Operationalizing Street Harassment Using Survey Instruments: A Systematic Review of Measuring Harassment in Public Spaces Using Surveys

Quantitative research has an omitted variable problem when it comes to measuring and modeling non-criminal threats in the urban environment. This systematic review identified questionnaires and surveys used to measure incidences of street harassment/harassment in public, to discuss how they operationalize street harassment/harassment in public, and to report the characteristics of those with the best evidence of reliability and validity. We searched five databases and included peer-reviewed articles published in English from 1994 to 2022 that measured street harassment using a survey instrument. Our search resulted in 54 included studies. Of these studies, 16 primarily focused on understanding street harassment. To design effective prevention strategies in response to street harassment, research must first effectively measure the prevalence of street harassment and the contexts in which street harassment occurs. Due to the inconsistencies in definition, our review identified prevalence rates were inconsistent. Incidents of street harassment provide a promising avenue for future research, although scholars must first seek to appropriately operationalize this concept in survey research. We provide suggestions for future research that seeks to use surveys to understand harassment in public places.

Street Harassment Interpretations: An Exploration of the Intersection of Gender and Race/Ethnicity, and Mediator Variables

How does the intersection of gender and race/ethnicity influence street harassment interpretations? What roles do attitudes and past experience play in these relationships? We examined these questions through an exploratory study of 163 Californian respondents and four hypothetical scenarios: being told to smile, being called "sexy," hearing kissing noises, and being followed. Our findings revealed Black, Latina, and White women were more critical of these behaviors than men in their race/ethnic group. Women across all race/ethnicities interpreted the scenarios similarly with minor nuances. Street harassment views were strongly associated with prior experiences instigating street harassment and support for harassment myths.

From harassment to disappearance: Young women’s feelings of insecurity in public spaces

Background

There are processes of gender socialization that increase the vulnerability of young women against a continuum of threats in the public space. This study explored the feeling of insecurity in public spaces among young women in a city located near the northern border of Mexico.

Methods and findings

This study was based on the tradition of grounded theory. Purposive sampling was used, and 24 group interviews were conducted with junior high school, high school and university students to understand the conditions that favour the emergence of the feeling of insecurity, its psychosocial consequences and management strategies. A computer-assisted qualitative analysis was performed using MAXQDA 18 software. The study showed that street harassment was manifested mainly as sexual harassment but generated a continuous threat of feminicide and disappearance. Young women experienced discomfort and restrictions on mobility, and they had to assume individual responsibility for their safety in the absence of support from the state.

Conclusions

The interaction between gender and age determines the vulnerability to crime in urban spaces. Future studies could analyse the chronic impact of this continuum of threats and develop psychosocial interventions that promote the empowerment of young women.

One-year incidence of sexual harassment and the contribution to poor mental health in the adult general population

Background

Sexual harassment (SH) has been highlighted as an important determinant for mental health. The aims of this study were to describe SH in terms of cumulative 1-year incidence, exposed groups, types of perpetrators and settings, and to measure the association between SH and poor mental well-being.

Methods

Data from two waves of the Scania Public Health Cohort Study, comprising 7759 randomly recruited individuals above 18 years. Exposure to SH was measured by an instrument that also recorded place of exposure and type of perpetrator. Poor mental well-being was assessed by General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-12, 36-Item Short Form Health Survey questionnaire (SF-36) (mental health module) and self-reported use of prescribed psychotropic medication. Logistic regression was used for multivariate analyses.

Results

The cumulative 1-year incidence of SH was six times greater among women, the highest figure (17.5%) was noted for women 18–34 years of age. No difference was noted regarding educational level or country of origin. Public places, including public transportation, and unknown offenders were the most frequently reported setting of SH for both genders. Exposure to SH was associated with a doubled risk for low mental well-being, according to all three outcome definitions, and after adjustment for mental health 6 years earlier. Female gender was related to greater vulnerability to SH exposure concerning GHQ-12 and SF-36. The Population Attributable Fraction for poor mental health was calculated to 13% for women 34 years and younger.

Conclusion

The results of this study make SH an important issue for gender policy as well as for public health policy and intervention.