Sexual harassment is not the new norm
Once again, the State Railway of Thailand is attracting attention for all the wrong reasons after another case of sexual assault against a young passenger. A 15-year-old girl alleged a ticket officer harassed her and assaulted her, although she managed to raise the alarm before her attacker grabbed her phone. The case revived memories of last year’s shocking rape and murder of Nong Kaem, 13, whose body was thrown from a train. However, the Sept 23 attack only made headlines briefly before it was knocked off the front pages of Thai-language newspapers for an even more heinous sex crime involving a minor. A baby aged only one year and eight months was sexually abused by her stepfather, and the little girl later died in hospital.
But all too quickly, that story also disappeared from public attention. It is tragic to see sexual harassment and abuse almost daily in the media. Yet, for all the painful examples we hear about, there are few real discussions about the causes or ideas on how to fix the problem. These stories are treated as routine crime news, without examining the violation of victims’ rights and the social tolerance of sex crimes.
A recent case of a former primary school teacher in Uttaradit province who was caught abusing his students shows his community may have chosen to tolerate the sexual abuse to save themselves from embarrassment.
The teacher was caught sexually abusing more than 20 primary school students in 2002. He left the school two years later. It is not clear why he was not charged back then, but he became a local vendor after quitting his teaching job.
He was finally arrested last month after some of the photographs he took of his victims turned up on an internet porn site. But his arrest only happened when the photos of the abused students were noticed by officers from the US Homeland Security office, who notified Thai authorities, according to local media.
The fact this man was only apprehended because people in the United States saw the child porn pictures he took 12 years ago says it all. This incident highlights the different levels of tolerance between two societies. Twelve years ago, the perpetrator was able to get away with abusing his students. But when officials in the US raised the matter with Thai authorities, something was finally done.
The frequency of sexual abuse in Thailand is cause for alarm and it happens so often that it is disturbingly close to being seen as normal.
Incidents are being reported in the media almost daily and with a degree of indifference. The level of acceptance towards sexual abuse and harassment in society has resulted in Thailand becoming a country with one of the worst rates of physical assaults in the world.
In 2013, a United Nations agency ranked Thailand 26th in a field of 75 countries with the highest rate of physical assaults, and seventh in a field of 71 countries with cases of sexual violence.
In 2011, the Women Against Abuse Foundation reported there were 158 news items on sexual violence in the Thai press that year, 112 stories on rape cases, 17 on gang rapes, 14 on attempted rapes, 12 on harassment and three on youths being abducted.
But in reality, the real number of cases of sexual violence is much higher because it is estimated that less than half of the victims report their cases to authorities or go to the police. This can be attributed to various reasons, but often it is because of social perceptions that stigmatise victims of sexual crimes. There is evidence of this in the findings of a survey by the Department of Women’s Affairs and Family Development in 2010. After surveying women in Nan and Khon Kaen, the report came to three conclusions about Thai women’s perceptions of sexual violence and why some think it is acceptable.
First, vulnerable groups of women tend to see themselves as being dependent in a male-dominated society. Second, culture and tradition transcend gender equality. And third, some victims tolerate sexual abuse or are forced to consent — they don’t have the knowledge necessary to protect their rights.
The danger is that once people assume that harassment or abuse is simply something that most people have to experience, no one will speak out against it.
News items in the media about girls being sexually abused could soon become the norm for viewers who watch with indifference.
We should feel anger, not apathy, when we learn about these incidents. It will be a sad day for Thailand if people watching the news see sexual crimes as something that simply takes place every day. Instead we must look at what has happened to our attitudes and our communities to allow this to go on.
News items in the media about girls being sexually abused could soon become the norm for viewers who watch with indifference