Street harassment and the informal ghettoization of women review

This paper will give succinct summaries on the article "Street harassment and the informal ghettoization of women-authored by Cynthia Bowman in the year 1993. The author begins by defining what street harassment entails; stating that the females are the targets of the harassment, their counterparts, males are the harassers and it is usually done in a public forum. The remarks are usually aimed at an individual to object, humiliate, degrade or threaten the female counterpart (Bowman, p523). The article gave detailed background on the evolution of street harassment which is suspected to have begun in the 1970s which was associated with the changes in the lives of the women. Besides, unemployment and the recession's periods have been thought to influence the street harassment incidences.

Moreover, street harassment affects the self-esteem of the women by reducing them into sexual objects that are made to please men irrespective of their consciousness. Forceful actions of the men are perceived as an interference to the ability of the woman and this makes the woman hate her sexuality. Street harassment increases the distrust and hostility between men and women (Bowman, p540). Women have used legal means to combat all the forms of street harassment, for instance, Assault which attracted limitation in reference to the historical biases with regard to class or race, discriminatory enforcement against the Blacks. Some of the criminal remedies must be enforced selectively and in a racially discriminatory manner. Bowman fails to acknowledge that men do suffer from street harassment as well as women.

The statement only identifies the men as the culprits whereas the women as the victims thus assuming the harasser is male and the target is female is an inaccurate assumption. I solemn aggress that statistically, the street harassment has been centered on the women and thus measures such as litigation campaign should be made in the aim of creating the awareness as well as publicizing the legal measures or procedures that may be pursued by any complaint. Street harassment is inhumane, unethical and perverse attributes that evoke the characteristics of the slave era and racism among the Blacks. It is important to know and understand the legal measures that are associated so that every citizen is aware that one does not only infringe the privacy of their partners but also degrades his or her dignity.