By Niyanthini Kadirgamar
(The writer is a PhD student in education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.)
Public outcry over violence in Sri Lankan universities has focused mostly on ragging. Sexual violence, which is equally pervasive, remains an uncomfortable subject to broach when it occurs outside the realm of ragging.
As with other social transgressions that became starkly visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, the long silence on sexual harassment in universities was momentarily shattered last year, when courageous women took to social media platforms to share their accounts of harassment, even making egregious messages from professors public.
What has been exposed is but the tip of the iceberg. Yet, the details show a disturbing spectrum in the behaviour of some educators while interacting with their students – from demeaning verbal sexual remarks and inappropriate touching to explicit requests for sexual favours, sexual bribery, sexual exploitation and forced sexual acts under intimidation.
Those affected, for the most part, opt to silently endure the harassment that can severely harm the body and mind, and are trying to find ways to cope. It is alarming to learn of the material costs accrued when survivors seek medical and counselling support, navigate, and find alternative learning arrangements to maintain anonymity and keep distance from their perpetrators. Costs which students who come from economically deprived backgrounds cannot afford. Familial and friends’ networks are subjected to immeasurable stress. Supportive parents have even tried pleading with the perpetrators to let their daughters alone. Young male students are also not spared. They are often made to participate as proteges and receivers of narratives of the sexual exploits of professors, with consequences that could damage themselves and others.
Few places around the world offer free, non-fee levying university education like in Sri Lanka, and women have grasped the opportunity, outnumbering male students in enrolments. However, in a male-oriented system prejudiced against them, the gains for women end with their hard-won inclusion. Much like in the domestic sphere, free labour is demanded of them in exchange for learning. Aggressive behaviour towards them is justified with biased assumptions about the sexual morality of students coming from a particular socio-economic background. The ‘helpless professor succumbing to the advances of a female student’ is a popular trope in so-called artistic representations about the university.
Continue reading ‘Sexual violence often occurs in university settings within nurturing relationships, forged by paying extra attention, providing resources, offering mentorship, and opening opportunities for students.’ »
