Eve teasing as a form of violence against women: A case study of District Srinagar, Kashmir

Eve teasing is a ridiculous form of enjoyment for men and a physical as well as mental torment for women. This is one of the daily problems women in Indian society face. Of all the forms that violence against women can assume, eve teasing is the most ubiquitous and insidious because it is considered normal behaviour and not an assault to females. This paper provides an analysis of the magnitude of eve teasing and its relation to age, socio-economic and psychological factors. It also examines women’s responses to this type of violence. Administering 300 structured and pre-tested interview schedules on women through stratified random sampling, the paper concludes that eve teasing is rampant and it grabs a girl’s childhood from her while teaching her to learn to avoid victimization irrespective of the social class to which she belongs. And, it concludes that there is a correlation between eve-teasing and the profile of its perpetrators and, certain psychological factors are also related to this type of violence. Moreover, women’s responses to eve teasing are more of endurance than of resistance for the fear of double victimisation.