Legal Literacy - Everyone agrees that men and women have differences; it is very easy for us to distinguish them by looking at their physical characteristics, gender, and so on. Gender is a biological factor that humans are born with, along with its roles. These different roles become a crucial issue that is often debated because of the discrimination and inequality caused by these role differences. It is undeniable that there is a significant gap where one party will always feel superior to the other, which leads to injustice and inequality.
Social and gender differences result in gender inequality. When looking at social phenomena, women often experience discrimination and oppression, preventing them from obtaining their rights in life. In a conference established by the United Nations (UN) in 1979, Indonesia approved/ratified in 1984, which was later amended to Law No. 7 of 1984 concerning the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. However, socialization to the public regarding this law has not been well conveyed. The enactment of this law feels inadequate in handling cases of discrimination against women, as many women, in fact, do not obtain their rights and always experience forms of physical, mental, social, and economic violence, which can occur at home, in the workplace, or in the community.
Discrimination Against Women
The image, role, and position of women have been created by culture, where women are ideally positioned to have feminine, weak, gentle, and obedient traits. Meanwhile, men are ideally positioned to have masculine, strong, hardworking, protective traits and be ready to become leaders for their families. The existence of women is often not taken into account; the separation of unbalanced positions and roles creates inequality and unfairness, where women are positioned in the domestic sphere while men are in the public sector.
Women's roles are confined to the domestic sector; when it comes to rights, they are very limited in their behavior and actions, unlike men who feel free to go anywhere and do anything without having to consider many things. Case sexual violence which occurs is very significant and dominated by women who become victims. From this, we can fight for women's rights in life; they also have the right to go wherever they want, just like men.
The high level of patriarchal understanding by the community can be a factor causing inequality of roles, over the freedom of men in behaving, in fact, they can also be victims of sexual violence, but not a few people deny that men cannot be victims because they are masculine.
Women face difficulties in obtaining their rights
As an example of an event, there is a woman who wants to be able to hang out in coffee shops or cafes with free time, she then hangs out and goes home late at night.
She felt that the statement that women should not go out at night was not regulated in any regulation, therefore she wanted to achieve freedom and prove that women going out at night should not be labeled as naughty women or behaving badly. When heading home, there was a group of men hanging out on the side of the road, she received cat calling behavior from the group of men, the clothes worn by the woman could be said to be closed, even if they were not closed, it was their right to determine fashion over themselves without any intervention. In short, she was raped and from here who is to blame? Surely everyone agrees that the men are to blame.
In reality, not a few state and blame that the woman is at fault, even though whatever she does when it does not violate the rules and rights of others is legal to do. From the security side, it cannot be guaranteed that women going out and returning at night can obtain their safety rights.
The supremacy of law is very necessary to uphold for the sake of the continuation of a safe life for women, eliminating the discrimination that women are not sexual objects, but they are human beings whose rights must be fulfilled and guaranteed.
Due to the effects of masculinity, men find it difficult to become victims
In general, women are often the target of harassment or sexual violence. Due to the construction of society, women are often in an inferior or second-class position and are often considered weak and do not have rights over themselves so they deserve to be harassed. The presence of KOMNAS PEREMPUAN (National Commission on Violence Against Women) confirms that harassment and violence against women is a crucial matter so it requires serious handling.
However, specifically looking at the news in the mass media, sexual harassment also often occurs and is experienced by men. The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) stated that victims of sexual violence in 2018 were more often experienced by boys, in health.liputan6.com, Dr. Gina Anindyajati, Sp. Kj said that in Asia Pacific there are about 1.5% to 7.7% of men who are victims of sexual violence. Sexual harassment that occurs and is experienced by men cannot be separated from the community's perspective on masculinity. Masculinity is the identity of men that is influenced by race, class, and culture. Masculinity is a construction of masculinity towards men that upholds the values of superiority, strength, power, virility, toughness, and having an athletic physique.
The stigma of masculinity associated with men often burdens them, in this case, sexual harassment experienced by men, both verbally and non-verbally, creates oppression within the male hierarchy, especially regarding men or women with higher hierarchical positions committing injustice against men in lower positions.
There is a need for fundamental handling in cases of sexual violence against men, the lack of institutions that can accommodate reports, and the strong societal stigma in judging that men cannot be victims of sexual violence, make it impossible for survivors to speak up about the cases they have experienced. They also experience the same things as victims of sexual violence, a very deep sense of trauma that destroys the mental health of survivors.
Comments (0)
Write a comment