A video showing a woman in New York City being harassed by men on the streets of the city has gone viral on the Internet.
The two-minute long YouTube video entitled "10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman" was uploaded on Tuesday, Oct. 28, and has garnered over 10 million hits. The film on street harassment of women and minority groups has been commissioned by anti-street harassment advocacy group Hollaback with an aim to increase awareness.
The video shows actress Shoshana B. Roberts clad in jeans and a T-Shirt take to the streets of Manhattan, enduring unwanted advances from men. Roberts is shown being accosted by random men and greeted with comments like "hey, beautiful" or "sexy American Eagle" in reference to her jeans.
When she does not respond to the remarks, some men even go to the lengths of reprimanding her with "somebody's acknowledging you for being beautiful. You should say thank you more."
The eve teasers are relentless and at one juncture the video shows a man walking side-by-side Roberts for nearly five minutes, without uttering a word, causing clear discomfort and anxiety to the actress.
In a strange turn of events, since the video going viral, Roberts has been receiving rape threats in the comments section of the social experiment video.
"The subject of our PSA is starting to get rape threats on the comments. Can you help by reporting them?" tweeted iHollaback.
While the plea from Hollaback may have worked, it brings to light a bigger issue - that of Internet bullying.
Experts opine that the online responses are reflective of the fact that there is an attempt to intimidate women into staying quiet and not react. Instances of nude pictures of actor Emma Watson being posted online post her speech on feminism, threats directed at critic Anita Sarkeesian are not isolated incidents but reflective of a mindset harbored by certain factions of the society - to keep women subservient.
"Any time a woman has done something that we don't like, it seems the default is to find some way to use her gender against her," says Mary Anne Franks, professor at the University of Miami School of Law.
Whether Internet bullying is on the rise owing to a misogynist attitude or the anonymity the World Wide Web provides is not the main concern. It is unacceptable and should not be excused.
