Spayed and neutered

The Egyptian government recently reported a series of 735 sexual harassment reports in downtown Cairo during the span of only four days.

The reports conclude that small groups of young men throughout the city are molesting young women on the sidewalks of marketplaces, shopping squares and other places that are densely active during the day.

To combat the harassers, a group of vigilante men armed with yellow vests and spray cans have been cleaning up the streets by marking the sexual deviants with paint.
The vigilantes call their movement “Be a Man.” They wear the words “harassment prevention” on their backs and they mean business.

Other than holding down sexual harassers and spray-painting them against their will the vigilantes have started punishing the offenders with a good ‘ol fashion beating. Many sexual predators have been hospitalized for serious injuries.

Many women as well as men of Cairo have contacted the media in praise of the vigilante group, but some people, particularly government officials, have claimed that the presence of vigilantism only indicates the increased amount of lawlessness recently in Egypt.

Of course it would be easy to condemn the vigilantes for stepping outside the law, but try applying the argument to IU’s campus.

Imagine if at orientation we were issued a keychain sized spray-paint can and instructed to mark the perpetrators of sexual harassment. 

The can would spray a color of extreme contrast like silver and students would be instructed to contact the police directly after use.

The sexual harasser would then be marked and on the run. Police would have a distinct way of identifying the person and pedestrians and other on-lookers would have a positive ID on a pervert.

This would put power into the hands of pervert’s peers. When people see the man running, they could choose to act forcefully like the Egyptian vigilantes or they could assist the police by phoning in the harasser’s location.

Either way, if there was a system implemented that put more power into the people’s hands when dealing with sexual predation then people would be less inclined to perform these disgusting acts.

Although the numbers of sexual harassment reports have not significantly decreased since the group’s founding, the “Be a Man” vigilantes have created a media presence that can’t be ignored, which has opened the door for political change.

Maybe IU-Bloomington could benefit from a similar vein of action.