It’s truly devastating that the safety of a woman can be at risk when she is in her own house…
Women come forward with their stories of facing sexual harassment almost every day but how are we as a society protecting them? The worst thing one can do in this situation is placing the blame on the victim as you’re just restricting the problem to a very small scale.
A woman from Penang named Georgia Matthews was left traumatised when she was harassed from the safety of her own home. On 24 June, Georgia reached out to WORLD OF BUZZ with CCTV footage of the incident. She appeared to be in her house talking on the phone when a man suddenly approached her door.
At first, she assumed that the guy was a friend of one of her housemates but the guy then proceeded to take his penis out and started masturbating. When she noticed what he was doing, she yelled and ran to the back of the house and locked herself inside the toilet. She assumed this would scare the man away but instead, the man took a few steps ahead and attempted to chase her.
“I felt extremely scared and violated.”
Her boyfriend and housemates came out when they heard her screaming. They secured the house and tried to look for the man but he was already gone. Georgia attempted to seek justice and tried to procure the CCTV footage from the landlord. Instead of being supportive, her landlord placed the blame on her instead.
“Why was he inside? You should have had the door closed!”
Image for illustration purposes only
When she heard this, Georgia just had one question:
Doesn’t she have the right to sit inside her house without being sexually assaulted?
After this incident, she shared how she is constantly scared to be alone outside now. All she wants is to bring attention to men like these who go around harassing women simply because they think they can.
“We need to stop saying “what did she do to be assaulted?” And start asking “why are these men sexually assaulting people?”
Have you ever been in a similar situation? Share your experience with us!
Also read: “He ignored my cries of pain” M’sian Man Shares Stigma Behind Sexual Assault In Male Survivors
