30 Times Men Stepped In And Called Out Guys For Harassing Women

In order to learn more about misogyny and the ways in which people have been helping to fight it, Bored Panda reached out to Hera Hussain, a Forbes 30 Under 30 (Europe) Social Entrepreneur and the founder of Chayn, a non-profit that helps women across the globe to escape or fight gender-based violence and harassment.

"When I started it, people couldn't understand the impact of Chayn because it wasn't something you could touch and feel. There were no pictures, I couldn't show them photos of people smiling or sitting in a room. They just couldn't understand it," Hussain said. 

She's happy that there are now more organizations like Chayn, helping those in need and those who are often being silenced by abusers. But when Hera launched the organization when she was only 24 years old and inspired by the experience of trying to help her Pakistani friend find asylum in the UK — things were very different.

"[Back then], you had to go places in person. You had to pick up the phone, wait for a really long time and talk to someone. And my friend, she didn't know the language to express what was happening to her," Hussain explained. "It was just all very diverse in terms of the mediums, but also in terms of the information that they provided."

Being a tech-wiz herself, Hera knew what she had to do. And what started as a Pakistani-only mission soon grew to encompass women from all over the world.

Having lived most of her adult life in the UK, Hera, like most young women in the country, is no stranger to sexual harassment. "I was once traveling from Glasgow to London and I was harassed by someone who was sitting in the train, drunk and inebriated. It was really scary," Hussain said. She even reported the abuser to the police, but the case was eventually dropped because "the CCTV footage wasn't clear enough" for the prosecutors. 

Having said that, based on her own personal experience as a Pakistani woman living in the UK, for all the times she was catcalled or verbally harassed by a complete stranger — no one came to Hera's assistance. "Unfortunately, bystander intervention is uncommon [here]. I think every single time something like this has happened to me, nobody has done anything about it," she said.

Although there is no peer-reviewed research that would explain why so many bystanders choose to ignore the social injustice happening in front of their eyes, Hera thinks it all comes down to fear. "I think it's important to think about what are they afraid of. If someone's afraid for their physical safety, there are safe ways to intervene, like calling the police," Hussain pointed out. 

Others, Hera believes, are afraid of the reaction their assistance might cause. "In the case of a domestic dispute, people are afraid that the victim or survivor is going to turn on them and say, 'This is a private matter, please don't interfere.'" 

But statistics show that misogyny, at least for the moment, is not going anywhere. That's why it's important to step in and put our apprehensions aside. "Misogyny is endemic within our culture," Hussain said. "So, let us take the brave step and do something about it."