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Opinion | To celebrate women, Singapore must change how men think about sexual harassment
- Online vitriol against comedienne Sharul Channa who called out talk show host Viswa Sadasivan for his sexual comment reveals misconceptions about harassment
- Asian countries should focus on gender awareness training in schools, zero tolerance for offenders, and celebrating positive male role models
Reading Time:3 minutes
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Singapore’s “Year of Celebrating SG Women” – a national effort in 2021 to review issues affecting women and spark a mindset change in society on values such as gender equality and respect – has not started on a promising note.
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When a Singaporean woman took to Facebook earlier this month to describe how a man had made a sexual comment to her during a conversation in a professional setting, the disdainful – and downright misogynistic – responses from male social media users came in fast and furious.
The man in question was “an outstanding human” and the woman was “picking on something that is not there”, one user proclaimed. “Making a mountain out of a molehill. Next”, said another.
Others latched on to the woman’s profession – she is Sharul Channa, a full-time comedienne – and asked why she could not take a joke, but thought the comment by public relations firm owner and talk show host Viswa Sadasivan constituted sexual harassment.
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