The expression "eve teasing" is Indian in origin; you won't find it in most
dictionaries. Native speakers of English don't use it.

Eve teasing is a euphemistic expression that lives in post-colonial India and refers largely to sexual harassment of women in public spaces, thereby constituting women as ‘eves’, temptresses who provoke men into states of sexual titillation. This popular perception of sexual harassment posits the phenomena as a joke where women are both a tease and deserve to be teased. Considered a growing problem throughout the subcontinent, eve teasing ranges in severity from sexually-coloured remarks to outright groping.
Source: Sexual harassment. Pratiksha Baxi

It’s the same story everyday.

Incident 1:
It’s getting dark. Four college friends (all women) at a New Delhi bus stop. A bike pulls up, the man on the bike yells - do you want to come with me? He lecherously looks at one of them and shouts again - Come with me –Rs 300 for a night.

Incident 2
A car loaded with men pulls out of the underground driveway at Palika Bazar, Delhi. The driver shouts- do u need a ride … we will take u wherever u want and pay for it. All men burst in to laughter.

Incident 3
2 women traveling on a Delhi bus.
Watch out Shweta, the guy standing at the back is trying to brush against you.
Shweta- don’t worry, I have a penknife.

Incident 4
I am standing near the rear Door of a bus in Delhi, waiting to get off the next stop. Bunch of guys continue eve-teasing, laughing and passing lewd remarks. I feel humiliated and outraged.

Back then in my 1st year of college, I thought ignoring it was the right thing to do. And that's just what I did. I would have heated arguments with my friends if they retorted back. I didn't want to get involved in confrontations. I remember times when I ignored such cases, and felt miserable latter because I hadn't stood up against it. Soon I realized that ignoring isn’t going to solve this problem.

I goggled ‘eve teasing’ and found many hits. Some facts about eve teasing

•The expression "eve teasing" is Indian in origin; you won't find it in most
dictionaries. Native speakers of English don't use it.

•Studies show that 32 per cent of the eve teasers are students, 35 per cent are anti socials while the remaining 33 per cent are middle-aged men.

•An increasingly large number college going women taking public transportation in Delhi have resorted to carrying pins, pen-knives and even daggers as a deterrent. Others have taken self-defense classes and don't hesitate before landing a karate chop on the offender's shoulder blade.

•In India, every 51 minutes a woman is sexually harassed. Every 21 minutes one woman is molested. Eve teasing is something that she has to contend with everyday.

So what is it with Indian men and eve teasing? Is it the frustration for sex of just another mode of fun?

According to a recent article by Bollywood actress Preety Zinta about eve teasing, the cause of this horrific behavior is the images being splashed across the media. I can partially agree with her. Indian Movies play an important role in propagating of this behavior. Many bollywood movies depict scenes of eve teasing showing this behavior as a way to win woman’s heart. Others show this as a behavior for men to indulge in some ‘fun’ at woman’s expense of course.

Many psychologists believe that sex, love or fun is not the only motive that men indulge in this behavior. Eve teasing is closely related to the patriarchal mindset of Indian male. Men are raised to believe that they are more powerful- physically and emotionally than women. They feel that they are doing nothing wrong - having some fun! Women on the other hand are made to feel vulnerable and the ‘weaker sex’.

But it’s incorrect to blame Indian men entirely. There exits dichotomies among Indian women too. Indian women voice on equality of gender but at the same time demand reservations in parliament, jobs. They want men to vacate seats in buses. Is it fair for women to demand equality and at the same time slogan for reservations based on sex?

Eve teasing may sound obscene and harmless in its behavior but this act of molesting women has sometimes resulted in rape and even death of victims. In one such horrific instance in Bihar, few young guys eve teased an 18-year-old college woman on her way home; she was outraged and yelled at the guys. Next day the young woman was kidnapped raped and beaten by the same men until she was dead.

What right did these people have to violate the integrity of a woman for no fault of hers and why is eve teasing supposed to be a thing we're supposed to live with? And what are the options women have to avoid being eve teased?
- Travel with a male escort
- Ignore
- Dress appropriately. Don’t attract attention!

But what if I don’t like any of these options. I want to fight back. When I say fight back, I don’t mean slapping eve teasers on face or getting in a physical fight, there are other effective ways to fight back. Yell at eve teasers. Make them feel publicly humiliated. They will think twice before attacking their next victim. Impose sticker laws against eve teasing. The Indian government has already passed many laws against eve teasing and sexual molestation but this behavior is seldom reported to authorities. In cases where it is reported the law enforcement agencies take little or no action.

Sticker laws or publicly humiliating eve teasers alone will not solve the problem; a wholehearted support form the community is needed.
This is a remark made by a policeman during a march against eve teasing in Delhi-
"It (molestation) was bound to happen... the kind of scanty clothes girls wear these days..they deserved it." (Source- Times of India).

The answer lies in educating Indians about gender equality and the rights of women. Street plays, marches, public speeches, articles and even door-to-door propaganda against eve teasing will help in spreading public awareness.

Fight rather than ignore. Don’t become a victim of eve teasing.
Lets join hands to fight eve teasing so this euphemistic expression is out of Indian vocabulary as well.