To extend unlimited help to people battling against the
contagious infection amid the second wave of Covid-19 many non-profit organizations,
volunteers, celebrities stepped forward.
The Covid relief work volunteers were just not men but females too, who untiringly strived to manage the leads when the medical infrastructure and the government’s management of coronavirus turned into an utter failure.
Volunteers especially females who made their contact number public to help someone gasping for a breath, desperately looking for an ICU beds, etc., have been exposed to sexual harassment.
With the transformation in seeking helpline online than offline, the way of bullying and harassing has also found its place on the web. There’s has been no dearth of men who sent unsolicited pictures or messages to opposite sex volunteers at the times when the nation was recording the highest spike in the daily number of cases and deaths.
A female volunteer, a victim of digital sexual harassment has shared her ordeal with bloggers Humans of Bombay, who had put in on their social media handles how she reacted to such pathetic replies.
According to the post, the victim volunteer initiated the Covid relief work after her grandmother contracted the infection before the second wave hit India. Considering the problems she and her family faced while arranging medications for her grandmother she thought of extending help to those in need.
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As she had a bank of verified leads, she started to put up the stories regarding oxygen, plasma and bed availability and even shared her own contact details.
Making her number public wasn’t an easy call but she thought who would have time for nonsensical things amid the terrifying situation. However, later she realized she was wrong as perverts started to “slide into her direct messages” the other day.
Some perverts have also sent her unsolicited messages, others asked for phone sex and crossing all the limits strangers also sent their half-naked pictures especially their genitals.
The blog post further read, the victim could have taken stern action against them but, covid-crisis in the country stopped her.
Rather she followed the “block and ignore” strategy to come over such pathetic texts.
It further revealed an incident when sexual harassment triggered her patience to an extreme level and made her the victim of mental stress.
“But once when I received a picture of a man’s genitals on my DM right after I heard about a close one’s demise, I broke down. My mental health had already gone for a toss; I decided to take a break,” read the post.
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The victim’s ordeal also unfolded that she wasn’t the only one who was being tortured or harassed. There were other young volunteers who had approached her explaining similar incidents.
Other female workers were also hounded by similar calls and unsolicited obscene pictures all throughout the day. Adding more shame to the male fraternity, these perverts had even asked them for their home addresses, and even where they go to school or tuitions.
The victims even tried to remove such predators from groups one by one, but the unsolicited texts and pictures did not stop coming.
Divulging the details of how she resumed her work, the blog post states, one-day volunteer received a text from a girl for helping her out to her mother’s life. This generous message lifted her morale and spirits to do virtuous deeds and after a week she was elated to be back at work.
It is pertinent to mention here that the victim volunteer has
not stopped receiving appalling messages and calls but, she practices report and
block mantra to keep mental stress at bay.
She adds, “ I focus my energy on messages like, ‘Thank you, I got the bed!’”
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