Read the passage and answer the following questions:
To understand the impact of sexual harassment on women, one must listen to the account of its victims, as no one conveys the meaning and truth of sexual harassment better than the women who have endured it. In response to the question during the survey conducted in and around Delhi University, "What kind of emotional response does eve teasing/sexual harassment evoke in you", not a single woman ticked the category of "indifferent". The survey of the Gender Study Group shows that most women felt disgusted, insulted and scared by any sort of harassment.
Women often internalize male perceptions of sexual harassment and blame themselves for having brought on the harassment. They not only doubt the validity of their own experiences but begin to believe that they themselves must be "abnormal", "cheap", "indecent" or deserving the violence that comes their way.
Most respondents, men and women, described "verbal harassment" as eve teasing and contrasted this with 'physical harassment' which has been seen as sexual harassment. They described eve teasing as relatively harmless behaviour committed usually by strangers, while sexual harassment would be a grievous crime committed by acquaintances or men in positions of institutional power.
In addition, most men and women described eve teasing as an isolated incident while sexual harassment would typically be repetitive and sustained over a long period of time. Many respondents said that they felt extreme anger, frustration and helplessness at not being able to do anything about the harassment. Many women have faced this behaviour also said that they find it difficult to trust or have friendships with men.
In response to the question "Has sexual harassment/eve teasing affected your academic/personal development in any way?", 45% of women stated that sexual harassment on Delhi campus roads has affected their personal or academic development in one way or another. Many women have found a way of handling these situations by changing their personalities, but at one level these changes are also forced by the circumstances over which they have no control and has left some of them bitter.