Sexual harassment has, unfortunately, been a part of every girl’s life. Most women, no matter where they grow up, encounter creepy men in their life who scar them for life with gestures or worse. Some heinous incidents are reported, but many are not even shared at home. Recently, actor Johny Lever’s daughter Jamie Lever shared similar scarring incidents from her childhood that continue to haunt her.
In a recent conversation with Hauterrfly, Jamie recalled disturbing incidents from her growing up years. She recalled an incident where a creep landed outside her school and touched himself as a 12-year-old Jamie was left scandalised. “This one time, my friend and I were waiting in the car for my brother to come. While we were talking to each other, this guy came and stood opposite me and started to masturbate. This was the first time I saw a male part, and I was so young that I didn’t know what he was doing. I suddenly told my friend, ‘there is a creepy man behind you and I don’t know what he is doing.’ My friend suggested that I ignore him and continue to speak with her. I was very scared. I was shaking. I slowly moved and locked the car. After a while, when he realised that we weren’t paying any attention to him. He left. I was just 10 or 12 then,” she recalled.
This wasn’t the only time she had to go through a painful experience. She experienced something similar for a long time when her school bus conductor touched her and her friends inappropriately. “There was also this bus conductor in our school who would touch us inappropriately. He was supposed to be our protector, but instead he would touch us and hold us. For me, all these incidents are like a bad dream. I don’t want to revisit these incidents,” she said.
Jamie kept quiet this whole time, and failed to gain the courage to speak up even after reaching college. “The flashing incidents happened a lot when I was in college. Men would just randomly flash at these train stations. Once I was in Andheri station, when this man randomly came and stood before me and flashed. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I was in shock. The only thing I could think of is why did this happen to me? I just froze.” She added, “All these incidents are so scary. When it can happen with me, who was supposedly in one of the best schools, then how can I be sure that this won’t happen to my kids.”
