PETALING JAYA: The growing willingness of male sexual harassment victims to come forward shows that more survivors feel safer to report experiences, says human rights organisation Tenaganita.
Its executive director Glorene A Das said the rise in reporting did not necessarily mean that harassment against men was suddenly increasing.
“What it may reflect is that more survivors are beginning to recognise abuse and feel slightly safer to report experiences that were previously hidden by shame, fear, stigma, silence, and cultural pressure,” she said in a statement on Friday (May 22).
Glorene said the increase in reporting by men might also suggest that public understanding of consent and bodily autonomy was slowly becoming less gendered.
“This is an important and positive development. No person, regardless of gender, nationality, migration status, sexuality, or documentation status, should ever be subjected to unwanted sexual conduct, harassment, abuse, or violence,” she added.
She was commenting on news reports that more men were also coming forward to report on sexual harassment – with over 1,000 cases reported at advocacy counters.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri had said on Tuesday that from merely a handful of men lodging reports, the number had climbed substantially, reflecting that sexual harassment was “genderless” because it happened to both men and women.
Glorene said the establishment of complaint mechanisms such as the Tribunal for Anti-Sexual Harassment (TAGS), alongside wider public conversations on consent and bodily autonomy, may have contributed to this shift.
However, she said women and girls continued to carry the overwhelming burden of sexual harassment, violence, discrimination, exploitation, and unequal power relations under patriarchal systems.
Major gaps also remain, Glorene said, with many workplaces still lacking clear anti-sexual harassment policies, accessible complaint mechanisms, protection against retaliation, and survivor-centred responses.
“Reporting systems and public complaint channels, including TAGS, must become more accessible to migrant workers, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented persons, domestic workers, workers in informal sectors, and individuals who do not speak Bahasa Malaysia or English fluently,” she said.
