The Hidden Consequences of Gender-Based Street Sexual Harassment: The Case of Public Ejaculation and Emission

As the global #MeToo movement evolves, scholars have extended their focus beyond the private domain to include sexual harassment in public spaces. Although street harassment is not a new phenomenon, it is often trivialized as minor nuisances that do not warrant legal and institutional interventions. This study aims to challenge such dismissive views of street harassment by defining it as a multidimensional social problem that necessitates systematic and collective measures. Specifically, it investigates a relatively unexplored form of street harassment: public ejaculation and emission (PEE), where strangers ejaculate semen or splash liquid on victims’ private body parts in public places. Through content analysis of over 170 online testimonies and in-depth interviews with survivors of PEE and campaigners in Hong Kong, the study explores individuals’ experiences, the socio-psychological consequences, and the coping strategies employed by survivors. The findings reveal that although all survivors felt violated, they struggled to articulate and categorize their experiences as sexual harassment due to limited social awareness and understanding of PEE as a form of sexual violence. The concept of “synchronization lag” is introduced to describe the disconnection between victims’ cognitive understanding of their experiences and the emotional aftermath of sexual violence. This lag creates confusion for victims and impedes collective actions to combat sexual harassment. The study argues that the trivialization and hegemonic silence surrounding street sexual harassment have reinforced this synchronization lag, leaving many forms of sexual violence unrecognized and unaddressed. The negligence of street harassment has serious consequences, especially when such incidents are often filmed, circulated, and commodified through online platforms and social media. This study sheds light on the profound impacts of street harassment and illustrates how it is perpetuated by and, at the same time, reinforcing a gendered and sexual culture that continues to objectify women and girls.