The Case for Loitering

By Hudaiba Soomro

Patriarchal society functions on the dual premise that women need to be protected and policed — protected from the male threat and policed from behavior that contradicts the social norms specially curated for them. Since public spaces function as a site where both of these mechanisms operate, the case for loitering stems from disengaging with this narrative. One must be mindful that while this narrative has created a society obsessed with boxing women, it has also contributed to the illusion that men will never need protection and can never be threatened or damaged in ways a woman can. This dichotomous worldview has made it taboo to talk about instances of violence, especially sexual violence against males and made it nearly impossible for male victims to come out.

The boxes that women inhabit have evolved from the “chadhar aur char deewari” notion in more elite spheres, and so we witness that women can access adequately safeguarded spaces such as malls, by using media that are equally guarded by their husbands, brothers, or chauffers. As opposed to this are other women who have to rely on public transport by virtue of their economic background. For them, being in public is often an act of necessity than leisure, and is even more of a nuisance than that for more financially and socially privileged women.

The behavior of women in public is regularly monitored by guardians and family members, constantly reminding them that this is a necessary form of protection from the everyday acts of sexual violence perpetuated by strange men who are out to get women. This is strange because statistics reveal that most of physical/sexual violence happens inside homes — thus denying access to spaces isn’t the best policy here. Shilpha Padhke, author of “Why Loiter” argues that men are subject to much less scrutiny about their whereabouts and have the general freedom to access varying spaces. This is simply regarded as part of becoming macho. Most of our lives from taking a flight to getting in a car to crossing the street involves risk of a certain measure — the right of which is solely awarded to men. Padhke argues that the right to risk must be granted without gender discrimination and suggests loitering as an adequate means of reclaiming ownership of public spaces.

So long has the feminine experience been either policed or imagined by men that little of it emerges on its own terms.

Loitering comes off as an act of leisure, of purposelessness but it is in fact an empowering act of claiming space. Sadia Khatri, founder of Girls@dhabas also talks about the ownership of pleasure and leisure on part of women and how women engaging with the public sphere adds to normalizing women’s presence in these spaces. So long has the feminine experience been either policed or imagined by men that little of it emerges on its own terms. Loitering suggests that one claims space on one’s own term and this is central to creating a spatial balance in the skewed male dominant politics of spaces.

Public spaces function as sites of intersection of varying social groups. They also function as sites of community building and political mobilization which have become dominantly male domains on a local level. A world that ensures better representation ought to create more inclusivity in spaces such as these with each group respectfully claiming its space.

Not only must we investigate the impact on femininity but also on masculinity, in terms of spatial identity. Researcher Sharon R. Bird says that heteronormative masculinity prospers by practices such as “emotional detachment, competitiveness, and sexual objectification of women.” By ensuring mechanisms such as these, a power structure that is skewed to benefit only a certain brand of masculinity is enabled. In light of this, public spaces emerge as sites where these mechanisms are traditionally deployed.

So, by mere presence in spaces one is not welcome, does one actively disengage with the narrative. To break the narrative of the oversexualization of women out in the open, women MUST go out in the open. They must loiter and reclaim the public sphere as their own, and break the idea of it being a foreign territory where they must perpetually be policed and scrutinized.