Ambient Threat and Cumulative Fear: A Comparative Analysis of Street Harassment Victimization Anxiety in Urban Pakistan

Street harassment is a form of gendered violence that is commonplace, yet tacitly accepted, and that affects women’s freedom to move, mental health, and use of public space. This article carries out this analysis of street harassment in urban Pakistan from a comparative perspective focusing on South Africa and introduces the concept of “ambient threat” to address the cumulative effects of street harassment. The method of the study was qualitative and document-based, utilizing a trauma-informed and survivor-centered thematic analysis of academic literature, NGO reports, government studies and survivor testimonies. Results reveal that chronic low-level harassment is associated with chronic victimization anxiety, hypervigilance, avoidance, and limitations of women’s daily mobility. There is comparative evidence that experiences of ambient threat are influenced by gender, class, race, geography and institutional accountability. The analysis also shows that these influences can be reduced by the creation of alternative safety infrastructures, through feminist organizing and informal support networks. The article is a contribution to comparative sociology by connecting everyday harassment with structural inequalities, institutional failures, and collective feminist resistance.