Archives for May 2009

Street Harassment Punishment is… Sweeping?

May 8, 2009 By HKearl

Gandhi Hospital in India. Photo credit: panoramio.com

In Hyderabad, India, a young man accused of street harassment (pulling on the scarves of two young women walking by from a motorcycle) has been sentenced to sweeping a government-run hospital (named Gandhi Hospital) one hour a day, for one month. “He is allowed to choose the hour according to his convenience.”

The escort of the two young women filed a complaint with the police, who then registered the case against the men (there were two harassers though the fate of the second man wasn’t disclosed in the article) “under section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code against Kumar.” And then Justice B. Chandrakumar sentenced the young man to sweeping the hospital as punishment.

What do you think about this punishment for street harassment? Too much? Too little? Too weird? Creative?

(Thanks to b for the tip)

Take Action Against Subway Groping/Assault Video Game

May 6, 2009 By HKearl

A few months ago I wrote about the Japanese video game RapeLay, which allows players to grope young women on subways and then allows players to escalate their actions to lots of raping. At that time, activists were successful in getting the game banned from the US Amazon.com and Ebay, but the game is still easily found elsewhere online, including, apparently, Japan’s Amazon.com.

Equality Now has a new call to action around this horrible video game.

“Japan has an obligation under Article 5(a) of CEDAW ‘to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.’ In addition, Article 14 of the Japanese Constitution guarantees equality under the law and states that there shall be no ‘discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.’ Computer games such as RapeLay condone gender-based discriminatory attitudes and stereotypes, which perpetuate violence against women. Rather than allowing them to flourish, the Japanese government should be taking effective measures to overcome these attitudes and practices, which hinder women’s equality.”

Visit Equality Now’s website for contact info and sample letters you can use:

“Please write to Illusion Software asking it to withdraw immediately from sale of all games, including RapeLay, which involve rape, stalking or other forms of sexual violence or which otherwise denigrate women. Suggest that corporations have a responsibility to consider, as good business practice, any negative impact their activities may have on society and the public interest. Please write a similar letter to Amazon Japan. Write also to the Japanese government officials below, calling on them to comply with Japan’s obligations under CEDAW and the Japanese Constitution to eliminate discrimination against women and particularly to ban the sale of computer games such as RapeLay, which normalize and promote sexual violence against women and girls.”

I’m going to write! I hate subway groping, I hate rape, I hate violence! And I hate video games that portray these horrible acts as something “fun” for players to do.

Women-Only Subway Cars in Beijing?

May 6, 2009 By HKearl

Beijing may join places like Japan, Brazil, India, and Mexico, in having women-only modes of public transportation. In their case, it would be subway cars.

Like the initiatives in the other countries, trying to cut down on men’s harassment of women is a key reason for the separate cars. The cars would be open to children and the elderly too, because the second reason for the separate cars is to help these groups of people make it onto overly crowded trains. A survey conducted last November at one particularly busy station found that 50 percent of the 200 female respondents reported having difficulties getting on to subway cars due to the crowds.

From China Daily:

“‘We can trial women-only carriages on subway lines 1 and 2 between 7:30 and 8:30 am and from 5:30 to 6:30 pm,’ Wang told China Daily yesterday. The middle carriage could be set aside for women, with its exterior painted with eye-catching signs and the interior posted with a detailed explanation and warnings about sexual harassment, Wang said. Staff should also be deployed to advise women about the issues, he said. And he called for surveillance cameras to be installed to deter harassment and said children traveling alone and senior citizens should also be allowed to use the special carriages.”

“Chen Yu, a regular subway user, questioned whether the idea would work. ‘The fundamental reason for the overcrowding is the huge population wanting to use the subway. If all women swarm to that carriage, it will be hard to get on that one as well,’ Chen said.

The proposal will be online at www.beijing.gov.cn, www.bjzx.gov.cn/zhu.htm, and other official websites to solicit public opinion on the idea soon.

I wonder what the figures are for the harassment of women since the article didn’t cite any. I also question the viability of the initiative, though I appreciate that officials are trying to address the issues of harassment and overcrowding. What are your thoughts?

Haircut

May 5, 2009 By Contributor

I had just cut my hair really short and some guy on a crowded subway car started pointing at me and talking to his friend about how ugly I was. It was so humiliating and people kept turning to stare at me. I finally told him to shut the f*** up and he lost his shit on me. He started screaming about what an ugly dyke I was, etc. I was scared and humiliated. It happened years ago and I still feel sick when I think about it.

-anonymous

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Why isn’t a “no” enough?

May 4, 2009 By Contributor

[Editors Note: On May 1, I participated in Blogging Against Disability Day and one commenter on my post shared the following about her experiences with street harassment and I thought it deserved its own post.]

Unfortunately, I do think that people with disabilities are quite vulnerable to this kind of harassment. Luckily, I have not experienced any sexualized harassment since needing to use my wheelchair, but I do get the people who just move you, who think nothing of pushing your chair out of their way, as if you weren’t a real person for them to have to even acknowledge – the fact that it’s your body they are moving means nothing to them.

However, back before I acquired my current disability, I was a dancer, one with fragile ankles. Once, after I’d broken my ankle and was hobbling along on my crutches, making my way to school, a man in a car pulled up along side me and offered me a ride. I was 14, and he was, at the very least, 40. I didn’t know him and politely declined, thanked him and kept on hobbling. He started to follow me, kept asking me why I was being so stubborn, how he could see that I was in pain, and he kept pressuring me to get into the car. I started to get more and more uncomfortable, even though he hadn’t said or done anything overtly threatening. (besides not taking my “no” as an answer, that is).

As I turned the corner to a one way street, he continued to follow me, going in the wrong direction, even. It was then that I went from creeped out to totally terrified: I could not have escaped him in my condition, and I think he realized that he was frightening me, because his demeanor changed from cajoling to demanding very quickly. He started calling me names, and making lewd suggestions; my ‘hurried’ pace made him laugh and taunt about how he’d have to drive faster now to catch me. Another car happened to be coming the right way down the street, at just the right moment, and the other driver honked at him, then yelled out his window to ask me if I was alright, so the driver who had followed me quickly backed up and drove away. Although nothing physically happened to me, that feeling of being threatened was just so intense, and I still think I owe that other driver a huge debt of gratitude.

–NTE

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