About a month ago, a contributor to this blog (Lauren) wrote a post about a recent street harassment experience she had where a teenager on a bike slapped her butt while she was jogging in her neighborhood. She said that as a result of that experience (and other experiences of street harassment) she was going to write an article about street harassment for one of her classes in her master’s program in journalism at the University of Western Ontario in London, ON, Canada. As part of her paper, she interviewed me and the facilitator of Holla Back Tononto. Well, she just sent me her completed paper and she’s considering trying to get it published , so check it out! Way to go, Lauren!
Like Lauren, most of the street harassment activists I’ve spoken to became an activist because one day they said, “enough” and decided to do something about the harassment they were experiencing and/or saw other women experiencing.
If you’re fed up with street harassment, I encourage you to think about something you can do about it, be it sharing your story, writing an article, starting a HollaBack website, posting fliers in your neighborhood, making a documentary, or starting an activist group, you can make a difference.
Golden Silence says
Great article, Lauren! It’s great to take something so revolting like street harassment and make it into positive activism. Kudos to you.
Beckie says
Lauren. You must feel so enpowered! I loved your paper!
Lauren says
Thanks so much! 🙂 I do feel empowered. After writing this article and researching the topic in greater depth, I feel like I really can make a difference, even if it’s a very small one.
The other day, a guy was harassing me while I walked down the street and instead of giving him the finger or scowling with my head down and walking away, I actually stopped and talked to him and told him that speaking to me like that isn’t cool.
I told him that telling a girl “damn, I like the way you’re put together baby” isn’t going to get him anything more than a glare or a gag.
He was like “oh, well what do I have to say to get your number then??” and I told him that if he was really interested, try to make conversation normally – not agressively and sexually. And then I walked away. I hope he learned a lesson…