I’m turning in my manuscript for my book on street harassment in one week and with the holidays, I figured it was a good time to take a week break from the blog. So, no posts for a week. I also want to give a few thank you shout outs.
Thank you everyone who has submitted their street harassment stories and commented on posts this past year.
Thank you to the hundreds of anonymous people who took my various informal, online surveys and to all the activists who have let me interview them about their work. Collectively, you’ve made this book possible.
I also want to thank my family, partner, and my friends who have provided feedback on the manuscript, especially those who have taken the time and energy to read the whole thing.
Happy Holidays everyone and I’ll be back in full force in Jan. 2010.
Concerned says
I am concerned your site blurs the lines between sexual harassment and men simply hitting on women. If a man says a women is beautiful or has beautiful eyes this is not harassment and I think you are being overly sensitive if it you consider it so. If on the other hand a man says or does something with a sexual element to it it would be deemed harassment. Some posts on this site almost seem as though they wish for men to say nothing at all to women. Try to keep it about protecting your rights and your safety and not about complaining over minor annoyances and I think this site would be doing something very positive.
administrator says
Women have the right to be in public without being “hit on.” The street is not a bar or a club. Most women in public are not interested in a relationship, some are not even interested in men, many are already happily in relationships. It is ridiculous to assume that it’s okay to “hit on” any woman one sees in public. Men do not walk down the street getting “hit on” but get to be left alone.
In my book I talk about circumstances in which some women find it acceptable for men to “hit on them” but most women find it inappropriate in most circumstances when they are in public places like a park, a bus stop, or a grocery store, especially when men do it in an overtly sexual or threatening way.
The fact that some men think it is okay to comment on women in public places is indicative of gender discrimination and patriarchy. And you are right, many women would like for men to SAY NOTHING AT ALL to them, unless it is something they would say to anyone, like a comment on the weather or just saying hello, with no expectation of anything.
beckie Weinheimer says
I love this site as is,and I am one woman who feels offended even if all a male does is stop me to tell me I’m beautiful. I think if you read the posts from contributors a lot of us feel that way, and that’s why we post here.