Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for January 2010

15-year old girls help nab groper

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Here’s a bad story with a good ending. In Edmonton, Canada, a man groped two teenage girls on different occasions on a bus.

“In the latter case, the alleged groper slipped his hand onto the victim’s seat as she sat down, Tabler said. The girl told a friend about the incident, who recognized the man as someone who had touched her inappropriately at an earlier date. The girls both took pictures of the man with their cellphones and then called police.”

A few hours after the police released the man’s photo, he was arrested and charged with one count of sexual assault (not sure why it’s not two if he assaulted both of them on separate occasions). The man is 52 years old, the girls are both 15. What the hell.

(In an unrelated incident, the article reports that another man groped a 24 year old woman on the bus last week in the same town.)

What is great about this story is how the girls worked together in an empowering way, took photos of and reported the harasser and now he’s being held accountable for his unacceptable and illegal behavior. They are inspirational!

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“On My Walk to the Theatre to see Avatar”

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It must have been the girlish and irresistible swish of my ponytail, as I walked unobtrusively down the sidewalk in the yellow lamp light, that caught their attention.

A gang of neaderthals, coversing amongst themselves with sophistication and posh in the dark, dank parking lot, complete with the classic wino accessory: beer bottles in brown paper bags.

Such a concentration of testosterone was bound to cause a stir; they would have been itching for it, gagging for it, awaiting eargerly the arrival of their nightly entertainment — any female.

Hardly surprising, and quite common place. Men, frankly, especially in such a context, can not be trusted to behave rationally around women. I find it quite funny that it was women who were made to prove themselves to be persons.

It was not that I caught their attention, that was always unavoidable — the particulars in such situations are irrelevant, and by that I mean myself. Whatever I was wearing, whatever my appearence and general level of attractiveness, my manner as a whole towards them and my surroundings . . .

The curiosity in this occurence was the shocking misogyny I experienced. I had expected a few “hey girly” remarks and then muttering about my being a stuck-up bitch when I invariably, rightly, and completely ignored them (well, on the outside at the very least. You can never help but to hear and to see, can you? It always gets you.)

Rather, when I failed my duty as a cordial host for their gentlemanly respects, I was gobsmacked by an outright “BITCH”. Jeese, I had at least expected that for *after* their failed attemtps at wooing, and as a slightly more subdued reflection amongst themselves with their unjustly struck hearts.

What is wrong with people? No. What is wrong with men? These were 30 year old adults . . . the sheer number and frequency of such occurences is proof that my all encompassing statement of “what is wrong with men” is not in reality unjust, or unreasonable, or the product of a “wounded bird”.

There is something in the relations between males and females that cannot be eradicated, no matter the pressure of civilized society or the supremity of morals.

Just hope for men who are at least semi-decent people (do not expect them to be like you), even if they are probably just pretending to be so in your presence, so as to not offend your delicate feminine sensibilities.

This is was in downtown Peterborough, where street harassment happens quite often despite it being only three blocks long.

So, in effect, the world can be a horrible place. But, hey, isn’t that just life, like they say?

– Megan

Location: Peterborough

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

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Street Harassment Problem in Morocco

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Seriously, is there a region (besides maybe Scandinavia) where street harassment is not a problem? I just came across an article about how pervasive the problem is in Morocco.

“Many girls suffer molestation in the streets of Morocco which often turns into sexual harassment. And in most cases it becomes difficult for these girls to respond or even to report these violations to the authorities, because the relevant law in this aspect has not been ratified yet.”

Girls and women share their harassment experiences in the article and some men talk about why it happens, including blaming their targets by saying they dress provocatively (Puleaze. I’m beyond tired of that excuse.)

The article ends on a positive note though. It tells how Adib Abdel-Salam, a founding member of the Network against Sexual Harassment Cases in Morocco, advocates for the creation of a toll-free number to help women report their cases of harassment (workplace or street) and for an easier courts process to make it easier for harassment targets to use legal means to combat it. He also stresses the importance of education and promoting respect among people. In 2008, the Moroccan parliament discussed a draft law to criminalize sexual harassment but it hasn’t been ratified.

So it seems, like many other regions around the world, the Moroccan government is starting to recognize this problem and hopefully in time will  remedy it.

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Bangladesh Suicide Prompted by Harassment

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Ugh, so sad 🙁 The New Nation is reporting that a young woman in Khulna, Bangladesh, hanged herself due to her humiliation at being street harassed (or eve teased). The accused man has been arrested. I am so sorry this young women is dead. Horrible.

Of the problem in general, the author of the article writes, “The problem is very widespread. School and college girls and female garment workers top the list of victims. Eve teasing contributes to dropouts of girls from schools or early marriage.”

These are some of the issues I cover in my forthcoming street harassment book: how young women and poor women are the most vulnerable to street harassment — because they are in public alone more often and because street harassment is about power and they are generally less powerful than other women or men and thus easier “prey” — and that harassment can keep women from living free, authentic lives. There will be no gender equality anywhere in the world until this problem ends.

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Weekly Round Up Jan. 24, 2010

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Stories:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world.
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In the News:

Announcements:

  • Want an easy way to report harassers from your phone or want to receive a report showing all the places harassment has recently occurred? Then vote for HollaBack 2.0! This is a proposed project by HollaBack NYC and RightRides and they’re in the second round of a competition for funding to make this a reality.

Events:

Resource of the Week:

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