Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for September 2010

Leerer at the Doctor’s office

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While waiting in line today to check in at my doctor’s appointment on the first floor of a clinic, I stood to the left of my husband.

In front of me, while in public (with people around sitting in waiting chairs), in the daytime, waiting in line to check in was a 40 or 50 year old white tall skinny guy with nasty dark eyes and a big bald spot on the back of his head. He was looking around casually, but when he saw with the corner of his eye that I was behind him, the bastard turned his body so he was no longer giving me his full back. He then eyed me and wouldn’t stop staring at me. I saw that he demeaned me with his eyes as he looked too low below my chin.

Being an athletic girl, I brought my knuckles out and cracked them loudly. I looked at him in the eye, and then I elbowed my husband to pay attention. It’s so pathetic, I almost always have to tell my husband when something is up. I always notice before him. It doesn’t help the problem. I actually had to whisper in my husband’s ear to notify him of the problem occurring in front of him.

The asshole kept on staring at me in a disrespectful manner basically until he was called in to check in….and EVEN THEN he kept on staring, the bastard….WTF…I was wearing baggy gym pants and a sleeveless shirt with straps but that shouldn’t matter

– FI0008

Location: Champaign, IL

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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Weekly Round Up: September 4, 2010

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Story Submissions Recap:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story!

In the News, On the Blogs:

Events:

Announcements:

10 Tweets from the Week:

  • hjoy27 I would love to know when a catcall in the street has illicited a legitimate response from anyone, EVER. Other than “f*ck you”. just sayin
  • watchmewalk I’m walking down the street and this lame says “can I harass you?” Was that supposed to be witty?
  • TasashaH @yesmagazine #SayYesSat to learning about street harassment,how to raise awareness of it and strategies to end it #stopstreetharassment
  • RahsaanKhalid Deep! “@mencanstoprape: Male privilege is main reason behind street harassment. Some men feel it’s their right to “compliment” a woman”
  • tigistselam There is no other place in the city where street harassment is *that* prevalent #Harlem.
  • harassmap: Harassmap in the news, we are coming very soon! http://bit.ly/aBlod4 #Egypt #sexualharassment
  • THEMissSharma So much harassment on my lunch break just walkin down the street downtown. I’m gettin a taser n I’m gonna start tasin. Lol
  • JaRonEdwards I just seen 5 police harass a teenage girl walking down the street. So I stopped and I aint leaving. #Fuckpoliceharrassmet
  • MC1RK Why is it that the grosser i look the more dudes feel entitled to catcall/chat me up?what about dirty hair&ratty shorts says TAKE ME NOW?gah
  • AAUW: Every man knows someone who has been harassed. Don’t minimize issue, support the women in your lives. #SSHMNT
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Mauritius addresses sexual harassment on public transportation

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Last year, Amnesty International sponsored a country-wide anti-street harassment campaign in Mauritius, following the first-ever anti-street harassment report for that country by Alyssa Fine.

Street harassment is widespread in Mauritius, including on public transportation, yet women rarely report it because they feel shamed. Yesterday, the Mauritian Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare Minister, Ms. Sheilabai Bappoo, released a booklet titled “Breaking the Silence on Sexual Harassment in Public Transport,” to encourage women to speak out and for people to help women who are most vulnerable to this violence (such as young or poor women who must take public transportation).

She also is calling on non-governmental organizations, the civil society and community-based organizations to come together and denounce sexual harassment.

I think this is a better way to address the problem than to separate men from women on buses and subway cars (like they do in Indonesia, India, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico).

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Race and street harassment in North London

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I read this blog regularly and I often notice posts in which a black woman has experienced harassment by black males and that there is a power dynamic of some sort at work there which they can see very clearly. After walking home today, I wondered what white women’s experiences are of this and if/how/why they differ: I have a 5-minute walk home in London from my tube station, through generally quiet suburban streets. It’s very much a multicultural area but I find myself experiencing a disproportionate amount of harassment from young black men.

Today, walking home, I see a guy walking towards me on the same side of the street and I can tell, even before I get near him, that he’s going to say/do something. Right on cue, he moves right over to my side of the pavement [sidewalk], taking up all the space so I can’t get past. I’ve had a good day until this point and am so annoyed I shove into his arm with my bag to get past. He doesn’t do anything, just keep walking, not even that shocked – maybe it happens all the time. Then, turn onto the next street and there’s another guy walking towards me, giving me that same attitude with eyes up and down my body, leering, swaggering. I don’t need this on my 5 minute walk home.

Both these guys were black and I would guess in their late 20s to early 30s, and both had the same attitude towards me which I’ve encountered countless times in London. I don’t know – I’m willing to accept the suggestion that it’s a coincidence. Maybe I ‘project’ something that makes me a likelier target for harassment? And maybe this is exactly what they do to anyone, regardless of race, and it feels ‘racially-oriented’ whether you’re black/white etc. It just feels – call it feminine intuition or whatever you will – that this is a specific, somehow different, attitude to me as a white woman.

I don’t like saying that. It feels like I can’t say that I experience this because it’s me being ‘discriminatory’ in some way. It really feels like this is a taboo subject but it seems to happen so often to me that I am, in some awful way, starting to distrust young black men generally, which is horrible. Has anyone else felt this? Maybe it’s just an attitude that comes from a small group of young guys, influenced by whatever, who are more visible in their harassment because it is so aggressive? I don’t know – I just feel frustrated that I’m not enjoying living where I live because of these incidents….

– Anonymous

Location: North London

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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