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Archives for October 2010

Weekly Round Up: October 31, 2010

October 31, 2010 By HKearl

Story Submissions Recap:

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

  • Stop Street Harassment Blog: 4 new stories from women in Washington, DC; Vancouver; Connecticut; and Spain.
  • HollaBack DC!: 3 new stories
  • HollaBack NYC: 20 new stories
  • HollaBack Toronto: 1 new story

In the News, On the Blogs:

  • BBC, “Italian seaside town planning miniskirt ban“e
  • Associated Press, “Lawmakers probe street harassment of NYC women” – this story was picked up by over 200 media outlets, including: Washington Post, MSNBC, Fox News, Boston Globe, Yahoo News, AOL News, Huffington Post, KSRO News Talk, Canadian Press, Arizona Daily Sun,
  • CBS News, “NYC Women Demand ‘Harassment-Free Zones‘”
  • Ms. Blog, “‘Whose Streets?’ Asks New York City Council“
  • New York Post, “Women tell City Council of catcall horrors“
  • Jezebel, “Can A City Effectively Ban Catcalls?“
  • Change.org, “Street harassment and the importance of history“
  • Salon, “Legislating against catcalls“
  • Gothamist, “Street Harassment Finally Gets City Council’s Attention“
  • Metro, “City talks back to ‘harassers‘”
  • Jerusalem Post, “Taboo and rape in Egypt“
  • Mercury News, “High-tech answer to harassment on Egypt’s streets“
  • Switched, “Harassmap Lets Egyptian Women Report Sexual Harassment via Text, Twitter“
  • NY Daily News, “City Council hears plea to curb catcalls; women say it’s an ‘issue of safety‘”
  • Salon, “Mapping Egyptian Street Harassment“
  • Tampa Bay, “The skinny: Women hit back against street harassment“
  • Aha Life, “Hollaback“
  • Pink Scare, “Should we legislate against cat-calling: I say yes“
  • The Media Line, “Cairo’s Women Use Web to Pinpoint Harassment“
  • AAUW Dialog, “New York City Fights Street Harassment“
  • The New Agenda, “Hearing on street harassment of women and girls in New York City“
  • Foreign Policy, “What Next?“
  • Good Men Project, “No More Catcalls?“

Announcements:

  • The NYC Council held the first-ever hearing on street harassment. The 15 testimonies were amazing and the press coverage was extensive (see some of it above). Let’s see what the outcome will be!
  • Check out Cairo’s HarassMap!!
  • HollaBack Alberta and HollaBack Israel are getting ready to launch websites and in the meantime, follow them on twitter (HollaBackAlberta, Hollaback_il)
  • Is the book Stop Street Harassment at your library? If not, request it! You can also buy it online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

10 Tweets from the Week:

  • CatCall Wow I just got catcalled while doing a photoshoot & interview about catcalls for NY Post! Let me say it again: wow!
  • TheSliverParty #ThingsMenShouldStopDoing Street harassment. #fem2
  • sistertoldja Any prop aids #streetharassment. Eating? “Can I hve some?” Walking w a cane? “Let me take care of u”
  • sarahbibi I just balled through 3 testimonies at the city council hearing to end street harassment towards NYC women. These are some amazing ladies.
  • thekateblack NYC City Council Meetng on #streetharassment was spectacular. Lots of good ideas. I’d love 2 see more training 4 NYPD
  • feministteacher My student just delivered powerful testimony on personal exp w/street harassment for a NYC hearing; thanks @iHollaback for the opportunity.
  • JessSolomon: the middle school girls I teach talked about #streetharassment with @hollabackdc. It was eye opening.
  • lenachen Please do not creep up to pedestrians at intersections and whisper about their outfits in their ear.
  • reasoner22 Yes! “Legislating against cat-calls http://shar.es/0OG61 — this is so long overdue and needed!!! #streetharassment“
  • caracourchesne in the soc sec office getting new card, got told i was beautiful, then an “ungrateful bitch” for lack of response #streetharassment
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Filed Under: hollaback, News stories, Stories, street harassment, weekly round up Tagged With: sexual harassment, street harassment

Street harassment survey for Toronto Org

October 29, 2010 By HKearl

HollaBack is partnering with a group called METRAC to do a survey on street harassment.  They are hoping to use the results to build an iPhone app in their hometown of Toronto, Canada.

Please take the survey! Thanks

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Filed Under: street harassment Tagged With: METRAC, sexual harassment, street harassment

NYC Street Harassment Hearing is a Success!

October 28, 2010 By HKearl

Today I had the honor of testifying with 17 other women and men at a city council hearing about the problem of street harassment in New York City. Those who testified included representatives of groups like HollaBack, Girls for Gender Equity, RightRides, NYC-NOW, and Center for Anti-Violence Education, journalist Elizabeth Mendez Berry, the amazing 14-year-old performer/singer The Astronomical Kid, and many community members (including my mother). Every single testimony was powerful, heartfelt, and important.

Each person had about 5 minutes to speak, and I was asked to talk about the global problem and offer policy suggestions. I’m working to collect the testimonies of everyone who spoke to post here so people who couldn’t attend can read them. The official testimonies won’t be available for weeks. To start, here is my testimony and here is the testimony of high school student Grace.

[Update: View or read 10 testimonies from the hearing on my Stop Street Harassment website page for the hearing]

I was able to record all or part of several testimonies and I uploaded them to the Stop Street Harassment YouTube Channel:

Watch testimonies from the hearing

This is historic because it is the first time a major U.S. city has held a hearing on this topic and NYC is one of the largest and most influential cities in the world!!

Julissa Ferreras chaired the meeting and she truly understood and heard us on this issue, as did the other council members. I am grateful to her for organizing the hearing. By the end, she said they would like to pursue the first city-wide study of street harassment and launch an awareness campaign. This is huge. This is social change.

Here’s the HollaBack recap.

Many members of the press were in attendance, including someone from the AP. AP journalist Sara Kugler Frazier wrote an article and already the following media outlets have picked up the story: Washington Post, MSNBC, Boston Globe, NY Post, Salon, Yahoo, Huffington Post, Canadian Press, AJC, USA News, and Kansas City Star. The NY Metro, AM New York, the NYC CBS News, TampaBay.com,  Fox News, and Gothamist also wrote stories. I spoke with a blogger for Ms. so I know it will be covered there, too.

This is amazing coverage for this important issue. I hope every city takes notice and considers holding their own street harassment hearing and working on community solutions for making their city safer and more welcoming for women!

Fox News NYC City Council Street Harassment Hearing Clip
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Filed Under: Events, News stories Tagged With: catcalls, emily may, hollaback, holly kearl, NYC Council hearing on street harassment, stop street harassment, street harassment hearing

DC could learn something from Madrid

October 27, 2010 By Contributor

Some good new to share for a change:

I’ve lived in DC for the past 4 years, and have posted here many times about what horrifying, vulgar and threatening street harassment I’ve encountered in our nation’s capitol. At the end of August I posted about my experience being attacked and sexually violated by a man in Columbia Heights.

The experience, especially after 4 years of extreme harassment, left me feeling exhausted and terribly vulnerable. I had just been accepted into a program where I’d be teaching English in Madrid, Spain for 3 months, and I felt terrified at the idea of going to a foreign country as a female alone after everything I’d experienced in DC.

Well, I’ve been here in Madrid for exactly one month now, and I’m happy to report that I haven’t had ONE SINGLE PROBLEM since arriving in Spain. I walk all over town every single day, and I’ve yet to hear a harassing word or sound uttered at me, nor have I received a single leering look! If the men here are admiring me, they are being utterly respectful and classy about it. I feel remarkably safe, and have even had a few men that I’ve met through meetup groups offer to walk me to the metro if it’s late at the end of the night, just to ensure that I am safe.

I can’t express how relieved I feel. The idea of returning to the exhausting world of DC street harassment upon my completion of this program is off-putting indeed.

I just thought it deserved noting that in Madrid, Spain, then men are actually NOT behaving like depraved animals toward lone women on the streets. DC could learn a little something from this city, and from this culture.

– B.

Location: Madrid, Spain

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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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment Tagged With: Madrid Spain, sexual harassment, street harassment, Washington DC

“I should really have a talk with my sixty-three-year-old mother about her slutty boots”

October 27, 2010 By HKearl

I’m in graduate school and am 30 years old. I wore the knee-high, black sweet boots with a chunky heel (my mother’s) to school last week with a sundress and black suit jacket over it. As I was walking home, the following exchange occurred:

Man working on the street: “[KISS NOISE] Hello!”

Me: “Did you just make a kiss noise at me?”

Man: “No.”

Me: “OK. Good. Just checking.”

And I walked on by, not missing a beat. For the first time.

Was it the boots? I should really have a talk with my sixty-three-year-old mother about her slutty boots that communicate a desire for sexual advances from strangers (as if that would grant permission). I should have a talking-to with that suit jacket, too.

– Rachel

Location: New Haven, CT

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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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment Tagged With: street harassment

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