New features for 2011

Happy New Year! I hope it’s been harassment-free for you. It has been for me so far (but that’s not saying much since up until today I’ve been at my house, sick).

I wanted to let you all know about a few things I’m working on in 2011 (with more info to come on other projects).

Male Allies Blog Series: First, I am really excited to launch a new Male Allies series on my blog next Wednesday. I know this blog largely has women’s voices (as it should) and has a predominantly female following and I also know that street harassment and its social acceptability will not end if we are only talking amongst ourselves. So I’m bringing more male voices front and center and hope they can also help bring in new male readers. I’m excited by the diversity of men who have signed up and also proud that my dad, a fabulous male ally, will kick off the series with a post next week.

I have male allies scheduled for this weekly series through mid-March. Please let me know if you’d be interested in signing up to write an approximately 500 word blog post sometime after that and I can send you the relevant information.

Website Redesign & Logo: I have calls with two different amazing web developers that work with social justice organizations and activists later this week. We will discuss a new logo for Stop Street Harassment and a new website layout for www.stopstreetharassment.com that would be easier to navigate and would incorporate the blog so they will no longer be two separate URLs. I’m self-financing this so I may have to do it in stages or scale back on some of my great ideas for now. One idea I want to pursue later on is to have the site offered in several languages! I won’t post all of my plans for the redesign since I don’t know how feasible all of them are yet, but I do want to see if you all have any suggestions you think really ought to be included? Let me know in the comments. And if I can afford it, I will do it.

Book Talks: I had a month off from book-related traveling in December (much needed) but I’m off again next week to speak in California and the Chicago area on February 1. I have several more speaking engagements lined up for the spring. I hope you can attend any that are near you. If you’re in the position to host events and are interested in having me come speak, please look over my speaking page and get in touch with me.

That’s all for now.

I hope you have had time to check out the amazing successes in the anti-street harassment movement from 2010 and please keep your stories coming. They are making a difference by raising awareness about this problem and providing hope and suggestions for other readers.