Archives for March 2011

“If you ever walk alone to your car without thinking someone might attack you, this isn’t your day.”

March 8, 2011 By HKearl

International Women’s Day (the 100th anniversary, no less) is a bonanza for events, articles, and activities on women’s rights! I love it. What a day and it’s not even 10 a.m.

At 7 a.m. today, it was chilly with a beautiful clear sky when I joined three of my AAUW coworkers and a dozen other early-risers to participate in the Washington, DC, contingency of Women for Women International‘s Meet Me on the Bridge event. While we enjoyed bagels and coffee, we gathered at the base of the Lincoln Memorial to talk about women’s rights. Then we dodged bicyclist commuters to cross the Arlington Memorial Bridge. It was inspiring to be gathered so early and to know we were part of thousands of people all over the world crossing bridges to commemorate women’s rights.

Now that I’m online, my Facebook and Twitter feeds are flooded with International Women’s Day events, articles, and campaigns. It’s fantastic! Here are a few that stood out to me:

In Egypt, activists are organizing a Million Woman March in Cairo. Input from women on the drafting of Egypt’s constitution is a key demand, as is their call for legislative changes that will guarantee complete gender equality, including an end to street harassment and assault (I wish I were there for it!).
Via CNN.com
One of Stop Street Harassment’s partners, The Pixel Project, just launched The Celebrity Male Role Model Pixel Reveal campaign. It’s is an innovative fundraising initiative that will raise US$1 million for Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) Malaysia & USA’s National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV).
Today is Feminist Coming Out Day! This project arose out of a frustration with the limited portrayal of the feminist movement as straight, White, and cisgendered when feminists are actually very diverse. So, show you’re a feminist with a “This Is What A Feminist Looks Like” sticker, photo of yourself in the t-shirt, and write a feminist manifesto to an online Feminist Portrait Project. Find this initiative on Facebook.
HollaBack! is commemorating the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day by collecting 100 street harassment stories.
The Guardian put together an interactive online program where you can hear from women in 15 countries about the changes they’ve witnessed and help to bring about in their countries.

And here are a few of my favorite tweets!

disasterous007 If you ever walk alone to your car without thinking someone might attack you, this isn’t your day. #internationalwomensday
The_WhiteWitch I may be an evil tyrant, but I still earn 16% less than Lord Voldemort or Darth Vader. #internationalwomensday
Textposts To all the women who stood up & fought for freedom, today we salute you for your bravery and courage of conviction. #internationalwomensday
mountain_goats Because the struggle for equality is everybody’s struggle! #internationalwomensday
eireaine “Men of quality are not threatened by women of equality” – Thomas Jefferson #internationalwomensday
EU_Commission #iwd speech by @VivianeRedingEU “Gender is a business issue, not purely a “women’s” issue. Women mean business!” http://bit.ly/gxLsG3

What are you doing for International Women’s Day?

100 street harassers arrested in Kolkata

March 7, 2011 By HKearl

Plainclothes police officers arrested 100, that’s right, 100, street harassers in Kolkata, India, during a two day time period in late February. All 100 men were caught making lewd comments to women in public places.

Via The Times of India:

“While they were booked under relatively minor sections and are out on bail, police believe this would be a jolt enough to reign in molesters on the prowl.

Fifty-year-old Sadhan Ghosh (name changed), an employee of a private firm at Dalhousie, was waiting near a cinema at Esplanade on Friday afternoon. A woman in her mid-thirties was standing a few yards away from Ghosh, leaning on a pillar. Ghosh, who was waiting for his friend, allegedly made some lewd gestures at her, trying to grab her attention.

Unknown to Ghosh, the woman was actually a constable of Kolkata Police’s detective department. Soon, following a signal made by her, an officer grabbed Ghosh and took him to the local police station. Even before he could realize it, Ghosh was booked for disorderly conduct.

Like Ghosh, several middle-aged men were caught by the cops in plainclothes for disturbing women on city roads….

Police sources confirmed that more than 20 teams of police in plainclothes have been stationed at Esplanade, Metro stations, Victoria Memorial, Alipore Zoo and in front of some marketplaces and shopping hubs in south Kolkata.”

I wonder if the mass arrests will work? Will there be fewer harassers (at least for a time)?

What a commotion it would cause if police arrested 100 street harassers in a city in the United States!

Street harassment snapshot: March 6, 2011

March 6, 2011 By HKearl

Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past week and find relevant announcements and upcoming street harassment events.

Street Harassment Stories:

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

You can read new street harassment stories on the Web from the past week at:

Street Harassment in the News, on the Blogs:

Yahoo News, “Women rally against “Eve teasing” in S. Asia“
The WIP, “New Egypt Inherits Old Egypt’s Sexual Violence“
The National, “Lara Logan awareness rally met with anger“
Model Minority, “Kill Me or Leave Me Alone: Street Harassment as a Public Health Issue“
Feministe, “Westboro Baptist Church protests are protected speech“
The Times of India, “Youth held for eve-teasing“
Guardian, “Sister act: Women take on street harassers“
New York Times, “Keeping Women Safe Through Social Networking“
AAUW Dialog, “Participate in International Anti-Street Harassment Day!“
The Times of India, “Two eve-teasers arrested“
BG Views, “Sexual harassment remains an issue for women“
American Public Media, “Social networking to stop street harassment of women“
Jezebel, “What’s Your Worst On-The-Road Harassment Story?“
Echidne, “I’d Like To Get Into Your Panties“
Feisty Femmes, “Smile, Sexy Mama“

Events:

March 7: Hollaback Alberta presentation on #streetharassment during GENDER EQUALITY WEEK at the University of Alberta, 6 p.m. (Rm ED 170)
March 8: STARS Speaks: Featuring Hollaback!, MU Women’s Center, G108 MU Student Center, 4:30 p.m.
March 10: Town Hall & Community Forum on Mass Transit, NYC, 6 p.m.
March 20: International Anti-Street Harassment Day – happening all over the world!

International Anti-Street Harassment Day:

It’s only two weeks away! Participate in the first annual International Anti-Street Harassment Day on March 20!!!

Watch the YouTube video announcing the day
RSVP on the FaceBook Event page
Find out what others are doing in your area and list your plans
Download graphics in six languages

Announcements:

New:

HollaBack DC! is commemorating Public Transit Awareness Month this March. Here’s a breakdown of the stories they’ve received this past year relating to harassment on public transportation.
Writers and bloggers – want to do a book review of the new book Hey Shorty: A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence in Schools and on the Streets? Here’s a one-pager

On-going:

Participate in a new study for Dr. Kimberly Fairchild
Have an encounter with gender-based violence on NYC mass transit to share? http://tinyurl.com/transitstory (via RightRides)
If you live in Washington, DC, take a street harassment survey for HollaBack DC!
Are you in Egypt? Use HarassMap to report your street harassers
Have an iPhone? Download the Hollaback iPhone app that lets you report street harassers

10 Tweets from the Week:

ashleyrebeccah #streetharassment in london can be bad- being catcalled, groped on public transport, men exposing themselves- they def needed a hollaback!
HollaBackBmore It’s not a compliment when she’s walking home at 3am and yr in an SUV. It’s threatening. #streetharassment http://is.gd/3qAOL9
RightRides #worldbookday Might we suggest Hey Shorty!: A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment in Schools & the Streets, and also Stop Street Harassment
kirbybits Nothing like street harassment to start/ruin a day. #heybiggirl #comesitthatassdownonmydick
irincarmon Making my liberal arts education/film theory class pay by illustrating street harassment post with a still from L’Avventura. #thesystemworks
littlemisskelli Him: “Mmm MMM!” Me: *walks by quickly* Him: “Fucking bitch!” YAY STREET HARASSMENT!
hollabackatl If you were going to make a rally sign to kick #streetharassment in the ass, what would it say? C’mon, don’t be shy.
andreagrimes Walking to the pizza shop today W/ MY BOYF, a dude rolled by slow in a pickup & wiggled his tongue at me #streetharassment #hollaback #gross
JessicaForeign #Trainharassment: I may have nowhere to go but I do have a voice. I am not a willing participant or audience to your #streetharassment.
huny this. RT @MoreAndAgain: @huny Rejection issues are one of the MAIN problems with street harassment, in my experience.

Stopping a harasser at an International Women’s Day event

March 6, 2011 By Contributor

Today, my partner and I attended the Join Me On the Bridge event in DC (hosted by Women for Women International to mark International Women’s Day — I was there representing the women’s organization I work for) when a guy came up to our group harassing some of the women. My partner was the only man there until this other guy came along. I gave him the benefit of a doubt and thought maybe he was a male ally, too.

Wrong.

He went up to some of the women and was talking to them, then told the organizer of the event that she was “hot” while she was trying to explain what the event was about, etc. Then he went back to a couple of the women who were sitting down, and started to feel up one of their legs! She looked very uncomfortable and pulled her leg away from him. So, I ran over, and yelled, “Hey!”

He turned towards me, and I said, “Look, this is supposed to be a safe place for women. You need to stop harassing people.”

In his colorful language he told me he wasn’t harassing anyone because he didn’t have a weapon and his “dick [was] behind a zipper, behind a zipper.” And then he started to unzip his coveralls!

I told him that he was clearly harassing people, and that he shouldn’t be touching anyone, especially when it is obviously unwanted. He said fine and that he’d just leave. And he did, but not before telling a couple women that they were hot as he walked away.

My partner didn’t see what was happening at first, but when he heard me raise my voice he ran over to check if I was okay. He was incredibly bothered by what happened and gets upset whenever I’m street harassed.

I told him what happened and vented my frustration that a group of women (and men) can’t even gather together for a peaceful event honoring women across the globe without someone getting harassed.

I’m always scared when I speak out against harassing behavior because you never know when someone is going to be violent. My partner and I have seen a guy pull a knife on a bus before, so we both feel that it’s a real potential threat.

But I did feel a small victory today — and not just by stopping street harassment. I got to meet some other cool women’s rights advocates. It’s just a shame they had to experience that today.

– Katie B.

Location: Duke Ellington Bridge in Washington, DC

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.

Nonconfrontational intervention to stop eve-teasing in Delhi

March 4, 2011 By Contributor

It was the start of 3^rd semester when I, with one of my friends, went to Nai Sadak to buy some of our course books. For those who don’t know, Nai Sadak is a well known and famous place in Delhi, India. You can find all course books there. While returning back to Chandni Chowk Metro Station we took a short cut. The short cut was quite remote, which we realized later.

We took a right turn and 5-6 meters ahead of us was walking a girl, constantly being followed by 2 local boys who were passing lewd remarks on her. Unaware of us, time to time they were making comment steep on the chart of lewdness. She was holding a poly-bag in her right hand and a bag was on her shoulder, seems she too was there to shop for books.

While walking by something shot into my solitude. This is eve-teasing, right? I questioned myself. I’ve read about it but never faced any situation quite like this.

“How should I stop it?” was the next question.

I told it to my friend, he too was concern. We cannot fight them like this. We needed to figure out something diplomatic. And that was the time when an idea struck into my mind.

We hurriedly went to the girl, passing by the boys, and started walking by her sides. At first she didn’t notice, perhaps because she was busy in figuring out how to get out of the mess she was in. Soon she noticed the halt in lewd remarks and two fellows walking along her sides and joking on their school life. The boys following her were still following us. I think it was instincts more than understanding that the girl realized that we were there just to help.

I passed a smile to her and she returned it back. Within no time we reached Metro Station. Not saying much she thanked us for our help. We parted our ways. She went off to catch a bus while we took the Metro.

This was the first time I ever took such a step and perhaps the first time I ever saw eve-teasing and dared to intervene before it could turn ugly.

India is a country of freedom but freedom is at times taken in a sense of “Free-To-Do-Anything”.

– Prateek Bagri

Location: Delhi, India

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.

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