Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for March 2011

SAFER’s Sexual Assault ACTIVISM Month Initiative

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For 10 years, advocates across the country have spoken out against rape during Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). Today, Stop Street Harassment’s ally Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) is challenging campus communities to recognize this SAAM as Sexual Assault ACTIVISM Month and pledge to change how their campus prevents and responds to sexual violence.

From SAFER:

“During Sexual Assault Activism Month 2011, SAFER encourages students, alumni, parents, faculty, and administrators to transform their awareness into activism by pledging concrete action toward ending college sexual assault.

Participants will commit to at least one of the actions listed on our pledge page, which include: joining a national movement to hold schools accountable by participating in V-DAY and SAFER’s Campus Accountability Project; building that movement by submitting definitions of accountability via video or visual media to SAFER’s Tumblr; starting or strengthening a campus sexual assault policy reform campaign; telling SAFER about the movements that they were or currently are part of; and spreading the word to other student organizers, alums, and allies…

Young people have a right to a safe college campus that is free of sexual violence.  Join SAFER in moving from awareness to action by holding colleges and universities across the country accountable during Sexual Assault Activism Month 2011!

Excellent.

I’ll write a more thorough post for Friday about sexual assault awareness/activism month, but in the meantime, you can check out ideas for what you can do – whether you’re on or off campus – about campus sexual assault through the AAUW-SAFER Program in a Box on the topic that I helped write last year.

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When the police and an establishment where harassment happens don’t do anything

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First I am a witness to these unfortunate events. I guess i was lucky in not being touched.

There was an event at an art gallery. Girls were telling us this man was inappropriately touching them. We go to confront him and he starts yelling at my friend… We start to leave his room and he starts rubbing a volunteer’s back in front of me. I ask him to stop and he comes up to me like he’s gonna hug me and i hold a back pack in between us. He gets mad and slams the door.

Within the hour we hear about him shoving a girl and that he touched and kissed a 16 year old girl. The man locks himself in his gallery. We go to one of the other gallery owners for help and in turn he tells us this is not the first time this man has done this. They wanted to keep it quiet because they didn’t want people to think badly of the building. If we had known before hand we would have never held our event there.

We called the police, she gives her report. What i hear back from a volunteer is that since it wasn’t rape or murder the police won’t do anything. They do make the effort to come downstairs and knock on his gallery door. He doesn’t answer they leave. Using hi-light someone hung up a “Child Molester” sign on his gallery.

After the event, the arts guild we worked with are only worried about their galleries and not getting into trouble. They want the “Incident” kept quiet. Some stand by this man because he’s there friend and blame his alcoholism, the police are annoyed because some girls took too long to report. They didn’t know what to do. Neither did we.

That building is supposed to host a local High School Arts program and that man that went around grabbing girls will be working with them. i don’t know what to do anymore.

– Santa Ana Artists Village you’re on “CHECK”

Location: 207 n Broadway, Santa Ana, California 92701

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“Don’t let these perverts get you down!”

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I live in NYC and get harassed pretty much every day. Yesterday I was in Union Square and this old man walked up to me and said, “Nice tits baby.” I ignored him and he proceeded to follow me from behind for two blocks saying things that I won’t even post here. I turned around and said, “Wtf is wrong with you?”

He took a left turn like one second later!

I’m 25 and have grown up here. I remember the first time I was harassed I was 12 and the guy was an old man too. At this point I am fed up and wish I could hit them with a baseball bat!

I recently found this site and I am proud of everyone for sharing their stories! Don’t let these perverts get you down!

– Alex

Location: Union Square, New York City

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“I’ll thank that restaurant doorman if I ever see him again, but he shouldn’t have had to save me”

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I was meant to be meeting a friend for an open mic night in aid of Earth Hour, at a university hall of residence about fifteen minutes away from my house. Getting there involves walking about ten minutes down a long, straight road (residential, with branches off it) to the next main road (a busy shopping/restaurant district) and getting a bus. It’s not the safest part of the city, but I had never before encountered any harassment along this stretch, nor seen it happen to others.

I left my house and joined the long road and was walking behind a couple. Soon I heard the footsteps of someone behind me and I instinctively started to walk closer to the couple. I looked quickly behind me and saw a man in a tracksuit, but wasn’t too panicked at this stage.

Unfortunately for me, the couple turned off at the next street and that’s when the man started calling out to me. At first I thought he was talking on the phone, but then I heard it clearer: “Hey sexy…sexy lady…” he kept calling out louder and was eventually just saying “sexy” over and over again. I tried to walk as quickly as I could without looking like I was running.

As I didn’t reply to him, he first started getting annoyed, saying things like, “What way is that to treat someone?” then, “That’s cheeky, that is, proper cheeky”, and then when I still refused to acknowledge that he was there, he started getting angry.

I didn’t pass a single other person until I got to very near the main road, but luckily managed to put a few people between us.

I was right next to my bus stop, but I couldn’t stop as I knew he would harass me further if he caught up with me, so I kept walking down the main road. This stretch is notorious for restaurant doormen trying to tempt you into their establishment, but luckily one of them took pity on me and let me past, whilst stopping my harasser (who was still following me) long enough for me to slip into the nearest shop. The man got frustrated that he had lost sight of me and sloped back off into the night, I had a lucky escape but I’ve never felt so dirty or abused in my life, and I dread to think of any other women he went on to bother that night.

I’ll thank that restaurant doorman if I ever see him again, but he shouldn’t have had to save me. Street harassers are filthy criminals and nothing more.

– Anonymous

Location: Manchester, United Kingdom

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“This was the first time I felt in a position where I could do something”

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I’m a man, I have never been harassed so I don’t know how degrading it feels but I do know it is awful to watch. I have been brought up by a very feminist Mother and a Father who treated me to stand up for others. I saw a young girl in a club who was being chatted up by a guy who was obviously drunk and much older by at least ten years but it progresses to being rather sexually aggressive as she turned him down. He started to grope and pinch as she walked away pulling her back and so on. It was embarrassing to watch and made me feel sick with anger, this was the first time I felt in a position where I could do something, I walked over and said, ‘Thats enough.’

He seemed startled but instantly his attention switched away from the girl, which was fortunate. Unfortunately his attention turned to me. I am not big or strong and I received a good beating. But I have never felt better about myself and would do it again if I saw it.

– C W-M

Location: Southend Night Club.

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