Archives for July 2011

Dog Calls: Barked at in a Sainsbury supermarket

July 13, 2011 By Contributor

I am no stranger to harassment but my latest harassment experience took place today when I was in Sainbury’s supermarket (Coventry). At about 3.30 p.m., I had stopped in the shampoo aisle to look at the products when a man suddenly barked at me from behind. When I say barked, I mean exactly like a dog. It was extremely loud and I instantly went into shock as I felt very threatened as he was very near to me. He was with a female accomplice and they both sniggered and looked back at me as they walked away.

I took a moment to compose myself then followed after them. The man had disappeared but the girl was standing alone in line at the self serve tills. I immediately spoke to one of the shop assistants and told her I needed to contact security because the ‘lady’ in the queue and her partner had just harassed me completey unprovoked and in a threatening way.

The assistant contacted the security guard and it appeared they were familiar with the man who had harassed me, apparently he was a well known nuisance. The most disappointing thing, and perhaps worse than the harassment itself, was that the Sainsbury’s staff barely acknowledged me after I reported the event and they certainly didn’t do anything about it. The security guard simply went back to his post by the door and wandered around in a trance and the shop assistant simply walked away.

Surely a duty manager should have been contacted to take a statement, or somebody should have stopped the girl who was right there, or maybe the security team should have been contacted to see if the man was still in the store so he could be stopped from harassing anyone else. And maybe at the bottom of the list, I should have been given an apology!

– Cordelia Reardon

Location: Sainsbury’s, 330 Fletchamstead Hwy, Coventry, CV4 9BJ

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.

Sri Lanka’s street harassment problem and the solutions

July 12, 2011 By HKearl

When more than 95 percent of women feel it’s unsafe to travel alone in public spaces in Colombo, Sri Lanka, it’s no surprise that one in four women report sexual harassment on public transportation in the country, according to a new report from the Transport Ministry.

Via the Daily Mirror:

“The Minister revealed that a large number of women are being subject to verbal and physical abuse in buses and trains each day. He said that this has contributed to the decline in the use of public transport by passengers in recent times.

The Minister said the issue needed to be addressed in order to ensure that women are afforded their basic rights and to ensure the public transport system does not spiral downwards.

‘Steps have already been taken to introduce new programs and workshops next month for both Private and SLTB bus drivers and conductors to better educate them on the importance of providing better services for women without being subject to harassment and abuse in buses,’ he said. Ministry sources said that such programs will also be introduced for railway services in the future.

Ministry sources said that if bus passengers are subject to harassment when using public transport they could make their complaints to 011 7555 555.”

It’s great that they are creating programs, workshops, and trainings to address the issue, as opposed to creating women-only transportation, as have governments in more than 15 countries. Guatemala is the most recent example.

Via Sunday Times, Students pledge their support to end street harassment

More good news is that organizations in Sri Lanka called Reach Out and Beyond Borders are currently running an anti-street harassment campaign called Join the Fight Against Harassment. They recently held a “Man Up” event to engage boys and men in ending street harassment.

Here’s more about their campaign from the Sunday Times:

“Apart from consulting victims, psychologists and NGO’s, Reach Out took to the street and gathered research in a more dynamic way. ‘Reach Out, together with Beyond Borders (a youth led NGO), carried out various disruptive theatre performances at public places where we enacted scenes of harassment spontaneously in order to identify the public reaction. We even spoke to people on the streets and school children.’…

Reach Out’s approach is to instill moral values in the younger generation. ‘The whole problem in contradiction to the fight against harassment is the attitude and mindset that, harassment cannot be stopped. This needs to change. Harassment can be stopped, we just need to work hard and join against it.'”

Absolutely.

Art project: Give street harassers your best Medusa Gaze

July 12, 2011 By HKearl

Are you tired of street harassment and do you have access to a video-recording device or a camera? Then how about participating in the Medusa Gaze Project?

How to participate:

“Send us your 15 to 20 seconds video file or jpg of your gaze, no text, no name, no photo manipulation, just your icy stare. For uniformity, standing like I am, cropped like in our tumblr pic. We will add the text ‘I will not be intimidated’ to it and add it to the projection loop. We will accept images & videos throughout the Summer 2011. We plan projections beginning this Fall (US and Europe) and will document them online. Also called for are your harassment stories, in writing or an audio clip.

Send images, audio, written texts and video files to: seekingkali(at)yahoo(dot)com“

What is the project?

“The Medusa Gaze Project is an art project conceived by Artist Collective Seeking Kali (William Evertson, Susan Shulman, Ria Vanden Eynde), to rage against public sexual harassment of women. Whether it be catcalling, obscene gestures, sexually explicit comments, cornering, following women. We want to protest against this kind of bullying by men of women in the public space.

Literally and figuratively unseen by bystanders, this kind of threatening behavior leaves women feeling insecure to walk the streets. Society, men AND women often perceive it as normal, a small annoyance , as a way of complimenting the women or they hold the women responsible as a kind of victim blaming.

Seeking Kali wants to artistically speak out against sexual harassment and raise awareness that it IS a problem. We created this project as a way to empower women and confront society with its responsability. We aim to do this by sharing stories and showing images/video of women expressing their reproval and their determination not to be intimidated. We want to claim the right for women to walk freely and safely on our city streets.”

I made my own Medusa Gaze Project contribution. If only I COULD turn street harassers to stone with it! What does yours look like?

“It silenced him for the moment”

July 11, 2011 By Contributor

I was leaving work Friday afternoon and walking past Union Station. We’ve all seen this kind of man before – you can spot him from a mile off. He was saying something to every single woman who passed him, obviously staring for a long time after they’d passed, then spotting the next mark. As I walked near him, his eyes left another woman’s body and started on mine, feet first and up. As his eyes met mine and he opened his mouth, I said, loudly, “STOP harassing women.” He looked truly perplexed, but it silenced him for the moment.

– Anonymous

Location: Union Station, 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.

Street Harassment Snapshot – July 10, 2011

July 10, 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:

Share your story! You can read new street harassment stories on the Web from the past week at:

Stop Street Harassment Blog

Street Harassment in the News, on the Blogs:

* The Sunday Times, “Manning up to street harassment“

* York Daily Record, “Stop the street harassment“

* Bitch Magazine, “Takin’ it to the Streets: So… Take it Already!”

* PBS Newshour, “Report: Female Journalists Facing More Risks, Intimidation Abroad“

* The Scarlet F, “Street (or parking spot) harassment“

* Care2, “What is the Future for Women in Afghanistan?“

* Autostraddle, “Hollaback! wants to help you help everyone“

* New York Observer, “Creeps Beware, Hollaback! is Here“

* The Times of India, “Sexual harassment will soon be a non-bailable offence in state“

* The Times of India, “Cops to maintain crime register“

Announcements:

New:

* Congratulations to Hollaback for reaching the fundraising goal for their new bystander campaign!

* On Thursday, young women in Kabul, Afghanistan, are leading a march against street harassment. This is the first open action ever taken against the widespread problem!

* Emily May gives an update on UN Women’s Safe Cities Programme after attending a conference in Cairo, Egypt

Reminders/On-Going:

* Sign Mend the Gap’s petition to address subway harassment in Delhi, India

* College students, enter the Hollaback essay contest, entries due August 1.

* 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:

1. MsApocalypse Though there’s nothing quite like a great night followed by bracing yourself for street harassment and watching your shadows closely.

2. mazzie @hkearl actually stunned a man into (probably brief) silence Friday outside Union Station by just saying “STOP harassing women.”

3. hana_elhattab I DEMAND that when i go to #Tahrir, i be treated with respect. And not get asked what color my bra is, and that white is preferable to black

4. _RedLover Finally, a movement fighting back against street harassment. Hollaback rally today @530 on 116 & lex nyc.ihollaback.org

5. cslaughter Men who understand why it’s not cool to scream at women from cars: please talk to your asshole brethren about why this shit ain’t funny.

6. thetrudz Notice how a man who engages in street harassment who demands a woman smile is NOT smiling with his lips or eyes.

7. CLButler76 Guy on the High Street today leers at me and yells ‘Hey redhead, oi redhead’. Made me feel v. uncomfortable. Grrr. #streetharassment

8. ohginayoung wow, yup. street harassment STILL makes me angry

9. iHollaback Around the world, data is showing young men harass in groups & older men harass alone. #unwomen #streetharassment

10. OneStudentOrg Weekly Word Up http://t.co/behUdYg tackling street harassment.

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