Archives for November 2011

Sexual Harassment in Tahrir: “Let’s keep the square safe for the women of the revolution”

November 26, 2011 By HKearl

Street harassment and sexual assault are in full force at Tahrir Square in Egypt as tens of thousands of Egyptians rally and call for military rule to end before parliamentary elections are held. Here is a disturbing account of it, via Storyful.

“An increasing number of women have become victims of sexual harassment and assault at protests in Egypt over recent weeks. While some claim the attacks have been organised by the military and police to intimidate female protesters, others blame it on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. International female reporters have also been among those targeted, with French correspondent Caroline Sinz assaulted for 45 minutes in Tahrir Square by youths on November 24. One website has started mapping reports of sexual harassment around Cairo and is calling for women to step forward and tell their story.

The events of recent days, in which both activist and journalist Mona El-Tahawy and Sinz were sexually assaulted, have prompted women to speak out about endemic sexual harassment in Egypt….

On Thursday Sinz and her cameraman were reportedly mobbed by youths, as they walked down Mohammed Mahmoud street. They were dragged to Tahrir Square, where they were separated, and she was assaulted. Afterwards Sinz recalled: “Some people tried to help me but failed. I was lynched. It lasted three quarters of an hour before I was taken out. I thought I was going to die.”…

The feminist activist, journalist and blogger El-Tahawy claimed she was beaten and sexually assaulted by police officers on Thursday, after she was arrested on Tahrir Square. After her release she tweeted details of her assault on Twitter: @monaeltahawy 5 or 6 surrounded me, groped and prodded my breasts, grabbed my genital area and I lost count how many hands tried to get into my trousers.”

If you’re in Tahrir, this is for you:

@sallyzohney All females in #tahrir, pls share with me ANY harassment or assault, I am doing a report on this! very important!!

No matter where you are, here is an important article by @Rouelshimi about the current state of street harassment/sexual harassment in Tahrir Square and why this is NOT okay. An excerpt:

“In Egypt, sexual harassment has been an issue for quite sometime. Women can’t walk down the street without being harassed whether verbally, physically or just by inappropriate looks….

So yes it has been a problem. Today though, was out of the ordinary; even for a huge Friday protest. More than one girl I’ve spoken to personally today has had horrible (and multiple) sexual harassment experiences. Not to mention the amount of complaints on twitter just from today. Personally, I had a very negative experience with harassment today with much groping and verbal abuse.

So this got me thinking; why today? The square is different this time around. There is much more tension in the air. Sadness over the lost and injured. Giving food and supplies became more of a business; even if there is still a big dependence on donations and sharing. Anger from SCAF’s brutality. All of this with hope and faith in a bright future.

So why today? Today, there was also a pro-scaf rally in Abbasiya square reported at about 15,000 people participating. There was also a ceasefire with the police, after the army built a concrete wall (oh the irony!) between the protesters and the police following 5 days of fighting and breaking of ceasefires from both sides. Today was also the day that had the most sexual harassment. It got so far that Media rights group Reporters Without Borders advised media outlets to stop sending female reporters to Tahrir Square, in light of continued reports of sexual violence against female reporters covering unrest in the square.

And why are there so many cases with this intensity today? Is it because of the amount of people there? Or maybe even army or police insiders in the square trying to make women uncomfortable? Is it because it was full of people who were not there for the protests, but are just going to Tahrir because its cool? I’m not sure. But something definitely was up and we need to fight it.

If women are being chased away from the square after terrible experiences, and if fathers and husbands start making their daughters and wives stop going, it weakens us. It weakens our revolution and our cause. Stand up for sexual harassment, whether you are male or female. Don’t let it go unnoticed. Whether you are male or female. Speak up to it, make a scene. Lets deal with this whether through street justice or organised awareness and policing. Let’s keep the square safe for the women of the revolution.”

16 Days of Activism: My name is NOT Bitch

November 26, 2011 By HKearl

It’s the second day of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence and here is the second name that women do NOT want to be called by men they do not know when they’re in public places. (All 16 names were submitted via Twitter or Facebook.)

Ending the social acceptability of men calling women these names takes us one step closer to creating a culture where gender violence doesn’t happen. Read more about the connection between gender violence and the inappropriate and demeaning names that men call women they don’t know.

Don’t let harassers off the hook: respond | report | share your story.

16 Days of Activism: My Name is NOT Sexy Lady

November 25, 2011 By HKearl

It’s the first day of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence and on this blog you can read one name a day that women do NOT want to be called by men they do not know when they’re in public places. All 16 names were submitted via Twitter or Facebook.

What’s the connection between a name and gender violence?

Well, men calling women they don’t know “legs,” “baby,” or “pussy,” is behavior at one end of the spectrum of gender violence, with rape and murder at the other end.

Gender violence occurs because women are disrespected, seen as less than men, and are dehumanized and sexually objectified. A sad consequence of this gender imbalance is that countless men harass, beat, rape, assault, and murder girls and women around the world: inside homes and huts, at schools and workplaces, and in war zones and public places.

One way to create and perpetuate disrespect for women is for men to call women they do not know inappropriate, sexualized, degrading, and humiliating names in public places. Instead of respectful titles like, “Ma’am,’ or “Miss,” or instead of simply not addressing strange women on the streets, period, women are called names that mark them as less than.

If we speak out and say, “Calling us these names is NOT okay,” then that takes us one step closer to changing a culture where gender violence happens.

Don’t let harassers off the hook: respond | report | share your story.

83 Percent of Tel Aviv women experience street harassment

November 23, 2011 By HKearl

A new study of women in Tel Aviv found that 83 percent had faced street harassment, adding to the growing number of studies that show that at least 80 percent of women worldwide experience street harassment sometime in their life.

Here are some of the fascinating findings, via Haaretz.com:

“Before various forms of harassment were described to them, 45% of the women surveyed reported being harassed by a man in the public sphere. However, when they were asked directly about whistling, knowing looks and suggestive remarks, the number almost doubled and reached the 83% finding regarding women attesting to having been sexually harassed. According to researchers who carried out the survey, the numbers suggests that some acts of harassment are not thought of as such by women in the city.

The group reporting the highest incidence of harassment included women aged 22-39. The most common forms of harassment are whistling in the street (64% of all respondents reported experiencing this ), cars beeping horns (61% ), knowing looks (45% ), suggestive remarks (40% ), inappropriate proposals (22% ), touching (21% ) and stalking (18% ). Also, 6% of respondents reported that they were victims of sexual abuse.

The most frequent venue for harassment is the street. 96% of women who report being harassed refer to harassment experienced on the street. 45% say they were sexually harassed on public transport; 30% on the beach; 20% in a park or public garden; and 19% in an open market area.

95% of respondents who report being harassed say the harassment occurred at least one time during daytime hours, and 64% reported incidents occurring after dark.”

The survey was sponsored by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality’s committee for advancing the status of women, with help from shelters for survivors of sexual assault and the Shatil organization.

This is my favorite paragraph of the news story:

“Tamar Zandberg, chairperson of the Tel Aviv Municipality committee for the status of women and municipality council member, says that these survey findings are disturbing, but also not surprising. “We deliberately checked the topic of harassment on the street; up to now, this form of harassment has not been considered serious. As in any campaign, the first step is to learn all the facts, and see what picture they create,” she explains. “The big picture here is clear – the street is neither safe, pleasant nor comfortable for women. The days when this could be ignored are over,” Zandberg declared.”

This is wonderful. This is what every country, every city, every community needs to do. Start talking about street harassment, survey women on the topic, and stop ignoring the fact that this happens to most women and that we don’t like it, even if we haven’t yet thought of it as sexual harassment/street harassment.

Way to go, Tel Aviv Municipality committee for the status of women, for bringing this issue to light in your community.

Groped at the underground station in Berlin

November 22, 2011 By Contributor

Hi There!

A while ago i was on my way to work in the early morning. I had my [head]phones on, had my coffee and i was in a Monday mood. I was waiting for the underground and i was leaning against a pile, out of time by my music.

Out of nowhere someone held my arms from the back and a guy jumped in front of me and he groped my breast. I was so extremely shocked that i couldn’t even say something. And the other 40 people around me just jumped into the awaiting metro, so did the guys.

My heart beat like hell and i had eye contact with a woman who saw it. She was in the metro, stared at me, shook her head, and gave me a look like i was guilty. That woman was round 50 an i am in my late 20s. One of the guys where in the 20s, the other one around 40

I arrived late at my work that day. Normally i can deal quite well with the daily street harassment, but that was so over the top and took me some days to get over it.

– Wiebke

Location: At an Underground station in the center of Berlin, Germany

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.
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