Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for December 2011

16 Days of Activism: My Name is NOT Chocolate

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We’re half-way through the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. Here’s the #8 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.

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“every single victim-blaming cliche was pulled out and used”

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I was in the park with some friends and two guys yelled at me from across the way, “Your skirt looks sexy!”

Needless to say I didn’t know who they were, didn’t indicate in any way that I wanted to talk to them or that I wanted their attention. I yelled back at them not to yell at me like that, and that I’m not interested in them or what they think of my clothes. They muttered among themselves, said a few unintelligible things, and finally one of them yelled back that he had a girlfriend (how is this significant to me?).

I was very bothered by this, and felt scared, even though they ended up leaving after that, but the worst part of this event is not what they did, but how my so-called friends reacted. There were several women and men there, and none of them backed me up. They actively ignored me and looked embarrassed. In fact, one of the boys said, “I’ve already been in a fight today and I don’t need an other one,” as if I was causing trouble and as if I had even asked him to fight for me! In fact I didn’t say anything at all to them to indicate I expected anything.

Another so-called female friend was mad at me the whole rest of the night and then told my husband later how she wished she would get “male attention”, and also asked me “what do you expect, wearing that skirt in the park at night?”

It was as if every single victim-blaming cliche was pulled out and used to justify them avoiding feeling their feelings of discomfort and abdicating responsibility for their choices.

I am not friends with any of those people anymore. This incident pretty much showed me how little I had in common with them and that I deserved better friends. I am angry at the harassers, and I am angry that the people I was there with actively went out of their way to indicate that I was the one with the problem.

– NSL

Location: City Hall Park, Burlington, VT

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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Look out Lebanon, an anti-harassment truck is heading your way

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From today until December 9th, two trucks will roam the streets of Lebanon, playing a message about sexual harassment, “Catcalls are not acceptable words to say,” and “The word is sexual harassment, fight back.”

This creative idea comes from the feminist collective Nasawiya as part of their The  Adventures of Salwa Campaign. Salwa is a cartoon character who whacks street harassers and sexual harassers with her red purse.

You can read the Adventures of Salwa guide for fighting sexual harassment and watch all of the videos online.

I think it’s time for Salwa to get an American cousin who fights sexual harassment in the USA too…!!

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16 Days of Activism: My Name is NOT Smile for Me!

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It’s day number seven of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. Here is the seventh 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.

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You’re NOT Alone – Street Harassment PSA

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“I could be wearing a potato sack and I’d still be harassed,” says Ileana Jiménez, a faculty member at the Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School (LREI) in New York City, in a video PSA recently created by her high school students.

The PSA was made as part of a minimester at LREI that was focused on fighting back against street harassment using activism and media. LREI’s tradition of offering mimimesters allows faculty to offer short three-day courses on topics of their choosing. Throughout their three-day mimimester, students were visited by various street harassment activists, including leaders from Girls for Gender Equity and Hollaback! to learn more about the issue.

Jiménez, who is also a blogger at feministteacher.com, partnered with her colleague and media teacher, Stephen MacGillivray, to help the minimester students create this PSA, which she told me, was entirely directed and produced by students.

It’s wonderful to see a teacher addressing this issue in the classroom and providing students with the space and tools to explore the issue themselves. We need more teachers like Jiménez!

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