Archives for 2011

Snapshot of Street Harassment Stories, News, Tweets: September 18, 2011

September 18, 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

How Many Women Find Street Harassment Flattering?

Hollaback Columbia, MO

Hollaback Puerto Rico

Hollaback Queretaro

Hollaback Richmond

Hollaback Tegus (Honduras)

In the News, on the Blogs:

* The Telegraph (Calcutta), “High Court prod to stop eve-teasing“

* Racialicious, “Stanley Kubrick, Chopsticks, and Other Ways to Harass an Asian American Girl“

* HR Daily Advisor Compliance Corner, “Street Harassment”

* Thought Catalog, “Grabbing A Man’s Butt Is Sexual Harassment, Too“

* Flurt! Your source for your life, “Cat Calling: Stopping The Social Norm – ft. Experiment“

* Bronxnet Today’s Verdict, “Harassment and Victims Rights”

* No More Ms. Nice Girl, “Don’t call me sweetheart- My experience with street harassment“

* Feministing, “A trans woman found dead in DC: What is causing this increase in violence?“

* Forbes.com, “3 Reasons Why It Pays to Not Let Sexist Comments Slide“

* Unlimited Bravado, “Episode 1: The Fear of Passion!“

* Feministing, “An Innocent Comment“

* More Magazine, “Get Angry. Go Viral. Use Social Media for Change!“

* Women’s Interests, “Some Thoughts On Street Harassment”

Announcements:

New:

* If you are in the Washington, DC-area, participate in a week of street harassment logging, Sept. 26 – Oct. 2! Info.

* The White House launched a 1 is 2 Many anti-sexual violence/harassment campaign

Reminders:

* Call for men to share views/stories about street harassment

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

* 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

15 Tweets from the Week:

1. pedestrienne Impressed Launceston Pizza Pub staff took seriously & promised to immediately act on complaint of #streetharassment coming from patrons.

2. RukayahSarumi Street harassment is not ok, its not flattering, its not funny or endearing. Oft times its scary and leaves women feeling violated #M4CWomen

3. FionaSavage #streetharassment. Should have said something to the car full of guys on Danforth Ave Toronto 2:30 pm today. Woo hoo yelled at us! WTF!!!!

4. DrtyLttlSecret Do I look like Krispy Kreme? RT @IAmDrTiller “Are you hot and ready baby?” fuck you, asshole. #streetharassment @iHollaback

5. noralambert Was going to ask one of the dudes jogging down the street to walk with me for a bit, but it felt Unfeminist, so I stomped on. #harassment

6. Izbella Seriously like there isn’t enough filth in the street #harassment

7. yashar I’m listening 2 Billy Ocean’s “Get out of the street, get into my car” as an adult, its creepy. #streetharassment cc: @iHollaback @hkearl

8. MT @JBDoubleU man at the bus stop heckled, “I like da way you eat dat banana!” I guess potassium is a turn on. #streetharassment

9. unfortunatalie Then a “whit-t-woo” whistle from a lad on a corner & an “evening gorgeous” from a binman. 5 in one street! #streetharassment

10. MediaCupid Oh, kissing noises. That’s original. #streetharassment

11. muteddragon street harassment needs to stop. I get that I’m a girl and Asian. But that isn’t an open invitation to call me baby or point out the “china”

12. ashcampaign: PLS RT @mayoroflondon Hi Boris, @ken4london supports our campaign against street harassment, do you?

13. DyannaLynn Why can’t I walk home in peace? Street harassment is so real out here.

14. chaele_n_ashley No matter what time it is, what a person wears or whatever other bs reasons people give, street harassment is NEVER warranted or deserved

15. gabbybean I’m so damn sick of street harassment. It’s disgusting. I should be able to walk down the street in peace without being whistled at..

16. FinerFeminist Loving Boston! Walking to work today, two people commented on my earrings. Such a nice reprieve from street harassment. Talking to you PHL

17. wunderkind87 “Street harassment seems to be a method of punishing women/girls for daring to leave the house without a male chaperone.” THIS. #DCLiving

18. hpyhpyjoyjoy Giraffe print trench + busy street = sexual harassment

19. SigourneyRae @puella_absurd There was an interesting correlation with higher rates of street sexual harassment when I was blonde.

20. arikia Great album for coping with street harassment: open.spotify.com/album/1c4fH0GP…

“Well maybe you shouldn’t dress like a skank.”

September 17, 2011 By Contributor

In a taxicab, my friend and I were discussing our experiences with street harassment and sexual harassment. I had finished sharing one of mine right when we reached our stop. Before we could get out, the driver turned around and said to me, “Well maybe you shouldn’t dress like a skank.”

At the time, we both just laughed it off. But I wish I had tried to convince him that what I wore or looked like was not the point (and indeed, like many women, I been harassed in skirts and also in sweats).

– 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.

“Throughout the rest of my walk I felt extreme fear”

September 16, 2011 By Contributor

I was really upset last February, so I decided to go for a long walk to clear my mind. I was fifteen at the time.

After maybe five or ten minutes, I had made it to the elementary school a few blocks from my house. The street it’s on is one of the main streets in the neighborhood, so it’s usually moderately busy.

I was about half way up the block, when I saw a large pick up truck with two guys heading down the street towards me. Instantly I got a weird feeling and felt terrified. They passed me and I noticed one guy looking through the rear view window at me. They turned the corner and came up and drove passed me again, and this time they whistled and yelled.

I would’ve kept walking, but they turned the corner on to the street I was going to turn onto. So instead I walked onto the campus of the elementary school and went to a sheltered area and sat there shaking, figuring I would wait until they left and moved on. After a few minutes, I didn’t see them and started to think that maybe I could continue on my walk.

But I was wrong, they circled the block again and yelled at me and honked, before laughing and driving off. I didn’t want to sit there any longer, so I got on the phone with one of my friends and left the elementary school and turned onto another street. I didn’t see them the rest of the day, but throughout the rest of my walk I felt extreme fear of running into them again.

I ended up taking such a complicated way around to get where I was going and back, I ended up getting lost for a few minutes.

Even though it was already seven months ago, I still feel really uneasy whenever I walk down that street alone.

– Elizabeth

Location: SW Birch St, McMinnville, Oregon

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.

Harassers to 16-year-old: “Damn, baby, you got a nice rack”

September 15, 2011 By Contributor

This happened a couple weeks ago – I was walking down the street to a bus stop in order to go to a rehearsal downtown, and this car with two men (in their mid-20’s to early 30’s) pulled up beside me and slowed down a bit. The guys rolled down their window and began yelling things out to me. Things like, “Damn, baby, you got a nice rack,” “You wanna come with us? Hey, girl, you wanna come with us?” and “Come with us baby, we’ll give you a good time.”

I was creeped out by what they were saying, and I kept walking, only I sped up in an attempt to get away from them. An oncoming intersection forced them to pull into a lane farther away from me, and as I reached a crosswalk, they passed me once more, this time shouting at me “Well fuck you, bitch!” and other vulgarities.

I was shaken! I wish I had said something, but when it was happening my only thought was to ignore them and get away from them. It’s not like I was dressed becomingly either – unless baggy jeans are considered “becoming.”

I hated their comments on my chest, too. Not only do I hate references a girls chest as a “rack” or “tits” or anything like that, which I find vulgar, but I also felt degraded knowing that just walking down the street would get a 16 year old girl like me subjected to such comments. I hated hearing them tell me to “go with them” as if it would be enticing for me. I hated that intersection from that time on.

OH! And when I got on the bus I saw (to my dismay) that the same guy who I frequently saw was there. This guy stares at me every time I’m on the bus – no matter where I sit. And it isn’t glances, it’s him very blatantly turning and staring and smiling at me – and my chest. Reporting it doesn’t help, because he hasn’t said anything to me or in anyway “harmed me,” besides making me incredibly uncomfortable.

– Emmaline

Location: Madison, Wisconsin

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.

Employers should care about street harassment

September 14, 2011 By HKearl

Should employers be concerned about the street harassment their employees face going to and from work?
Yes, while employers aren’t legally obligated to do anything about commuter harassment, they should care about it.

1 – Commuter harassment contributes to job turnover when people get so sick of the harassers along their commute that they decide to quit (this happened to 9% of respondents for a survey I conducted for my book).

2 – It can cause a decrease in work productivity if harassment in the morning makes an employee too upset and distracted to do their job.

3 – The harassment can also mean fewer people are willing to stay late to work or to attend networking events or meetings because of the fear of harassment on their way home.

I wrote about commuter harassment for Forbes.com last year and this past spring, Business and Legal Resource, Inc. (BLR), a leading human resources organization, wrote about it, too.

On Monday, while I was on a business trip in Connecticut, I had the opportunity to meet with some of the staff at BLR. We chatted for about 45 minutes about commuter harassment and they were very interested and open to the idea that employers SHOULD care about the harassment employees face during the commute. In fact, BLR was so interested in the issue that they conducted a short video interview with me for their website, where HR professionals across the country can view it and learn more about commuter harassment.

In the video clip, I offer a few recommendations for what employers can do. The Forbes.com article details a few, too. So view it and feel free to share it with HR representatives at your job.

Have you faced street harassment during your commute? What impact has it had on your job? Has your employer ever addressed that type of sexual harassment?

« Previous Page