Baltimore college student writes thesis on street harassment

This guest blog post is by Laurel Long, who recently wrote her college thesis on street harassment at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. She wrote a different blog post about it for Hollaback Bmore last month.

I began research into street harassment because I felt I had no other choice. I have been taking public transportation by myself since I was a teenager. Almost every time I go out, I experience sexual harassment. The harassment I experience is both day and night and frankly, causes me to hesitate to travel. One of my goals with this project is to debunk myths regarding street harassment: that it is something perpetuated by men of color on white women; that it only happens to women who dress provocatively (needless to say, how a woman dresses is not an excuse for harassment); that women are making a big deal out of nothing. In the experiences of myself and the women I know, none of these conceptions hold up. While doing research for my thesis, I loved reading the few books and articles available on the subject of street harassment as well as the many blog entries. However, the comments, mainly from men, were infuriating to read. The myths discussed above and others (e.g., lower class men are the main harassers), were repeated ad nauseum by blog commenters.

For my thesis, in addition to researching the subject via scholarly and non-scholarly means, I conducted focus groups, all with women, almost all from Goucher. To my surprise, most women participating in my focus groups considered street harassment to be a problem in their lives. This may well be because it was not an average sampling of women attending Goucher; rather the ones who participated wanted to be there. However, I was not surprised to find that my participants overwhelmingly respond to harassers in non-confrontational ways; for example, they cross the street or get off the bus rather than tell the harasser to stop. It is worth noting the admiration women expressed for one of my participants who is very assertive with men. There seems to be a gap between how women want to act and the way they actually do express themselves (I include myself within this group).

One of the more interesting things I found is that the women I surveyed generally did not see the law as practical for use in combating street harassment. Reasons varied, but part of the problem with use of the law against street harassment is that there is no standard definition of street harassment; it’s subjective. This was also a common theme brought up by men on the blogs I visited. Yet, there are laws against sexual and racial harassment in schools and workplaces. My guess is the reason there are no laws against street harassment, is that it is typically not a problem those in positions of authority face, being mostly straight, white men, and by nature of being in positions of authority, people with privilege. While I don’t know if law is the most effective route to use in solving this problem, I do know that it is a societal problem. Women are not the ones responsible for creating the situation of fear on the streets, nor should we be the only ones responsible for resolving it.

Long studies sociology and women’s studies at Goucher College. She will receive her B.A. in May 2012. Her other interests include practicing Spanish, writing creative non-fiction, and reading mysteries.