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Archives for April 2012

EVAW’s efforts to make London the safest city for women in the world

April 30, 2012 By HKearl

Will London become the safest city in the world for women?

Maybe!

This is the goal of the Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW) Coalition in London and they’re working hard to make it happen.

And of course, the absence of street harassment and public sexual assault is a requirement for any safe city.

I recently chatted via skype with the EVAW director Holly Dustin and found out that they are working to address street harassment/harassment on public transportation and while these are relatively new issues for them, already they’re having a lot of success because it is such a big problem for women in London.

To gather data (we always need more research!!), they conducted a YouGov poll about harassment on the London public transportation system.

They write that the poll: “revealed that more than a quarter of women in London do not always feel safe while using public transport. Many survey respondents said they wanted action on station staffing, lighting and policing. Feeling unsafe puts many more women than men off using the buses and trains at certain times, or in certain places, and urgently needs addressing by the transport authorities and as such by the mayor. We received wide London media coverage for our findings which seemed to strike a chord.”

It even struck a chord with the candidates for Mayor of London. EVAW has successfully lobbied each one to pledge to improve women’s safety if elected, including by addressing sexual harassment and assault on public transportation. Here are the manifestos by candidates Siobhan Benita, Boris Johnson Ken Livingstone and Brian Paddick. Elections are this week.

This is the 10-point plan EVAW suggests the new Mayor will need to take on in order to make London the safest city for women.

Additionally, the 2012 Summer Olympics will be held in London and EVAW is working hard on a campaign to make sure the city IS safe for everyone during it.

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Filed Under: News stories, Resources, Stories, street harassment Tagged With: EVAW, holly dustin, mayor of london, street harassment

“I am a feminist, yet I am a victim”

April 30, 2012 By Contributor

This article excerpt is cross-posted with permission from the blog Organica: The Story of an Arab American Girl.

I am writing about my everyday experiences as a single woman living in Cairo, Egypt. I travel independently, run my own life and refuse to allow harassment or male behavior hinder my life. I am writing about the price I pay for braving the road, the protests, the streets, and the sit-ins. I am writing about how my feminism feels helpless and often afraid.

Here it goes: my name is Hana and I am an empowered victim.

When I lived in the United States between 2006 and 2011, I used to dream about the day I’d move back to Egypt so that I could yell and shame every man who sexually harassed me on the street. I thought it would feel empowering. I was wrong. Not only is it extremely draining and tedious, it quite often takes a scary turn. Sexual harassers thrive on getting a rise out of their prey.

This is not an article on sexual harassment, but a glimpse of my life.

On the Road:

Everyday my mother looks at me with terror: ‘khali balak men nafsik winabi ya benti’ [take care of yourself my daughter] before I leave the house, and my response is ‘Mami haye7sali eh ya3ni? Mate2la2eesh’ [Mom, what do you think could possibly happen to me anyways? Stop worrying!]. But in reality, I’m wrong and she’s right. She should be worried for my safety. I am often instructed to reconsider my outfits when I am driving alone and I argue that I am not going to let men affect my choices.

The driver-to-driver harassment is rampant in Cairo. One time while in stagnant 6th of October bridge traffic, I was texting on my phone (traffic was at a complete standstill).

The driver in the car next to mine said: “I hope this phone falls on the car mat, so that you may bend down to get it, and I’d drive into you, ya know what I mean?”

I yelled “balash elit adab w 2araf’ [I don’t want disrespect and disgust], which he responded “ba2a keda?” [Like that, eh?] – And then he followed me to my house all while making further obscene comments.

There was nothing I could do to protect myself from this bully – I was helpless.

Protests:

I moved back to Egypt on July 5th. On July 8th there was a million man march and the beginning of a sit-in. That Friday was my first ever protest in Egypt. I dressed appropriately and took to the streets with immeasurable excitement. Given that I moved back to Egypt for the revolution, I thought nothing could taint my first experience in a protest – I was wrong.

A man approached with his three friends and asked about the color of my bra – apparently he preferred white ones. I yelled and said that I would scream if he said anything which made him and his friends laugh loudly – at me – declaring that I am crazy but a ‘hottie,’ and a crazy-hottie combo would be great in bed. I pulled out my pepper spray but it failed to reach my monsters.

The day continued along the same lines, I got groped several times, one of which was actually from the front (I did not know that was even possible), and another by a 12 year old CHILD who I caught and yelled at. I was scared and felt vulnerable although equipped with my knife and pepper spray. There was nothing I could do and it felt awful.

The Streets:

There is no ‘that street’ story because there are countless street stories. They all revolve around the same thing: being verbally and quite often physically assaulted by men. Forget the catcalls, and the comments (I was once told that I am attractive, but would be much more attractive if I lost some weight), but the physical harassment is unbearable.

My street story is by no means special. I was walking home, turning at a corner, when a man’s hand came out of a car window and groped me (it was painful). The car had 4 or 5 guys and I could hear them laugh at my humiliation. I continued walking, feeling disgusted when the car appeared again, and one of the guys in the car so kindly suggested that it was obvious that I wanted to get groped again.

Yeah, that felt awful too.

…

Reality:

The worst thing that I face as a woman who refuses to let such actions hinder or inhibit her is the feeling of helplessness. I am a feminist, yet I am a victim. I know for a fact yelling back or even screaming at harassers is effective, some do actually apologize when shamed, but I also know that NOTHING will stop these men except actual punishment. I am a woman who never uses the metro, microbuses, buses and I rarely use taxis, yet I face this much harassment. I can only imagine what the women who do use public transportation face on a daily basis. I presume I’d have to multiply my experiences by a hundred.

I do not pray often, but I pray that the day comes when I feel safe walking the streets of Egypt; I walk them now anyway, but I feel weak, vulnerable and helpless and it feels awful.

–An Egyptian Woman.

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment Tagged With: Egypt, groping, hana elhattab, sexual harassment, Stories, street harassment

Snapshot of street harassment stories, news, announcements & tweets: April 29, 2012

April 29, 2012 By HKearl

Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past few weeks.

** Sign up to receive a monthly e-newsletter from Stop Street Harassment ***

Street Harassment Stories:

Share your story! You can read street harassment stories on the Web at:

Stop Street Harassment Blog

HarassMap in Egypt

Bijoya in Bangladesh

Resist Harassment in Lebanon

Ramallah Street Watch in Palestine

Name and Shame in Pakistan

Safe Streets in Yemen

Many of the Hollaback sites

In the News, on the Blogs:

* Reuters, “Saudi says men to face jail for harassment in malls“

* Today’s Zaman, “Virtual story-sharing to come to life in İstanbul“

* Boston Herald, “‘She-Hulk’ collars alleged T creep after lewd act“

* All Africa.com, “Uganda: Naked Women Protest Alleged Sexual Harassment“

* The Times of India, “New map to make travel safe for women“

* Ground Report, “Walk for Respect -Against eve teasing and sexual harassment“

* TransProviser, “An encounter on the street in Any-City USA“

* The Daily Iowan, “UI, Iowa City communities marches to raise awareness of sexual assault“

* Geek Feminism, “Ways for men to respond to harassment of women“

* Bird of Paradox, “Inner City Life“

* Yoruba Girl Dancing, “The Day I Got Kicked In The Street“

* DNA Info, “Man Arrested for Allegedly Touching Himself on L Train“

* Frankly Rebekah, “My Feelings on Street Harassment“

* The Times of India, “Helpline & night patrolling to curb eve-teasing“

* For-The-Masses, “Campaign Waged Against Street Harassment“

* The Atlantic Wire, “Can an App Fight Street Harassment?”; CBS New York, “New York City Looks To Battle Catcalling With Smartphone App;” NY Daily News, “Catcalling men targeted by new girl power team of lady pols and Boerum hill blogger maven;” The Village Voice, “Hollaback!’s Anti-Catcall App Gets 20K from City: Some Thoughts“

Activism Announcements:

New:

* Read a report about the events of Anti-Street Harassment Week last month.

* Young Women for Change released two short films about street harassment in Afghanistan

* The Stop Street Harassment book is available in paperback for $15.

* Hollaback launched 8 new sites.

* Thousands of people rallied for safe streets in Kannur, India

Reminders:

* Submit art about street harassment for the VoiceTool Product exhibit in San Francisco, CA

* If you’re in the New York City area, take this survey about harassment on public transportation.

* Gay and bisexual men, take this survey about street harassment (you can be in any location).

* The Adventures of Salwa campaign has a hotline for sexual harassment cases in Lebanon: 76-676862.

* In Bangalore, India, there is a helpline for street harassment 080 – 22943225 / 22864023

* Report #streetharassment in Pakistan at @NameAndShamePk, email nameandshame@ryse.pk, SMS 0314-800-35-68 or online at http://www.nameandshame.pk

10 Tweets from the Week:

1. @astrojacqs Men! If you think harassing women is wrong, make this clear to your male friends who don’t. You know who they are. #streetharassment

2. @selise3 Arguing with my father about street harassment, because in his opinion “it doesn’t happen.” Only it happens to me every single day.

3. @MaduduzoR My name is not ‘Sexy/baby’ &no I don’t want you to walk me home #streetharassment

4. @IsheetaM My Captain America t-shirt seems to have invited a lot more #streetharassment than usual. I must be missing something. #WhatWouldSteveDo

5.‏ @NazNabeeh #Efsha5mota7aresh girl asked to be anonymous told me she was touched by passing man so she chased him for 20mins till she got him. #EndSH

‏6. @toryhipster it suggests women like street harassment deep down. UM NO WE FUCKING DON’T. IT’S HUMILIATING. IT’S ONE OF THE MOST DEGRADING EXPERIENCES OUT

7. @pixiecita The idea that all women’s bodies are “fair game” is seen in action via street harassment, I think.

8. @REVOfucknLUTION: street harassment level in my community is ridiculous. I can’t walk to the store alone without being verbally accosted”

9. @TheLittleModel I am Not, NOT! Going to Let #Street #Harassment Ruin My Day! Some Shit is Just Sickeningly Out Of Line

10. @SocialJerkBlog I’m such a bitch. Why can’t I take getting followed by strangers as a compliment? #streetharassment #Ienjoybeingagirl

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Filed Under: hollaback, News stories, Stories, street harassment, weekly round up

Walk for Respect in Nepal

April 28, 2012 By HKearl

Today 500 youth participated in a Walk for Respect against street harassment/sexual harassment in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Via YouTube:

“We silently walked through footpaths carrying various banners and placards up to Kathmandu Durbar Square.

Objective
1. To sensitize the greater problem among youths as well as other people i.e. eve teasing and sexual harassment.
2. Boost the morale of the people to face the challenges in this issue
3. Aware the people of existing laws and policies of Nepal
4. Gather public support to force the government to take necessary steps in these issues.
5. Warn the culprits that their misbehaviors are illegal and they can be punished for their misdeeds.”

Via CNN:

“The main theme of our campaign is to sensitize the greater problem among youths as well as other people i.e. eve teasing and sexual harassment. We want to boost the morale of the people to face the challenges in this issue and aware the people of existing laws and policies of Nepal. Eve teasing and sexual harassment are serious violation of Human Rights. As an aware conscious citizen we cannot tolerate the violation of Human rights. That’s why this issue needs to be addressed immediately and needs to be acted ASAP.”

One of the participants Pragya shakya said, “It’s high time we raise our voices. We have been suppressed in so many ways and why should we always suffer. The Government has made the rules against eve teasing and sexual harassment so why are we keeping our silence. We will not keep our silence it’s our right to speak, walk and talk with freedom and no one can take this away from us. Like said above people have no right to tell us what to wear first they should stop thinking bad. It’s my right to be who I’m but it’s against law to make me feel harassed.”

Good for them for speaking out!

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Filed Under: Events, Stories, street harassment Tagged With: eve teasing, Nepal, sexual harassment, slutwalk, street harassment, walk for respect

A street harasser almost made me wipe out

April 27, 2012 By HKearl

It’s a gorgeous, sunny, blue sky, green leaf, not too hot kind of day and I happily went for a run with my two dogs after work. At one point on the route we were on, the sidewalk ends and there’s a dirt path you have to go alon until you reach an intersection.  That patch is rocky and as we ran along, I was looking at the ground so as not to trip when I heard, “YEAAAHHHHHH!!!! Run….!!!” right next to me, coming from a young man in an SUV driving by.

One of my dogs got so startled by the loud, obnoxious yelling that she jumped and then stopped very quickly. I almost tripped over her and took us all down. Since I was trying to not fall on my dogs,  I didn’t get a look at the guy or at the car or license plate number, nor did I react fast enough to yell something back to stand up for myself. So I just fumed the rest of the run and only felt a little bit better knowing I could share my story here.

The pic to the right is of my dogs after one of our runs + swim at a lake nearby. The one in the front is the one I nearly fell over.

Argh, what if I had fallen down and hurt myself or my dog(s)?!! Not only would it be terrible, but it’d be so ironic. Anti-street harassment activist injures self and dog because of a stupid street harasser!!

– Holly

Location: Twin Branches Road, Reston, VA

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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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment

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