Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for October 2012

“Catch a harasser for a harassment-free Eid”

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Demonstrators in Damanhour (Photo: Ahram Arabic News website)

Once again, I turn to Egypt for inspiration.

Yesterday, about 25 members of the new “Catch a Harasser” movement and members of the Egyptian Democratic Institute in Baharia held a silent protest in the northern Delta city of Damanhour (near Alexandria) to speak out against street harassment, which increases during holidays.

Via Ahram Online:

“Contributors, women and men, carried signs declaring slogans such as ‘no to harassment’ and ‘catch a harasser for a harassment-free Eid.’

During the event, which lasted about an hour, participants also distributed a statement to drivers and passers-by, ‘Do as you please; you reap what you sow.’

The statement addressed those who sexually harass women saying, ‘I’m your sister, your mother, your wife, your daughter. Do you stand for my humiliation and the loss of my dignity?’

‘If you dislike my clothes or my walk, is that an excuse to molest me? If that was so, why do you still harass me when I’m veiled or fully veiled? All the aforementioned are just justifications you use to explain your shameful actions. I would like to walk freely and safely. I want your respect. No to harassment. No excuse for harassment. Harassment is a disease. You reap what you sow.'”

I love it!

Meanwhile, the women’s complaints office at the National Council for Women set up the hotline number 08-008-883-888 that people can call if they are harassed during Eid al-Adha.

Via the Egypt Independent:

“In a statement, the council said the operations room of the Egyptian Company for Metro Management & Operation would also collect harassment complaints at 16048 and 25-747-295, as will Fouada Watch, an initiative launched by youth to counter harassment, at 01-150-118-822.”

I’m glad these initiatives are underway and I hope they can help more people enjoy a harassment-free Eid.

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Weight Gain and Street Harassment

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Today one woman shared with Ebony readers how she turned to eating and weight gain to lessen the street harassment she experienced as a young teenager.

She wrote,

“In high school, the boobs came in, followed by some hips and a nice little butt.  However, I wasn’t moved one way or another by this development since; at that age, I was more concerned with Video Music Box than being a ‘video vixen’ or chaising boys.  But while I was busy being the child I was, the men in my neighborhood began getting busy with fantasies of the woman they felt my newfound body made me to be.

It started off subtle at first. Lingering stares and comments under the breath that you couldn’t quite make out. I couldn’t understand why these men were speaking to me that way.  I may have had breasts and hips, but I still looked like a child.  I tried to hide my budding womanlyness under oversized baggy clothes, but that didn’t work.  After I turned 16, it got unbearable/ I literally had men grab me, pull at me, hiss and whistle at me.  I felt like everyone knew I had breasts and hips and thighs, everyone knew I was a woman.  But I didn’t want to be a woman. I hated it, I hated the men and I hated me.

I longed for a way to fade into the background. One day the answer came to me like an epiphany: food.  See, those lustful men didn’t have eyes for the chubbier ladies.  They were pleasant with them, laughed and joked with them, but those girls were spared from the constant hissing and cat calls.  They became my idols and I wanted to be them. So I ate. And ate and ate. I didn’t even realize that food became my new baggy shirt, until one day on a break from college one of my childhood male friends stopped me in the street and said “What happened to you?  You got big!”

Victory.

I was finally free.  I was just another girl walking down the street and I loved it…..

I realized that the food was my way of physically stuffing down of all the emotions I felt over being sexualized and treated like a piece of meat by men as a child. I didn’t know that the issue wasn’t me and my womanlyness, but the men and their lack of respect for my body. I bore their cross as a burden and allowed it to weigh me down in more ways than one.

I now understand where my struggle with weight comes from and even though getting it off is a day-by-day process, I know that with every pound I work to lose, another piece of that emotional weight I’ve been carrying comes off as well.  I’m learning to love myself despite my flaws.  I’ve decided that I no longer want food to be my baggy shirt and I’m shedding that for good.  My happiness is no longer about food or men; it’s about me and finally learning to love my body for what it is.  A Heaven-sent, honorable and worthy vessel of life and of love.The body of a woman. “

She isn’t alone. Ten percent of the 811 women who took a survey for the Stop Street Harassment book said they had purposely gained weight to try to avoid experiencing street harassment.

This brings up a lot of issues: the devaluing of fat bodies in our society, the downside to having a body that is valued, and the measures people will take to try to keep themselves safe in a society that thinks street harassment is a joke or a compliment.

Thoughts? Stories?

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Let’s Catch up to Egypt and Yemen

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Dear Stop Street Harassment Supporters,

Every day I comb the news and social media for information about street harassment, and I often find inspiration from other countries, like Egypt and Yemen.

Both Egypt and Yemen have had national studies on street harassment (83% and 99% of women experienced it, respectively) and activists are successfully using the statistics to galvanize the media, the public and their governments to support anti-harassment initiatives. Just Monday, the Egyptian Prime Minister said a new law against street harassment was in the works.

Rampant Problem
The USA does not have a national study yet and no national government officials are addressing the issue. From stories shared online, however, we know that street harassment is a rampant problem in the USA. Women are evaluated by strangers, masturbated at, rubbed against, told to smile, asked if they want a boyfriend if they’re in public alone, told to do sexual acts, and sexually assaulted. New research shows it’s a problem most men who are gay or bisexual experience. Transgender individuals face some of the most violent forms of harassment – including murder.

We need national statistics to help us better understand the issue and to prove to policy-makers, law enforcement, and educators that this is a serious issue that must be addressed. We also need statistics to help us craft new policies. My master’s program in public policy included a course on statistics and that’s because it’s often stories + statistics + public support that = policy changes.

Donate Today to Fund a Study
Stop Street Harassment is now a 501c3 organization. Up to this point, I have self-funded all of the work of SSH. But now I am asking for YOUR help. Please donate today so that the USA can have its own nationally representative study. (Learn more about the survey.) The survey firm I plan to use is very reputable and in my day job at AAUW, we used them for a 2011 national study on sexual harassment in schools, which the white house recently called a “gold standard” for studying the topic.

While I have sent out letters of inquiry for a few grants, most places specify “no research” for what they’ll fund, so I am very reliant on the donations of people like you. The Razoo campaign ends in one week, so please donate today. (Scroll down to see what you get for donating and to learn how the data will be used.)

Thank you for all of your support,
Holly Kearl
SSH Founder

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What You Get for Donating:

 How the Study Data Will Be Used:

  1. The study findings will be published in a research report. There will be a media strategy to spread the information widely.
  2. Any group or person who cares about ending street harassment will be able to use the findings to support why their program/view point/initiative is valid and needed.
  3. SSH will use the findings to craft programming, inform campaigns, and propose new policies, trainings for transit workers and police, and educational curriculum for colleges.
  4. I also hope the data will help SSH get grants to do all of those programs!!!
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“Rub against me and I’ll expose you”

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Phase Two of the Ad Campaign

Last February, during a DC City Council Hearing, several brave Washington, DC commuters shared their experiences of being sexually harassed on the Metro buses and trains. At the same time, many of us – led by Collective Action for Safe Spaces – pressured the Metro into taking action on this issue (with lots of support from area blogs). Thankfully, the DC transit authority responded to the stories and campaigning. Among the many changes they’ve made, launched an anti-harassment public service announcement campaign in April.

At first the ads were on buses and subway platforms. Now they’re also on Metro cars and tonight, on my way home from work, I looked up and saw one! New ads will continue to be rolled out every few months to keep the content fresh.

I am very excited that commuters can see this ad and know that sexual harassment isn’t tolerated on the Metro system and that there is a way to report incidents that happen.

The Reports Are In

Here’s another piece of news about the campaign — One change we suggested the transit authority make was to start tracking ALL types of sexual harassment, not just types deemed criminal offenses (e.g. sexual assault). They agreed to do this and even created an online form to make it easier for people to report harassment incidents.

Recently, they released information about the number of reports they’ve received through September: there were 78 reports, including 39 incidents that were criminal. It’s impossible to compare numbers to the previous year since the tracking criteria and system is different but we now have a starting point to which we can compare future numbers.

I think this is all great progress and I’m really grateful I live in an area where I can look up during my commute and know that action is being taken to make the Metro system safer for everyone.

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