Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for October 2012

“Has that EVER really worked for you?”

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Years ago I was at a gas station payphone at 4 am to give directions to a friend coming in town. In sweats looking not cute at all- some guy getting gas at the station started cat calling etc. I was enraged. I yelled back at him in my most sarcastic tone, “Are you f-ing kidding me???? has that EVER really worked for you???”

He jumped in his truck and left. He was pissed though…

– JR

Location: Memphis, TN

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“A crowded subway is never an excuse to sexually assault a woman.”

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1) I live in Brooklyn and take the F subway train to work. One morning after getting to work, a coworker asked what was on my skirt. I ran to the bathroom and threw up when I realized it was some strange guy’s cum from the subway. Seriously disgusting. A crowded subway is never an excuse to sexually assault a woman.

2) Crowded A train… a guy kept rubbing up against me. When I told him I’d mace him if he didn’t stop, he said, “Oh come on, you know you want it.”

Seriously gross. I regret to this day that I didn’t mace him, would have taught him a lesson.

– SD

Location: New York City

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Day of the Girl: Honoring Girls who Speak out against Street Harassment

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International Day of the Girl is a movement to speak out against gender bias and advocate for girls’ rights everywhere and today is the first day it’s being celebrated.

Girls face a lot of challenges growing up, including sexual harassment at school and on the streets. Because our society doesn’t want to acknowledge this happens, few girls are given the tools they need to name the harassment, know their rights and stand up for themselves, and take action to end it. (And few boys or girls are given the chance to learn and decide for themselves what are appropriate ways to interact, how to give and ask for consent, and what is flirting versus harassment.)

When it comes to street harassment, fortunately there are a growing number of groups that have fostered amazing girl activists who are speaking out strongly about their rights and demanding an end to street harassment. I hope there will be more and more of them!

Girls for Gender Equity:

Through the Sisters in the Strength program, girls in New York have tackled the issue of street harassment by creating their own documentary, hosting a summit, organizing and giving workshops, and speaking at rallies and testifying at city council hearings. You can read more about their work in the book Hey, Shorty!: A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence in Schools and on the Streets.

Rogers Park Young Women’s Action Team:

Though this youth-driven group in Chicago shut down a year ago, the work the girls did is still very noteworthy. The girls tackled street harassment many ways, including by surveying their peers and issuing a report, successfully lobbying businesses and local legislators to make changes to make the streets safer for girls, organizing a day of action against street harassment across the city, surveying their peers about sexual harassment on public transportation and then successfully lobbying the Chicago Transit Authority to launch a campaign, and organizing workshops and tool-kits.

Feminist Teacher:

Ileana Jiménez is a high school educator in New York who has talked about street harassment a lot with her students. In addition to bringing street harassment activist guest speakers to class, she created a video PSA with them and encouraged them to speak at a NYC council hearing and rally against street harassment.



Several other groups have given girls the opportunity to speak out through videos and rallies:

A Long Walk Home – The Girl/Friends Leadership Institute members decided to hold an anti-street harassment march around their high school and they passed out materials about the issue to their classmates.

FAAN Mail – The girls they work with made a video about what men say to them on the street.

The Relationship Abuse Prevention Program – During their summer leadership program, teenage boys and girls created a video PSA about street harassment.

Free Spirit Media – Teenagers in this media program made a video PSA about street harassment.

These girls’ voices are strong, their willingness to use their voices to speak out on behalf of themselves and girls everywhere is inspiring.

Thanks to their work, there is a chance that the next generation of girls will not have to face street harassment and instead will be able to safely and confidently go to school, work, the park, the movies, the mall or their friend’s house. Go girls!

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“If I give you my phone number, will you call me?”

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I’ve had many harassment experiences, all while riding on the bus in Hawai’i, and most of them occurred when I was a teen.

Story 1:
I was riding on the bus with a friend heading towards Ala Moana Center during the day. The bus was moderately full and we sat at the back. We were just talking when a man who looked homeless and was sleeping on a bunch of seats near us sat up and just started staring at us. Then he made like he was holding a gun with his hand and threatened to kill me. He blamed me for a terrible gash on his leg and kept calling me obscene things and continually threatened to shoot me. We arrived at Ala Moana and stood up to get off. He stood and got off the back exit and was waiting for us. We made a dash for the front exit and got chased into the mall by him, but luckily that nasty gash on his leg made him limp and we got away. It was very upsetting that no one bothered to help us, not even the bus driver.

Story 2:
I was a senior in high school at the time, catching the express A bus to town in broad daylight. I was texting a friend, minding my own business when an older man sitting across the aisle, moved a seat closer and leaned over to me. He asked, “If I give you my phone number, will you call me?” I was absolutely disgusted and scared, but I kept my eyes on the phone and simply shook my head and said no. He moved back to his old seat, but I could tell he was looking at me the whole time. It felt so uncomfortable.

Story 3:
In my early college years I often had to catch the express A in the morning to get to class. I was at the big transfer area in downtown and it was sometime around 8AM. The area was crowded and I had a bench seat close to the street. A bus pulled up and a man got off and was just staring at me from the start. He stood there a while, then circled around the benches, then came over rather close to the left side of me. It was extremely uncomfortable being ogled like that. Then he started talking to me. I ignored him and he hopped on a bus that pulled up.

Story 4:
This one happened during my later college years. I was walking around Ala Moana center with a friend and the sun was just setting. We were heading towards the parking area on the bottom floor by the tea shop, and the crowd was light. A man walks up to us and starts harassing us. He wanted us to get in his car and was coming too close to comfort, just getting up in our faces. After a minute or two of this with nobody in the area offering any help and the man not listening to us telling him to go away, I got angry and acted like I was going to fight him (I got in a defensive stance I learned from taking karate) and started towards him when he tried to get too close. Luckily he was my height and on the skinny side, so my intimidation tactics worked and he finally backed off, but had it been a bigger man I think we would’ve been in serious trouble.

– N.P.

Location: Ala Moana Center and downtown area, Hawai’i

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“It’s drive-by harassment”

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I get the lip licking drive-by harassment practically every time I walk around in a downtown area. This is usually from white guys who are well-dressed. Otherwise, I get the head-to-toe looking me up and down harassment. I don’t consider any of this complimentary to me, it’s harassment meant to bully & embarrass me, but it ain’t working guys, I think you just look stupid.

I’ve tried to respond with an angry look but it happens so fast they’re gone before I can respond, which is a planned part of the harassment. It’s drive-by harassment. I’ve stopped wondering why it happens but would like to know what I can do to be positive about it without having to spend a lot of my energy & time on these jerks.

– Anonymous

Donate to help fund a national study on street harassment.

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.

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