Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for December 2012

16 Days: Day 11, Turkey

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During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (Nov. 25 – Dec. 10), Stop Street Harassment is featuring activists who took action against street harassment this year, one new country per day.

Day #11: Turkey

During the spring,  Hollaback Istanbul held a screening of Miss Representation and then a discussion about its connection to street harassment. They also held a screening of War Zone and had a social media campaign.

This year, they also launched the Hollaback! Green Dot Bystander Campaign and created a companion video with male allies letting harassed persons know they “have their back.”

Throughout the year they received great media coverage of their efforts to record people’s stories and speak out against street harassment, bringing more public awareness to the issue.

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Stopping Harassers with Pins and Needles

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Did you know hat pins used to serve dual purposes? They held elaborate hats in place on women’s heads and they were also an effective tool for stopping street harassers.

Imagine a trolley car in the 1940s, heading down a city street. Now imagine a woman standing in the car, on her way to the store or perhaps commuting to her secretary job (since that was one of the only professions open to women). It’s not crowded on the trolley, but a man is standing very close behind her. She stands alert and when he suddenly touches her inappropriately, she is ready. She discreetly reaches for her hat, seemingly to adjust it, but instead grabs a hat pin and stabs him! She never turns around.The harasser winces, backs away, and hopefully thinks twice about grabbing women on the trolley.

Fast forward to the 1980s in Istanbul, Turkey, and needles were the defense weapon of choice to stop harassers. Activists launched a “Purple Needle” campaign and handed out needles with purple ribbons tied onto them to women on the streets so the women could stab their harassers!

Kacie Lyn Kocher who founded the anti-street harassment group Hollaback! Istanbul said, “According to reports, street harassment went down substantially during the campaign.” The distribution of purple needles was briefly resumed in January 2008 in response to several instances of sexual abuse at Taksim Square in Istanbul.

Fast forward to today, and women in Nepal often use safety pins to ward off harassers. An ActionAid report about gender violence in cities includes a story from a college student in Nepal.

She said, “I carry safety pins with me while travelling. Whenever I feel that I am being harassed by someone around me, I poke him with my safety pin. It alerts the person who is conducting such violence on me. I was taught to do it by seniors in my college. I was hesitant to do it at first, but I found that when my friends did it, the person who harasses tends to back off.”

It’s infuriating that women have to resort to pins and needles to get harassers to back off but I do love reading about women’s long history of resistance! Don’t mess with us or you might get stabbed…

 

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16 Days: Day 10, Pakistan

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During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (Nov. 25 – Dec. 10), Stop Street Harassment is featuring activists who took action against street harassment this year, one new country per day.

Day #10: Pakistan

In Karachi, Pakistan, this spring, students at university SZABIST hosted a “How to respond to harassment” session, a self defense class in the spring, and they created a PSA about harassment.

One of the students wrote, “My class group members and I selected ‘harassment’ as a topic for our gender studies course. The reason we chose this topic was because it is a prevalent problem in Pakistan and almost everyone in the country encounters it on a daily basis. We wished to highlight the issue and create awareness.”

The Pakistani organization Gawaahi also addresses street harassment on their website.

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Anonymous Donors will Triple Gifts Made This Month

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Last night, I was contacted by two supporters of Stop Street Harassment and they gave me great news!

They will match every donation made to Stop Street Harassment this month, at a 2:1 ration. For example, if you donate $25, they will donate $50 and your $25 gift will triple to become $75!

I want 2013 to be a very big year for Stop Street Harassment but that will only  happen with your help. Here are some of the items on my wish-list/to-do list:

* A bigger and better Meet Us on the Street: International Anti-Street Harassment Week, April 7-13, in collaboration with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (they organize Sexual Assault Awareness Month).

* A complete website redesign and more concrete information about activism and how to build campaigns to stop street harassment.

* A “Know Your Rights” toolkit about what laws are relevant to street harassment worldwide.

* An email-based hotline where people can ask for help regarding street harassment.

* A weekly phone call support group for people dealing with street harassment.

* An online exhibit about street harassment & activism against it over the past 130 years.

* And, if we raise enough money, the first-ever national study on street harassment, which will inform future educational curriculum and other programs.

Please, take advantage of the generosity of the donors and make your gift triple by donating now and you can be proud next year of what your donations help achieve. Thank you!

 

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16 Days: Day 9, Yemen

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During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (Nov. 25 – Dec. 10), Stop Street Harassment is featuring activists who took action against street harassment this year, one new country per day.

Day #9: Yemen

Ghaidaa al-Absi is an anti-street harassment activist from Yemen who founded the Safe Streets Campaign. This year, the campaign has encouraged women to report their stories to their website and highlighted the issue through social media and articles like this one, published today on Open Democracy.

During Meet Us on the Street: International Anti-Street Harassment Week, held in March, there were many events held under the theme “‘Aad Shi Akhlaq” (‘Are There Still Any Manners?’), including a seminar about the psychological effects of harassment and a symposium with a lawyer about legal rights. Nearly 200 people attended the events and learned more about the issue and their rights.

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