Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming
Last night, I came back from a party with two girl friends into a frequented street in Bordeaux, France. A group of 8 drunk young men crossed our path and followed us, offended us, spat at us, and pushed us. We did nothing for it, but that was enough for starting this demonstration of violence. (I shared my story on my blog epicureanyouth.com)
– Saëlle
Location: Rue Sainte-Catherine, Bordeaux, France
Editor’s Note: HarassMap, an anti-harassment group in Egypt, posted the following on their Facebook account over the weekend. They, and the author, gave me permission to share it here. Please share it widely and follow their work: Website | Facebook | Twitter. Also, here is a Guardian article about the attacks on women on Jan. 25.
THIS IS A HARASSMAP STAFF MEMBER’S PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF MOB SEXUAL ATTACKS IN #TAHRIR ON #JAN25 DURING OUR EFFORTS TO COUNTER THEM AS PART OF Op Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault قوة ضد التحرش/الإعتداء الجنسي الجماعي
By Hussein ElShafie
When I joined the second round of OpAntiSH, as a core team member and a Midan team participant, I wasn’t anticipating the nightmare we all went through! I expected our mere presence in the heart of the protests to be an important warning sign for the mobs not to approach the protesters. I walked through the square distributing flyers and I was met with cooperation and gratitude from the side of the people. However, in certain instances I would get completely encircled by groups who would grab my shirt, poke me and snatch flyers from my hands. I didn’t give their attitude much attention and I attributed it to the Adrenalin rush they must be experiencing.
While I walked I saw two girls from our Safety team running towards me asking for help dealing with a report from the Omar Makram side. We all three ran across the square bumping into everyone until we arrived to Omar Makram and we found nothing going on! Later we were informed that while we mobilized our efforts to that area a girl was being mob-attacked by the Mohamed Mahmoud side.
I went back to our headquarters in Talaat Harb and shortly afterwards our rescue team arrived to the building. The girl was among them semi-comatose. A huge crowd appeared to accompany them to the door and then they tried to break in. We half-closed the door and pulled in our volunteers. They were all being squeezed, grabbed and unable to breathe. While I was pulling in one of them I felt as if I was pulling out a tissue from a tight tissue box. We got them all inside, shut the door and locked it. Harassers tried to break the door and they started a small fire. The numbers were insane. The armed mob was infuriated by the sight of the girls indoor and by the fact that they (harassers) could not reach them. I asked one of them from behind the door what is it that they wanted and he answered “What are all those women doing inside?!”. We turned off the lights and sent the girls upstairs trying to minimize our visibility. The nightmare kept going on for 2 hours until their energy faded and we managed to gather some help from outside to disperse the mob. Police was non-existent.
When it was a little safer to get out I went with another volunteer from the Intervention team to survey the square, and by the time we could make out the Mohamed Mahmoud area a tear gas canister was thrown at us. We ran back to the building suffocating, falling off every few seconds and unable to open our eyes. That very canister could have saved us a lot of terror and harassment if it had been thrown at the mobs that had attacked us perseveringly for two hours earlier.
We were specifically targeted by the mobs while the police kept a deaf ear to our situation. However, our brave men and women managed to survive it. We were getting fake reports to waste our efforts and yet we managed to interfere in more than a dozen mob harassment cases. Seeing the relentless efforts of our volunteers was but an affirmation of the nobility of our cause, and an inspiration for every human being who wants to voice out their right to be free, safe and respected.
بلغوا عن حوادث التحرش الجنسي | Report sexual harassment: SMS 6069 | http://harassmap.org/reports/submit
تطوعوا | Volunteer: bit.ly/ZsFKcL
By: María Paulina López, SSH Correspondent
One day, my sister came home saying she was upset that every time she walked from the bus stop to home a man watching her on the other side of the street yelled sexual comments. Imagine having to deal with this every single day! In my own experience, these abusive situations piss me off.
I decided to do something about it, but the problem was, that guy knows where we live and that scared me a little. So my sister’s boyfriend went and talked to him, asking for respect and safety for the women who walk on that street (he didn’t mention specifically my sister, so I suppose she wasn’t the only one) and that was it… he never did that again anymore. What would you do if someone’s being sexually harassed in a public place?
This video is an exact representation of a situation that a lot of people have to live every day: being sexually harassed on the streets.
What would you do? And that’s a question for all of you…what would you do if see someone being harassed on the street? I truly admire all those who did something, not knowing the people on that street were actors. I admire those around the world who care about these abusive situations. It depends on the situation, and how safe you feel in that place, but you can take a lot of actions to stop Street Harassment:
* Show support, like the woman on the video;
* Call security, if you can;
* Make a video/photo to show the authorities;
* Ask them to stop it and to respect, like one of the guys on the video;
* See if you can identify the persons who are harassing and denounce the abusive behavior to their superiors; ask the person who’s been harassed if it’s fine and take her/him to a safer place.
Please, let’s don’t stay quiet or continue your walk without doing anything. This behavior is abusive, and affects millions of people around the world, especially women. We need safer public spaces for everyone! And this video is evidence that we can take individual actions to fight it directly, to make justice, and stand for a better world.
“The opposite of love is not hate, its indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, its indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, its indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, its indifference.” – Elie Wiesel
Maria is a psychology student, social investigator, and sexual educator. Follow her on Twitter, @MPaulinaLopez.
Colombia, pequeñas acciones que significan un gran cambio.
Un día mi hermana llegó a casa quejándose de lo cansada que estaba de que cada día, cuando caminaba de la parada de autobús a casa, el vigilante de la acera de enfrente le gritaba comentarios sexuales, ¡imaginen tener que lidiar con esto cada día de sus vidas! Entonces decidí hacer algo al respecto, el problema era que ese hombre sabía exactamente dónde vivíamos, y eso me asustaba un poco. Por eso, el novio de mi hermana fue y habló con él; le pidió que respetara a las mujeres que pasaban por el frente (no mencionó directamente a mi hermana, entonces supongo que no era la única). Y eso fue todo, a partir de ese momento, él nunca le volvió a decir nada a mi hermana cada vez que pasaba por allí. ¿Qué harías si ver que alguien está siendo acosado sexualmente en un lugar público?
Este video es una representación exacta de una situación que mucha gente tiene que vivir cada día: ser acosados sexualmente en las calles. ¿Qué harías tú? Y esta es una pregunta para todos… ¿qué haría usted si ve que alguien es acosado sexualmente en un espacio público? Realmente admiro a todos los que hicieron algo en ese video, y a todos aquellos alrededor del mundo que cada día se preocupan por detener estos abusos. Todo depende de la situación, y de cuán seguro se sienta en el lugar donde está ocurriendo el abuso, pero todos podemos tomar muchas acciones para detener el Acoso Callejero:
- * Da apoyo a la persona, como la mujer del video.
- * Llama a seguridad, si puedes.
- * Haz una foto o video para mostrarle a las autoridades.
- * Pídeles que se detengan y exija respeto, como uno de los hombres en el video.
- * Trata de identificar a las personas que están acosando y denuncia su actitud abusiva a sus superiores; asegúrate que la persona que es víctima esté bien y llévala a un lugar más seguro.
No hay que quedarse callados, o pasar de largo ante una situación así. Este comportamiento es abusivo y afecta a millones de personas diariamente en el mundo entero, sobre todo mujeres. ¡Necesitamos espacios públicos seguros, donde podamos caminar con tranquilidad! Y este video es prueba de que podemos tomar acciones individuales para luchar contra estos abusos directamente, hacer justicia, luchar por un mundo mejor.
“Lo contrario del amor no es el odio, es la indiferencia. Lo contrario del arte, no es la fealdad, es la indiferencia. Lo contrario de la fe no es la herejía, es la indiferencia. Y lo contrario de la vida no es la muerte, es la indiferencia.” – Elie Wiesel
Estudiante de psicología, investigadora social, educadora sexual MPaulinaLopez.
Just a few months ago, maybe in November, I recall planning to cook a hearty dinner for my daughter and her father. I had to go to the store to get a can of vegetables. My daughter’s father suggested that I go to the supermarket, which is like, a good five minute walk from our apartment. It was rather nippy that day, so I was in no mood to walk there. I decided to go to the discount store, which is just around the corner from us. When I got to the discount store, I walked to the aisle that has the paper and plastic products and grabbed a box of aluminum foil. Afterwards, I walked down the canned goods aisle. Halfway down, a man in maybe his early to mid-forties said to me, “How you doing” very suggestively.
Now, usually when this happens, I speak back but only if the person is sincere with his greeting. I am not the kind of female that never speaks, but if a guy is just merely being a creep, then I just ignore him. That is exactly how this gentleman, no this ass hole was behaving, so therefore I didn’t speak back. He didn’t deserve a nice hello, in my opinion. I just simply didn’t say anything back. I didn’t roll my eyes, suck my teeth or anything. But this guy had then replied, “Oh well, right back to you too!”
I then turned around and said, “Excuse me, sir, but I didn’t say anything ignorant to you.”
That’s when he answered, “Well, you the one thinking you too good to speak to somebody!” I was at this point very offended and replied, “I don’t think I’m too good for anything, but you’re a pervert and don’t deserve a hello from me, so you need to leave me alone.”
I then turned to walk away, but the guy pushed me down from behind. I started to get up, but he then pushed me back down and said, “Well, fuck you then, bitch!!!” I leaped up angrily, stormed out of the store after him, but once outside, he threatened me for coming out of the store. Another guy tried to hold him back from hurting me, all while cursing him out for his conduct, as well as everyone else that was looking on. Oh, and I forgot to mention that he had a little girl with him at the time. A terrible way to act in front of a child.
Anyway, that experience just showed me that while it’s okay to be polite and speak to someone once in a while, I don’t owe any guy out in the street anything, especially if I don’t know him. Period.
– Betty Miller
Location: Philadelphia, PA
By ProChange, SSH Correspondents
Outcry sounds out across Germany. 30,000 tweets are posted on Twitter by affected women within 48 hours.
What’s happened?
Sexism in the Pirate Party (a young political party in Germany).
Ok, we’ve heard about that. Mr. Brüderle of the FDP (Liberals in Germany) harasses a journalist (Laura Himmelreich). She writes about it. But we read such articles daily. How usual that the attention is diverted from the problem: “Why did the journalist wait until now to talk about it?”
The woman is given the guilt: “Women that can’t deal with dirty jokes shouldn’t go to the bar at night.”
It gets minimalized: “She shouldn’t make a big deal about it.”
It’s made out to be her personal problem to deal with: “Taboo-breaking. How can she write this.” The same as always.
Anne Wizorek jumps in, throws out the hashtag #Aufschrei (#Outcry) on twitter. The hashtag gets noticed from our use and the use of it by other activists. Within 48 hours there are 30,000 tweets written from women who otherwise wouldn’t trust themselves to write about sexual harassment. The press joins in and reports.
The tweets are taken seriously and put into print – the alleged sexist behaviour comes back to bite the perpetrator in the end. Comments from internet trollers are identified and disqualified.
Today in television news, it’s reported on and tomorrow evening there will be a program broadcasted on the topic. We wrote a long letter to the editorial office about international Stop Street Harassment.
#Aufschrei: Street Harassment, alltäglicher Sexismus, Deutschland schreit auf
Ein Aufschrei geht durch Deutschland. 30 000 Tweets (Kurzmitteilungen) auf Twitter von betroffenen Frauen innerhalb von 48 Stunden. Was ist passiert?
Sexismus in der Piratenpartei (eine junge Partei in Deutschland). Gut, das haben wir gelesen. Herr Brüderle der FDP (Liberals in Germany) belästigt eine Journalistin (Laura Himmelreich). Sie schreibt darüber. Solche Artikel lesen wir täglich. Wie üblich wird abgelenkt (derailing): “Wieso berichtet die Journalistin erst jetzt darüber?” Der Frau wird die Schuld zugewiesen: “Frauen, die mit zotigen Witzen nicht klar kommen, sollten abends nicht an die Bar gehen.” Es wird bagatellisiert: “Sie soll sich nicht so anstellen.” Es wird versucht, in die private Schiene zu schieben: “Tabubruch. Wie kann sie das nur schreiben.” Alles wie immer.
Anne Wizorek steigt ein, schlägt das Hashtag #Aufschrei vor. Von uns und allen anderen Aktivistinnen wird der Hashtag bekannt gemacht. Innerhalb von 48 Stunden sind jetzt 30 000 tweets geschrieben worden, von Frauen die sich sonst nicht trauen, über sexuelle Belästigung zu schreiben. Die Presse steigt ein und berichtet.
Das Neue: Sie werden ernst genommen und gedruckt – das beklagte sexistische Verhalten disqualifiziert endlich auch den Täter. Die üblichen Kommentare der Trollfraktion werden als solche erkannt und disqualifiziert.
In den Fernsehnachrichten wurde heute berichtet und morgen abend gibt es eine Sendung zum Thema. An die Redaktion haben wir einen langen Brief geschrieben über das internationale Stop Street Harassment.
The German-based group ProChange is comprised of women from Dortmund who are activists for women’s rights.
Editor’s Note: Thanks, Hölly Patch, for the very quick translation assistance.