Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for January 2013

“Going to work has become very hard for me”

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I am a 20 year old girl and street harassment is very common in our country. I have been verbally harassed and followed several times within the last 2-4 years. Recently I have been noticing a strange man on my way to work who rides by me every morning and turns back to stare at me. I see him when I go back to work after lunch and he is near my home when I come back after I’m done.

This has been making me very nervous and scared. I always imagine the worst. Once he came into my apartment building and went upstairs but I’m sure he doesn’t live in my building. I feel like he is trying to learn my usual surroundings. I don’t want to get out of the house unless it’s work. Even going to work has become very hard for me because every time I see him my hands start shaking. It scares me so much because rape has become very common in my country.

I have told as many people I can about this. Right now I’m trying to point this man out for my family. I just want somebody to scare this man off because I feel like I’m being watched even when I’m at home.

– Anonymous

Location: Maldives

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30th Birthday Wish

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When I was 27 years old and the NYC Council held the first ever hearing on street harassment, I was asked to testify about the issue. They wanted to know statistics, and there were no national numbers to give them. We need the numbers!

It’s my 30th birthday today! I first began researching and writing about street harassment when I was 23 and since then, the topic has been the focus of my master’s thesis, book, website, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, & hundreds of talks/interviews/forms of activism.

One of my goals this year is to commission the first-ever nationally representative study on street harassment so we can have the data to influence policy changes & inform awareness campaigns and curriculum. But I need help to do it. You can help make it happen with a donation of $10 or more. Thank you!

 

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Digest of Street Harassment News: Jan. 20, 2013

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Action Heroes #SafeCityPledge Chandigarh with Rubina Singh also Hollaback Chandigarh via Blank Noise

** 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

Collective Action for Safe Spaces

HarassMap in Egypt

Bijoya in Bangladesh

Resist Harassment in Lebanon

Ramallah Street Watch in Palestine

Name and Shame in Pakistan

Safe City India

Safe Streets in Yemen

Street Harassment in South Africa

Many of the Hollaback sites

Everyday Sexism

Street Harassment In the News, on the Blogs:

* Guardian, “Shouting back: how women are fighting street harassment“

* Washington Post, “In Istanbul, street harassment is a constant“

* Feministing, “It takes a village to silence street harassment“

* Rosie Says, “Two Letters“

* PolicyMic, “Daily Mail Claims Women Secretly Love Street Harassment, to Surprise Of Women Everywhere“

* Ms. Marmite, “No, I will not give you a fucking smile“

* Confessions of a Curvy Girl, “Street Harassment“

* The New York Times, “An Oil Town Where Men Are Many, and Women Are Hounded“

* Fem2.0, “40 (Un)Justifiable Reasons To Sexually Harass Me On the Street“

* Deccan Herald, “You are here: Home » National » Bengal schools may have self-defence classes for girls
Bengal schools may have self-defence classes for girls“

* Global Post, “She Never Asks For It“

* Jezebel, “Awesome Indian Men Don Skirts to Protest Rape Culture“

Announcements:

New:

* On Jan. 19, Blank Noise led a 24-hour tweetathon about #safecitypledges. Make yours.

* @TahrirBodyguard We are coordinating efforts with @harassmap for #25Jan .Help us!volunteer against sexual harassment! #endSh

* Read Joel Anderson’s article, “T.I., ‘Gender Night,’ and Misogyny“

* Read Cris Izaguirre’s poem “We Leave the World Outside“

Reminders:

*Follow Stop Street Harassment on Tumblr

* Read Jennifer Harrison’s dissertation, “Gender segregation on public transport in South Asia: A critical evaluation of approaches for addressing harassment against women.”

* Check out the Tumblr “Ish people say to me on my way to the train“

* HoodRules thebook is now available!

* Check out the project CATCALLED: the stories of 11 women in New York City from two weeks in August 2012, now online.

* Baltimore, MD, folks — take a survey about street harassment for Hollaback! Bmore

* METRAC released a free “Not Your Baby App” to provide responses you can use when experiencing harassment

15Tweets from the Week:

1. @FabulousMissEm “Yeah, TITS!!” – #ucsbstudent hollered at me today from his car as I walked home. #streetharassment

2. @TowardsHarmony I pledge to not censor my clothes if I am going out alone! #safecitypledge to talk freely about #streetharassment I experience

3. @Bristol_Jane Jo Brand on Jonathan Ross saying she once responded to #streetharassment by ripping the windscreen wipers off their van! #shoutingback

4. @thetrudz #DontBotherMeWhen I am reading, listening to music, enjoying silence in public or doing anything else at all. #streetharassment

5. @nidsitis I will stop calling #streetharassment ‘eve-teasing’. #safecities #SafeCityPledge @BLANK_NOISE

6. @carolynlb Kinda gross seeing dudes craning their necks 2 look @ a woman’s butt. #streetharassment #endsh

7. @alison_moulds @EverydaySexism a guy just shouted ‘take off your ear muffs bitch’ at me. #Streetharassment gets bizarrer by the day.

8. @EgyptWomen2011 @WSGTJM No, definitely not, women buses are in no way #emancipaton but may be temporary safety for some, until solutions to #EndSH kick in

9. @NikiRooney I experienced #streetharassment on Friday walking round the corner from pub to my flat. Guy asked for my number… #ShoutingBack

10. @LouiseR_TT The #shoutingback hashtag is a chance for everyone to join together and stand up to street/sexual harassment. I submitted my story.

11. @he4ther_hurst also why do boys think its okay to catcall and comment about how a girl dresses? me leaving the house is not asking for your opinion

12. @locomotortardis Remember, if you know someone who thinks it’s okay to catcall or harass someone on the street, it’s important to call them a douchebag.

13. @SaraAlcid After two days sick in bed, I’d almost forgotten how #StreetHarassment feels. Happy to have used what I learned in @EvrydayFeminism webinar!

14. @Mehar_robert What can we change on our streets? Attitudes? Policing? We can start with our responses to street harassment. #SafeCityPledge

15. @xicacha Do people really think that street harassment is about attractiveness? Cause usually after I ignore harassers I get called a ugly fat bitch.

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#SafeCityPledge Tweetathon, Jan. 19

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Are you on Twitter? Yes? We need you!

Blank Noise in India is organizing a 24-hour tweetathon tomorrow that anyone anywhere in the world can join. From their website:

“Each citizen affects change. You are invited to participate to a 24 hour twitter event that pushes an urgent 360 degree approach to building safe cities.

Guideline:

  • be self critical
  • be optimistic
  • be hopeful
  • try avoiding blame game because it often only goes in circles
  • examine your area of expertise and how you can pledge change within that. example- if you’re a journalist- how can you pledge change that affects the way you report sexual violence. or if you’re a gynaecologist- can you be self critical of the system you are part of and pledge change? or if you’re an architect or an urban planner or a politician or a movie maker. think of how you can affect change. make your pledge.#SafeCityPledge
  • Dream an ideal city. Be imaginative. Ask ‘what if’ ?
  • Believe you can affect change.”

#SafeCityPledge #rape #safecities #sexualviolence #citizen

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“The man that harassed me got arrested”

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I was going to the gas station when a black man noticed I had on a redskins coat, and he commented that he was a cowboy fan. I was polite and kept it moving.

This man was on his way out of the gas station, he followed me back into the gas station and asked me out. I told him I was married.

This crazy person then started talking jibberish about giving him a chance. I rushed out of the gas station and this fool followed me and he was still harassing me. I RAN to my car. I sped off in my car and this fool followed me and threw something at my car. Fortunately there was a police precinct close by. I immediately reported this loser.

Just because I am a black woman does not give a black man I do not know the right to harass me. I did not know this man and I did not owe him anything. I take good care of myself and I have a nice shape, and unfortunately I deal with harassment from Black men on a regular basis.

I believe these men think that just because we are members of the same race that they have a right to us. I honestly believe that a lot of these men feel dis-empowered in all aspects of their lives, but think they have power over black women and a right to harass Black women, but no one owes them anything. I don’t owe a damn thing to a person I do not know and it is a shame that I have grown afraid of Black male strangers in public settings.

I’m sorry, but I am going to keep it real: (1) I am a lawyer and don’t want anything to do with an unemployed man that harasses women on the street and (2) I am married to a hard working black man that treats me well.

Something has to be done about this harassment. The man that harassed me got arrested. Black women, keep cell phones on you and start reporting these fools to the cops. If enough of us do this, perhaps we can assist in giving a message that enough is enough.

– Anonymous

Location: East Capital Street, Exon, Northeast Washington, DC

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