International Anti-Street Harassment Week begins in 8 days. One easy way to participate and help bring awareness to street harassment and empower yourself is by going to a place where you were harassed and reclaiming it with sidewalk chalk messaging!
My mom, Beckie Weinheimer, (pictured on the right) tried this out last night. She went to a place where she’d been harassed before in Florida and took back the sidewalk, took back the street, and reclaimed her right to be there un-harassed. She said, “It felt great!”
This act can also raise other people’s awareness about the problem. My mom said, “A lot of people stopped and two people took Stop Street Harassment stickers and said they will look your site up.”
I love how just one person can have a big impact with this method and I love that it’s easy and quick to do.
Last year, four women from Hollaback Brussels did a chalk walk to reclaim the places where they were harassed and they were able to empower themselves and generate a lot of conversations and consciousness-raising among passersby. View their We Chalk Walk Tumblr of photos!
This year for International Anti-Street Harassment Week, End Violence Against Women Coalition, Hollaback! London, and others are asking people in London to chalk their streets with slogans, experiences and messages of solidarity throughout the week and send them to ldn@ihollaback.org to be tweeted and shared on social media.
No matter where you are for International Anti-Street Harassment Week (April 7-13), you can do the same. Take a photo of your sidewalk chalk message (either with you in the photo or just of the message) and send it to StopStreetHarassment AT yahoo DOT com and let me know where it is, and, if you feel comfortable, share the harassment story that happened to you there.
