Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Archives for July 2013

“As if it’s their god-given right”

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These people say things I’m supposed to feel flattered about, but I still feel harassed & dirty afterwards. Sometimes the words are just insinuated, like they ‘say’ it by singing it, kind of like an indirect way of telling you what they think – as if you asked for their opinion or harassment.

I think we have a long way to go with this one, especially in the Third World, but it would be nice if this street harassment could stop at some point, hopefully soon, but definitely eventually. This harassment is something that has always bothered me, & has affected me on a considerable level. What I hate is that people feel COMFORTABLE in saying whatever it is they wish to say without thinking about things or weighing their words first, as if it’s their god-given right to just call people names or hurt them verbally.

But if they can arrest people “joking” about mass murders, then surely something can be done about verbal harassers. Maybe they can be fined, but it seems like a tricky thing to do. What if the harassers are under-age, or what if they merely ‘insinuate’ things, & won’t own up to the harassment? What about people that say this is something that is natural?

– Anonymous

Location: street, mall

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London: New Transit Campaign, #ProjGuardian

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More and more authorities are addressing sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence on transit systems in comprehensive ways, including, most recently, London.

The British Transit Police worked with local activist groups to train officers and today they launch a Project Guardian campaign to tackle the issue. You can get involved by tweeting stories and information using the hashtag #ProjGuardian.

Via The Guardian:

“In the first initiative of its kind of this size, all 2,000 officers who police the city’s public transport network – including the underground, overground trains and the buses – have been trained to deal with sexual offences. Up to 180 officers at a time are to be deployed at stations as part of Project Guardian.

Ricky Twyford, an inspector and manager of the project, said the scheme was launched after transport bosses became increasingly concerned about the rising numbers of travellers citing safety and security concerns while using London transport.

One of the biggest fears in a recent survey of commuters was sexual harassment, which few women report.

“We hope this will send a message to everyone that we will not tolerate this behaviour,” said Twyford. “We want women to feel confident that they will be listened to and their complaints will all be taken seriously.”

Three women’s campaign groups – the End Violence against Women coalition, Hollaback and Everyday Sexism – were asked to help draft the guidelines and train staff after the police authorities studied a similar exercise in the Boston’s Massachusetts Bay transport authority…

Laura Bates, of Everyday Sexism, which has logged about 5,000 incidents from women of all ages describing sexism, harassment and assault on the transport network, has been one of the key advisers.

“What’s really exciting about Project Guardian is the extent to which the BTP [British Transport Police] have worked closely with us and listened from the very beginning to these real women’s stories, which means that vital aspects of the initiative such as believing the victim and taking every instance seriously, no matter how ‘minor, have been central to officer training.”…

Agencies involved in the London transport initiative include the Metropolitan and City London police, Transport for London and the British Transport Police.

Information will be publicised about how to complain, including the setting up of a crime helpline (0800 405 040) and text service (61016). Emergency cases should ring 999.”

Fabulous!

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Matt Smith Makes Street Harassment Seem Okay

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This is what actor Matt Smith said at the recent Comic Con in San Diego when a fan asked him what he’d like to do before he dies. Karen Jensen, a mother and librarian, took offense at this – as she should – and wrote a really great letter to him.

An excerpt:

“Many people will think that you paid Jennifer Lawrence a tremendous compliment in your answer.  Some will say you were simply trying to be funny.  Others will realize that you stripped her away of all her hard work and accomplishments, demeaned her, and reduced her to a physical object.  Imagine what a different impact you would have had if you had chosen to say before you died you wanted to make great art, or to learn new things, or to make the world a better place.  But no, your first desire was to “do” Jennifer Lawrence. You were basically engaging in a large scale moment of Street Harassment…

You took the stage and perpetuated a culture that others are working tirelessly to end because it harms others.  Teenage boys hanging their heads out their car windows telling women on the street that they “want to do them” will think nothing of it because, well, Matt Smith did it at Comic Con and everyone thought it was cool.  Bow ties are cool, street harassment is not.”

Thank you, Karen, for taking a stand and calling him out.

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Ottawa: Street Harassment Survey Results

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Cross-posted with permission from Hollaback! Ottawa

July 22, 2013 (Ottawa, ON).  A new survey released today finds 97% of respondents experienced street harassment in the past year and only 10% reported it to the authorities. The survey findings are outlined in a new report compiled by Hollaback! Ottawa, the local chapter of an international movement dedicated to ending all forms of street harassment.

Download the full report here.

“The results are in line what we already know about sexual violence: It’s ubiquitous and yet, we rarely talk about it. It’s difficult to talk about with our friends, let alone reporting it to the police”, says Hollaback! Ottawa site director Julie Lalonde.

Our city, our space, our voice: A report on street harassment in Ottawa is the result of an open forum held in May by Hollaback! Ottawa and WISE: Women’s Initiatives for Safer Environments and a subsequent online survey. The forum focused on safety on transit with the survey addressing street harassment more broadly.

“What we’ve seen in the media over the past few months and what we saw quite clearly during our forum is that harassment on transit is a critical issue for residents” says Lisane Thirsk, policy and research officer for Hollaback! Ottawa. “With 44% of survey respondents indicating that they had been harassed on public transit at least once in the last year, it’s clear that we’re not talking about a few isolated incidents.”

Although there has been immense support for bystander intervention strategies, the survey found only 6% of respondents had a bystander intervene on their behalf.

Street harassment predominantly affects women and LGBT2QQI* folks and the impact on their daily lives is tremendous. 38% of respondents indicated that street harassment made them fearful to go out alone and 32% would routinely change their route or final destination.

“It was important for us to quantify the impacts of street harassment because we hear so often from people about how their experiences are trivialized. And yet, what we’re talking about are experiences of being yelled at, stalked, groped and flashed. There is nothing trivial about street harassment”, says Julie Lalonde.

The report calls for the creation of public awareness campaigns, tools for bystander intervention and mechanisms for anonymous reporting.  It also announces the creation of a new safe(r) spaces campaign, initiated by Hollaback! Ottawa with the focus of engaging the broader community.

It is evident that there is a great deal of interest in creating change. One survey respondent summarized it perfectly: “If we all come together and fight this, not just a few individuals, but everyone who has been, will be or knows someone who has been harassed, we can make waves.”

For more information:

Julie S. Lalonde, Director, Hollaback! Ottawa
ottawa@ihollaback.org

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“Rating me out of 10 right in front of me”

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I am 13 years old and was at school outside having lunch with my friends when a group of school year 11 boys come up to us.

Then then start asking us if we want to give them blow jobs or f*** them. At this point I’m bright red, embarrassed and ashamed.

One of them noticed and got one of his mates to help block me off from my friends who didn’t notice because of the other guy. They then blatantly looked me up and down and had a convocation rating me out of 10 right in front of me and also talked about various girls that they had ‘done’.

I always thought that in a situation like that I would be strong enough to defend myself, able to tell them to back off, go away you’re in my personal space and I’m not comfortable. Sadly that wasn’t the case.

I hate slut shaming but the only thing that came to my mind was what I managed to stutter out, a very weak and quiet ‘man-whores’ one of them leaned up close and said, ‘that’s not a bad thing babe’ and they finally left.

I felt so weak and pathetic to the point that I dimmed it down to ‘not a big deal’ and pretended I was okay. It wasn’t.

Harassment is a real issue and I for one am sick of it.

– Anonymous

Location: Auckland, New Zealand

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