Street harassment is an issue many teenagers – especially teenage girls — face, but it is one that is rarely acknowledged. I am so proud to know Ileana Jiménez, Feminist Teacher, one of the few high school teachers who addresses issues like street harassment with her students, lets them share their stories, and brainstorms solutions. I’ve spoken at her school twice and she has had other street harassment activists visit her class.
You can hear about the class from her and her students in this 3 minute video produced by Elite Daily.
This work is so important. We must work with youth to break the cycle of normalcy that surrounds street harassment in our country.
She and I teamed up with AAUW last year to host the first-ever national symposium on teaching gender/feminism in high schools. We both dream of a day when students at every high school can take classes on these topics. Ileana is working hard every day to not only make this dream a reality in her classroom, but also nationally and globally by regularly presenting at conferences, traveling to places like Mexico and India to talk with educators, and giving remote advice to teachers all over the world.
